More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Jan 16, 2009

Enough to put off a multi-tasker

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON — President-elect Barack Obama assumes power (Tuesday) at a time when the United States faces huge problems at home and abroad. Americans and people all around the world are looking to him for leadership and a return to the ideals set out in the U.S. Constitution.

EDITORIALS

Jan 16, 2009

Lay judiciary on track

The lay judge system for trials of suspects indicted on charges of serious crimes will start May 21. By mid-July, lay judges chosen from among ordinary citizens, together with professional judges, may have already handed down rulings.

EDITORIALS

Jan 16, 2009

Battle over work begins

The season of annual wage negotiations has started just as a large number of workers, especially irregular employees, have lost or are set to lose their jobs. Both labor and management should set their respective resolve on finding ways to protect employment.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 15, 2009

Bangladeshi voters say no to Islamist politics

By Charles Tannock

DHAKA — As fears about the Islamization of politics in the Muslim world grow, Bangladesh, with the world's fourth-largest Muslim population (126 million), has moved dramatically in the opposite direction. Bangladesh is usually heard about only when cyclones and tsunami ravage its low coastline, but...

EDITORIALS

Jan 15, 2009

Absurd insistence on handouts

The fiscal 2008 second supplementary budget, which includes a ¥2 trillion cash handout to households, and related bills passed the Lower House Tuesday with majority support of the ruling parties. The supplementary budget includes support for small businesses and regional economies as well. But at a...

COMMENTARY

Jan 15, 2009

China steps up global diplomacy

By Frank Ching

Almost two decades ago, China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping issued a series of instructions regarding the orientation of Chinese foreign policy in which he emphasized the need for Beijing to keep a low profile and never take the lead. Up until a few years ago, China has for the most part maintained...

COMMENTARY

Jan 15, 2009

Antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people

By Gregory Clark

"Japan girai" — dislike of Japan — is an allergy that seems to afflict many Westerners here. If someone handing out Japanese-language flyers assumes they cannot read Japanese and ignores them, they cry racial discrimination. If they are left sitting alone in a train, they assume that is because the...

EDITORIALS

Jan 15, 2009

Education on cannabis

The use of cannabis is spreading even among high school students. An October-November 2007 survey by the Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education shows that quite a few high school students have been exposed directly or indirectly to cannabis and narcotics.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 14, 2009

Chance for East Asian security cooperation

By Brian P. Klein

East Asian regional security cooperation has been a long sought-after but elusive goal for decades. Hindered by a lack of Chinese transparency, U.S. distrust and Japanese political uncertainty, options for serious dialogue and, more important, active participation in a long-term security regime for the...

COMMENTARY

Jan 14, 2009

Gaza: worse than a crime

By Gwynne Dyer

"Israel is not going to show restraint," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the Washington Post on Jan. 10, after the United States abstained on Friday's U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. All last week the speculation grew that Washington was going to defy its Israeli...

EDITORIALS

Jan 14, 2009

Japan-South Korea cooperation

At their Seoul summit on Monday, Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation to tackle the global financial crisis and combat any move toward protectionism. They also agreed to closely cooperate with the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect...

EDITORIALS

Jan 14, 2009

Drop cash-benefit measure

As Diet discussions shifts into top gear, the confrontation between the ruling and opposition is growing fierce over a ¥2 trillion household cash-benefit package that is included in a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2008. The opposition wants the ¥2 trillion plan dropped from the budget and...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.

How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan

By Megha Wadhwa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports