More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

August 13, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Apr 4, 2005

Wild card in Filipino politics

By Ronald Meinardus

MANILA -- Ideally, in a democracy the military is subordinate to the political leadership, which enjoys a popular mandate through universal elections. In reality, civil-military relations often have a different quality.

EDITORIALS

Apr 3, 2005

The shock of the old

I t's odd, isn't it, how time takes the edge off the edgy, making the outrageous respectable and turning yesterday's enfant terrible into today's eminence grise. Socialists are not the only ones who've had trouble putting permanent revolution into practice.

COMMENTARY

Apr 3, 2005

Beijing gives unrehearsed boost to Chen

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- "Unhelpful." That's how Washington described China's new antisecession law, which authorizes the use of "nonpeaceful means" if the opportunity for peaceful reunification with Taiwan becomes "completely exhausted." I beg to differ. As it turns out, the law has proven to be very helpful --...

EDITORIALS

Apr 2, 2005

Palestinian 'red lines'

A rampage by Palestinian gunmen earlier this week underscores the challenges faced by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas will be judged by Israel and the world on his ability to bring peace to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Only if he succeeds will peace negotiations and the steps toward the...

COMMENTARY

Apr 2, 2005

Tokyo talks of a challenge, not a threat

By Tom Plate

Tension between China and Taiwan are heating up again, but Japanese government officials seem not as hot and bothered about it as one might expect. Perhaps they have taken a measure of China and decided that Japan will do just fine and is very capable of holding up its own end of Asia.

COMMENTARY

Apr 2, 2005

India-China rivalry sharpens

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives in India next week, the rhetoric of cooperation between the two Asian giants will intensify. But one has only to scratch the surface to know the extent of the embedded mistrust and competition between the two.

EDITORIALS

Apr 1, 2005

New era for depositors

Beginning Friday, in a sure sign of the renewed strength at Japanese banks, the government will reimpose the legal cap on deposit-insurance coverage. Nine years ago, in 1996, that ceiling -- 10 million yen in principal plus interest -- was removed amid widespread concern about banks' ballooning bad debt....

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 1, 2005

How to stabilize China, according to Hu

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- China needs stability as it faces one of its most radical economic, social, cultural and political transforma- tions in history. This message was clearly delivered during the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing three weeks ago. President Hu Jintao needs stability to consolidate his...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Apr 1, 2005

Best face on a looting binge

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- The city "went mad" amid an "orgy of looting." Thousands of people of all ages roamed the streets, plundering shops and government offices. Armed with sticks, they smashed everything they couldn't take home and fought each other over valuable spoils. The dictator's palace, foreboding in the...

EDITORIALS

Mar 31, 2005

Rules to survive by

The Cabinet has approved a set of ground rules for protecting the people in the event of a military, terrorist or missile attack on Japan. The rules, officially called "Guidelines Concerning the Protection of the People," state what protective measures the government will take in such an emergency.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 31, 2005

No exception for Pyongyang

By Brad Glosserman and Scott Snyder

HONOLULU -- No issue more clearly illustrates the chasm in public perceptions that has developed between the United States and South Korea than the issue of human rights in North Korea.

EDITORIALS

Mar 30, 2005

Ready or not, a revolution it is

Fourteen years after the fall of the Soviet Union, democracy is showing fresh signs of life in yet another former Soviet republic: Kyrgyzstan. Last week, in a dramatic display of "people power," popular protests against disputed elections toppled President Askar Akayev, who had ruled the Central Asian...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person

By Naoko Abe

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports