More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

EDITORIALS

Nov 21, 2007

Reformatory crowd may get younger

The revised Juvenile Law has taken effect, providing for harsher treatment of juvenile offenders. Under the revision, the youngest age at which one can be sent to a juvenile reformatory has been lowered to "around 12" from 14. While juvenile offenders under 14 cannot be held criminally responsible, the...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 21, 2007

Myth of U.S.-EU economic decoupling

By Melvyn Krauss

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The fact that America's economy is slowing is bad news for Europeans, regardless of claims that Europe's economy has successfully decoupled itself from the United States. Decoupling is an idea that is based on bad economics — and on some Europeans' reluctance to accept the fact...

EDITORIALS

Nov 20, 2007

A symbolic summit

The trip had to be made. It is traditional for a Japanese prime minister to make his first overseas trip to the United States, to affirm relations with the country's only ally. With reports of tensions growing in the bilateral security relationship, Mr. Yasuo Fukuda's visit to Washington last week took...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 20, 2007

An Asia-Europe partnership

By Frank Walter Steinmeier

BERLIN — Asia's rise as an economic and political player exemplifies what globalization is all about. By the decade's end, China's economy will be larger than Germany's. By 2040 three of the world's five largest economies — China, India and Japan — will be in Asia.

COMMENTARY

Nov 20, 2007

Robbed of childhood, bereft of a future

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK — Looking at photographs of Iraqi children maimed by the war makes the conflict unforgettable. Reflecting on the causes that led to that war makes it unforgivable. New information is steadily coming out on the effects of the war on children, and how it has affected not only their health but...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2007

March of the South American caudillos

By Roberto Laserna

LA PAZ — The re-election for unlimited periods that Presidents Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales have sought in Venezuela and Bolivia, respectively, reflects a phenomenon — caudillismo — that has, sadly, never been far from the surface of Latin American politics.

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2007

Containing the Mideast fires of reform

By Mai Yamani

LONDON — The recent meeting in the Vatican between "Custodian of the Holy Places" King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Pope Benedict XVI was a seminal event, particularly as it comes at a time when radical Muslims are decrying the role of "Crusaders" in Middle East politics. It was also the clearest sign...

EDITORIALS

Nov 19, 2007

Expansion of asset-backed loans

Financial assistance to smaller enterprises will be effective in narrowing the economic gaps between urban and rural regions, because it will help strengthen local economies. Hopefully the government's policy measures for such assistance will prove helpful.

COMMENTARY

Nov 19, 2007

Feasible cuts in emissions

By Takamitsu Sawa

Debate is raging over the pros and cons of the proposed target of halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050. The goal, initially proposed last June by then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders at the Group of Eight summit at Heiligendamm,...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 19, 2007

New Rumsfeld of Europe

By Nick Popescu and Mark Leonard

PRAGUE — Russia's Duma elections this December are almost certain to cement the power of forces loyal to Vladimir Putin. That outcome is likely to confirm Russia's emergence as the most divisive issue in the European Union since former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld split the continent into...

EDITORIALS

Nov 19, 2007

Fallout from an indictment

Public prosecutors have indicted a family court-appointed psychiatrist for leaking secret investigative materials on a teenager who set fire to his house in Tawaramoto, Nara Prefecture, in June 2006, killing his stepmother and two siblings. But they have decided not to indict the freelance journalist...

COMMENTARY

Nov 18, 2007

Stoking democracy in a Muslim giant

By Tom Plate

BALI, Indonesia — Do you like big-time success stories? There may be a quiet one in the making here that almost no one knows about, aside from the neighbors. And it's an important story at this early stage, even if the political tale's ending cannot honestly be forecast.

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

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports