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August 01, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Apr 14, 2004

Further thoughts on Yasukuni

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Although I am among those who wish that the Yasukuni Shrine controversy be put to rest quick- ly, I realize that the solution must come from inside Japan when conditions mature. Those with some distance from the emotional core of the issue may wish to ponder the new dynamic that...

EDITORIALS

Apr 13, 2004

Little hope for Sri Lanka

Thirty years of civil war have done irreparable harm to Sri Lanka. The fight by the island's Tamils to secure a homeland has claimed more than 60,000 lives and deeply fractured the nation. A peace process appeared to be making progress, but divisions among Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority derailed those...

COMMENTARY

Apr 13, 2004

Pakistani military tightens grip on power

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD In a year when Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has promised to step down as head of the military and continue only as a civilian president, his decision to back the Parliament's approval of a new national security council, or NSC, raises fresh concerns over the future of democracy....

COMMENTARY

Apr 12, 2004

Disillusionment over Iraq

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- In March 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair apparently believed that there was an imminent threat that Iraq might use weapons of mass destruction. A majority of British voters were accordingly persuaded that Britain was probably justified in taking part in an attack on the tyrannical regime...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 11, 2004

India girds for world's biggest tamasha

By Ramesh Thakur

Between April 20 and May 10, staggered over five rounds, Indians will vote in the 14th general election since inde- pendence in 1947. When Florida caused such a fuss in the last U.S. presidential election four years ago, Indians were bemused and amused in equal measure. They suggested that Americans...

EDITORIALS

Apr 11, 2004

Turn off the television

Of all the modern technological conveniences, the one that gets the worst press -- worse even than the cell phone -- is the television. The ubiquitous box has been accused of destroying traditional cultures, contributing to the breakdown of community, fragmenting family life and promoting obesity and...

EDITORIALS

Apr 10, 2004

Stay the course in Iraq

Iraq is in chaos. A widespread uprising against the coalition forces has resulted in hundreds of casualties and the targeting of civilians in a desperate attempt to equalize strength through asymmetrical warfare. Kidnapping is the latest outrage, and among the hostages are three Japanese civilians.

COMMENTARY

Apr 10, 2004

A fight that does not finish

By Gregory Clark

Tokyo's angry reaction to the threatened retaliatory killing by Iraqi militants of three young Japanese civilians taken hostage this week reminds one of how much the impasse in Iraq parallels the 1960s quagmire in Vietnam.

EDITORIALS

Apr 9, 2004

Putting Yasukuni in its place

Do Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo violate the constitutional separation of state and religion? It is a tricky question, legally and otherwise, that in the past has eluded a clear-cut judiciary answer. On Wednesday, however, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that...

EDITORIALS

Apr 8, 2004

Breaking the ice with China

Political relations between Japan and China, in striking contrast to growing economic ties, continue to stagnate. During the two-day visit to Beijing by Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, the two sides remained wide apart on two thorny issues: visits to Yasukuni Shrine by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi...

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Apr 8, 2004

The campaign-finance floodgates open

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- Only 208 days are left in this presidential campaign. From the intensity that both President George W. Bush and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry are going at it, you would think that decision day is next week. The advertising is pouring out over the airwaves at mid-October frequency and the...

EDITORIALS

Apr 7, 2004

Coercion can't foster respect

A national flag and anthem are supposedly symbols of national unity. So it is with Japan's Hinomaru flag and "Kimigayo" anthem. Yet they remain a subject of simmering controversy, particularly in the realm of public education, because of the nation's history of militarism during and before World War...

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

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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