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August 06, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Oct 7, 2004

Basic security-policy concerns

A n advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has completed a report calling for a review of Japan's defense-only security policy. The report, by the Forum on Security and Defense Capability, says Japan should have a "multifunctional, flexible defense force" to meet security threats such as...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 7, 2004

Expect loose reins on Japan

By Ronald A. Morse

LAS VEGAS -- For decades, Tokyo has wanted to be treated like a "normal" nation free from the constraints of the Occupation Era and U.S. foreign-policy dominance. Well, Japan is on the edge of realizing that dream, but the costs will be the end of the special U.S.-Japan relationship and the emergence...

EDITORIALS

Oct 6, 2004

The U.S. gets a real debate

Last week's debate between the U.S. presidential candidates should end any doubts about the value of such face-offs. The 90-minute encounter in Miami, Florida, did exactly what it was supposed to do: It provided U.S. voters -- and the rest of the world -- a pointed comparison of the two candidates. While...

COMMENTARY

Oct 6, 2004

International hubris may throttle Labour

By Sarah Benton

LONDON -- There has been more money at the Labour Party conference the past few years than the delegates' parents might ever have dreamed of, let alone the impoverished founders of the workers' party. There has been, and is, more money because the power is with the parliamentary leaders of this party....

EDITORIALS

Oct 5, 2004

Another step toward Cooperstown

Mr. Ichiro Suzuki (better known as Ichiro), the left-handed hitting outfielder for the Seattle Mariners, on Sunday concluded the 2004 playing season with the unprecedented single-season record of 262 hits. Three singles in Friday night's game against the Texas Rangers already had propelled him past George...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 5, 2004

Signs of a mature diplomacy

By Hisahiko Okazaki

Anti-Japanese behavior by Chinese soccer fans during the Asian Cup tournament in August stirred strong resentment among the Japanese public. Man questioned whether China was qualified to host the 2008 Olympics. Others criticized the Japanese government's lukewarm protests against the incidents. I feel,...

EDITORIALS

Oct 4, 2004

Bigger issue than postal privatization

At a press conference following his Cabinet reshuffle last month, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dubbed his new Cabinet as one "to realize privatization of the postal service." He made it clear that the reshuffle had been his own work, indicating his determination to carry out the privatization. Mr....

COMMENTARY

Oct 4, 2004

Can Chirac remain on top?

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- Has French President Jacques Chirac sufficiently weighed the possible effects of his decision to hold a referendum next year on the draft EU constitution, which was approved last June by the European Council?

COMMENTARY

Oct 4, 2004

Staying on path of resistance

By Keizo Nabeshima

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi defines the aim of his new Cabinet as "privatizing the postal services." The new executive lineup of the Liberal Democratic Party, of which he is president, attests to the importance he attaches to postal privatization as the mainstay of his "structural reform" agenda....

COMMENTARY

Oct 4, 2004

CCP eyes reforms while sustaining Hu

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- A key policy document endorsed by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party at the same time that it approved Hu Jintao as Jiang Zemin's successor as the country's top leader calls for urgent steps to enhance the party's ability to govern while outlining a cautious strategy of...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 3, 2004

Repair schemes can't please all nations

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- The proposal that Japan, India, Germany and Brazil become permanent members of the U.N. Security Council is almost certain to fail, but it may trigger sweeping reforms in a 1945 institution incapable of coping with the issues of 2005.

COMMENTARY

Oct 3, 2004

Bleak hopes for democracy

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The U.N. secretary general recently reaffirmed that the war in Iraq was illegal in the absence of a second U.N. resolution. Last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted at the Labour Party Conference that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and that the intelligence alleging the...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.

With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear

By Jason Coskrey

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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