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COMMENTARY

Oct 26, 2004

British pension crisis looms

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- An important report on the pension crisis facing Britain was published Oct. 12. The report by the Pensions Commission, chaired by Adair Turner, a former director of the Confederation of British Industry, warned that, because of increased longevity and a shortfall in pension funds, British pensioners...

EDITORIALS

Oct 25, 2004

Subsidy reforms under siege

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's initiative to give local governments more fiscal freedom is meeting stiff resistance from within his own administration. He wants to achieve his goal by cutting state subsidies. To make up for subsidy cuts, the central government needs to shift more of its tax-collecting...

COMMENTARY

Oct 25, 2004

China reconstructs past to chart future

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- How folklore guides Chinese foreign-policy interests was brought out by Beijing's recent spat with South Korea over the ancient kingdom of Koguryo, which was founded in the Tongge River basin of northern Korea and, at its height, included much of Manchuria.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Oct 25, 2004

Manchuria as a whipping post

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- The New York Times has an intriguing take on Japan. The latest example is an article with the heading "Atrocity Amnesia: Japan Rewrites Its Manchuria Story" (Sept. 19).

COMMENTARY

Oct 25, 2004

ODA looks wasted on China

By Kiroku Hanai

This year Japan marks the 50th anniversary of the official development assistance program it launched after getting out of the postwar economic chaos. The Foreign Ministry's 2004 white paper on ODA boasts that Japan, now one of the world's largest ODA providers, has made major contributions to the economic...

COMMENTARY

Oct 25, 2004

A dialogue that can persuade Muslims

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Whoever emerges as the next president of the United States must work hard indeed to set U.S. relations with the global Muslim world aright. Leaving aside America's pressing domestic concerns, that issue might prove Job No. 1 for George W. Bush or John Kerry.

EDITORIALS

Oct 24, 2004

Tallying national happiness

I n most countries, progress is measured in terms of GNP or GDP -- gross national or domestic product. But one small country has adopted a startlingly different yardstick. In 1972, the king of Bhutan declared that progress in the landlocked Himalayan mini-kingdom would henceforward be gauged in terms...

COMMENTARY

Oct 24, 2004

The alliance hasn't expired

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- Much recent U.S. strategic thinking about Asia has focused on China or the prospect of a nuclear-armed North Korea. These concerns have overshadowed important changes in Japan that have been influenced in part by developments in those two countries.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 24, 2004

Credit some viewers for trying to think

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- As one of the millions of television viewers glued to his screen trying to keep pace with the overwhelming flow of international news, I often find myself pondering the pluses and minuses of present-day advances in computers, electronics and information technology. The other day...

EDITORIALS

Oct 23, 2004

Middling marks for new Cabinet

During the days of all-inclusive Budget Committee debates in both Houses of the Diet this week, opposition parties focused on the issue of "politics and money," particularly on the donation scandal involving the Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction. The debates produced one positive result: The...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 23, 2004

Bush critics also hit at Reagan

By Alfred Balitzer

CLAREMONT, California -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry criticizes President George W. Bush for "going it alone in Iraq," for failing to build the support of the United Nations and for failing to build an international coalition of America's traditional allies.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 23, 2004

First step to a national security strategy

By Yuki Tatsumi

WASHINGTON -- Last week in Tokyo, Japan's Council on Security and Defense Capabilities (better known in the United States as the Araki Commission) issued its final report on the future direction of Japanese national-security policy. The report demands special attention, as it will provide the basis on...

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

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