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EDITORIALS

Nov 26, 2003

Settling for less in Miami

A merican trade officials have agreed to pursue a free-trade zone that stretches throughout the Western hemisphere. The agreement they reached in Miami, Florida, last week is less than it seems, however. Following the breakdown of World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial talks in Cancun, Mexico a few...

EDITORIALS

Nov 25, 2003

New Diet must debate deployment

The Iraq issue will dominate the two-day debate that begins today in the Diet, which opened for a special nine-day session last Wednesday following the Nov. 9 Lower House election. The central question is whether Japan should send noncombat troops to a country where fighting is still rampant. The answer...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 25, 2003

Ghosn, Koizumi and structural reform

By Jay Rajasekera

Carlos Ghosn and Junichiro Koizumi are two well-known names in Japan. Ghosn, the CEO of Nissan, is famous for his rescue of the company from the brink of bankruptcy. Prime Minister Koizumi's "trademark" is structural reform, which he promised in 2001 would lead to the creation of 5 million jobs within...

EDITORIALS

Nov 24, 2003

Between a rock and a hard place

China continues to grow at a blistering pace. It is emerging as one of the drivers of the global economy, sucking in exports from its neighbors and providing returns for investors. Increasingly, however, there are concerns that China is overheating: Growth is bound to stall as the business cycle asserts...

COMMENTARY

Nov 24, 2003

Stub out the smoking habit

By Kiroku Hanai

The Tokyo District Court has rejected a damage suit filed against Japan Tobacco Inc. and the national government by seven former smokers who said they developed cancer and other health troubles from long years of smoking. The suit, filed by victims of lung cancer, cancer of the larynx and emphysema,...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Nov 24, 2003

High price of media-fabricated heroism

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- Good for her. U.S. Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, finally given a chance on TV to have her say, punctured the notion of heroism concocted by the Hollywood publicist placed in Baghdad and the American mass media, ever the willing partner of their government when it comes to war.

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Nov 24, 2003

End in sight for campaign-finance limits

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- The experts are calling it the end of the road for the public-finance system that has propped up our presidential nominating system for 30 years. Candidate George W. Bush started the ball rolling by declining the opportunity to take federal money in his race in 2000 -- opting instead for...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Nov 24, 2003

Navigating the deep Internet

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- There could hardly be a tougher opponent for a struggling college professor than the Internet. You ask your students to write an essay about Moscow, and you end up with the papers based on sources like www.moscow-taxi.ripoff.com and www.moscow-hotels.dump.ru. When, fuming with rage, you inform...

EDITORIALS

Nov 23, 2003

Milestone for an iconic mouse

An old mouse turned 75 last week, briefly distracting the world from wars, suicide bombings, elections and other momentous matters. It wasn't just any old mouse, you see; it was the white-gloved, bulbous-eared rodent Mickey Mouse, better known here as Miki Kuchi. This peculiar creature actually goes...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 23, 2003

U.S. takes first step away from S. Korea

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's visit to South Korea this past week should be seen for what it really was, an early step in a long, gradual disengagement of U.S. land forces from South Korea and a greater reliance on sea power to maintain an American security posture in Asia....

EDITORIALS

Nov 22, 2003

Let's not forget Afghanistan

More than two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the fate of that country is still uncertain. There has been notable progress in installing a working government and in transitioning toward a functioning market economy. There are also ample reasons to be concerned. The central government's...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 22, 2003

Weaker LDP worries ASEAN

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE -- Japan's Nov. 9 general election was generally regarded as a political setback for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his reforms program. His Liberal Democratic Party emerged with fewer seats in the Diet than before -- but bolstered by a political merger with a smaller party, the governing...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.

What comes after 100?

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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