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EDITORIALS

Sep 13, 2002

Loophole or slipknot?

I f Mr. Supachai had any idea of easing into his new job, that fantasy was recently put to rest. On Aug. 30, the WTO ruled that tax breaks offered U.S. export companies violate international trade rules. In response, the European Union can impose billions of dollars in sanctions against the United States....

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 13, 2002

Handshakes may not soften U.S. line

By Victor D. Cha

WASHINGTON -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's trip to North Korea next Tuesday is, in many ways, a double-edged sword. At first glance, the trip appears to be a positive development. In what has become the norm in Asian diplomacy of late, the surprise announcement reflects positively on Japan's...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 13, 2002

Malaysia's security law loses some of its Draconian bite

By David Chew

KUALA LUMPUR -- The focus of attention surrounding a controversial Malaysian security law has shifted to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi after the country's highest court allowed an appeal of five opposition detainees in a dramatic decision last Friday. The legislation allows detention of suspects,...

COMMENTARY

Sep 13, 2002

Koizumi gambles for results

By Ralph Cossa

I'm not sure whether to be cautiously optimistic or pessimistic about Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to North Korea next Tuesday, but either way, "caution" is the watchword.

EDITORIALS

Sep 13, 2002

Mr. Supachai to the rescue

The World Trade Organization has a new director general. Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former Thai trade minister, recently took the helm of the trade body at a critical juncture. The global economy is experiencing one of its slowest periods of growth in decades. A new trade round is essential to rejuvenating...

EDITORIALS

Sep 12, 2002

The limits of military power

What a difference a year can make. Although the fear of terrorism continues to stalk the world, the popular perception of it has changed significantly over the past year. Following the atrocity of Sept. 11, 2001 -- an attack on freedom, as U.S. President George W. Bush put it -- the international community...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 12, 2002

Kashmir polls could be step to dialogue

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

Elections to the Kashmir Assembly will be held from Sept. 16 to Oct. 8. The million-dollar question is, will they be meaningful and bring about peace in a state that has been a bone of contention since 1947, when the British colonial masters divided the subcontinent into India and Pakistan before leaving?...

COMMENTARY

Sep 12, 2002

Brave trip to settle the past

By Keizo Nabeshima

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's one-day visit to North Korea on Sept. 17 is likely to have a profound effect on the security situation in Northeast Asia. The two nations started normalization talks in 1991, but thus far no substantial progress has been made because of the alleged abduction of Japanese...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 12, 2002

For Arabs, a year of growing darkness

By David Hirst

CAIRO -- There is no better place to take the pulse of Arab and Muslim sentiment than Cairo, pioneer or hub of the two great movements that have swept the region in recent times: the pan-Arab secular nationalism of which President Gamal Nasser was the champion and the "political Islam" that came into...

EDITORIALS

Sep 11, 2002

Each generation has a defining moment, one that prompts individuals to ask, "Where were you when . . .?" Usually such moments are national; rarely does a single event touch lives across the world. Sept. 11 was one of those international tragedies. A year ago today, the world watched transfixed as hijacked...

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Sep 11, 2002

Japan and Asia: facing the troubled past is a prerequisite to forging a better future

By Jean-pierre Lehmann

In two previous columns I quoted from one of the writers whom I most greatly admired, referring to him as the "late Shigeto Tsuru." It has been drawn to my attention that I was misinformed, as Mr. Tsuru, I am embarassed but really delighted to report, is alive and well. I offer my most sincere apologies...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 11, 2002

Once again at ground zero

By Ronald A. Morse

LOS ANGELES -- Japan is once again at a historical tipping point, what could be called a political ground zero. Japan has been at ground zero two other times in its modern history and both times the outcome was not pretty.

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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