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EDITORIALS

Dec 14, 1999

'Get out or die'

Russia has always talked tough. Last week, the world got a double dose of invective, however. First, residents of the Chechen capital of Grozny were told to "get out or die" before the Russian military launched an assault. A few days later, Russian President Boris Yeltsin expressed his displeasure with...

EDITORIALS

Dec 11, 1999

Much ado about shopping

There is a lot of buzz this year about the rise and rise of online shopping. E-retail giants like Yahoo Shopping and Amazon.com have already broken season al sales records, and the air is ringing with merry predictions that this holiday period will see the world's first online-retail profits.

EDITORIALS

Dec 10, 1999

Victims of money politics

Mr. Helmut Kohl may no longer be Germany's chancellor, a position he held for 16 years, but he continues to be one of the country's most revered statesmen. He presided over the reunification of Germany and in the process helped the country become "a normal nation." While each of his predecessors pushed...

EDITORIALS

Dec 9, 1999

This pension reform slights Japan

When a Lower House committee voted late in November in an attempt to enact a bill to reform the nation's pension system, many Japanese must have been pained to see politicians play games with a national issue that will affect the livelihood of almost every one of us in our old age. The bill passed the...

EDITORIALS

Dec 8, 1999

Seattle's silver lining

Size matters. That is the lesson to be drawn from last week's failed attempt to launch a new world trade round. Finger pointing has intensified in the wake of the breakdown in negotiations, with the United States proving the scapegoat of choice for most non-Americans (and even some Americans). That may...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 8, 1999

Losing the battle in Seattle

By Marcus Noland

Last Tuesday, a crowd in downtown Seattle assembled in front of a McDonald's restaurant. First, a French dairy farmer, defending European agricultural export subsidies, denounced the World Trade Organization. Next, a Brazilian farmer, harmed by those same European export subsidies, excoriated the WTO....

EDITORIALS

Dec 7, 1999

On track to normalization

Moves toward a thaw in relations between Japan and North Korea have been gaining momentum since a Japanese parliamentary group headed by former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and the ruling Workers Party of Korea last week agreed on the need to resume the long-stalled normalization talks at an early...

EDITORIALS

Dec 6, 1999

A Cabinet like no other

The people of Northern Ireland have made clear their longing for peace. They resolutely endorsed the Good Friday accords signed last year and have stood behind them. The embattled province's politicians have kept pace -- sometimes grudgingly. Last week, Northern Ireland took another historic step forward...

EDITORIALS

Dec 5, 1999

Aum's surprise expression of 'regret'

Never able to stay out of the news for long, the Aum Shinrikyo cult made headlines last week, but this time with deliberate intent. The unprecedented formal admission by its current acting leader, Ms. Tatsuko Muraoka, that some of the cult's members were indeed involved in the series of crimes of which...

COMMENTARY

Dec 5, 1999

Right to life, liberty and free ATM use

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- A few years ago, an ATM machine malfunctioned in the elite Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown. Americans lined up to collect $20 bills being handed out in place of $5 notes.

EDITORIALS

Dec 4, 1999

An empty place at the Washington Zoo

People in Washington were saddened this week by the death of a local favorite. By all accounts, so were people much farther afield -- as far away even as China, where the deceased was born 28 years ago. If that sounds young, it wasn't: This was no scion of an American dynasty, no rising political star,...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 4, 1999

In Britain now, 'tis the season to be silly

By Sarah Benton

Not with a bang but a whimper, last month Britain's hereditary lords slid out of their ermine robes and off the scarlet-padded benches and retired to their country seats. A line of continuity from feudalism has finally been broken.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.

What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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