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COMMENTARY

Aug 5, 2001

Bush takes over mistakes in Kosovo

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton Administration in drag?

COMMENTARY

Aug 4, 2001

Donors can make a world of difference

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- As Tetsuko Kuroyanagi returns to Japan with promises of using her television appearances to raise awareness over the plight of women and children in Afghanistan, there's no doubt that her six-day trip to the central Asian war-torn country was a brave effort.

EDITORIALS

Aug 4, 2001

Balloting system falls short

Use of the new open-list balloting system in the proportional representation segment of the July 29 Upper House election has exposed a number of defects. The basic flaw is that it favors candidates from major parties, particularly those who count on organized votes.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 4, 2001

Fight the good fight for press freedom

By Christopher Lingle

What strange set of circumstances could connect the issue of tax probes of South Korean media outlets with China's bid for the Olympics and the advertising policy of a Hong Kong bank? While it may not seem obvious at first glance, the linkage relates to freedom of expression.

EDITORIALS

Aug 3, 2001

ARF beginning to lose its bite

Remember the ASEAN Regional Forum? That was the experiment in multilateralism that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had hoped would become a real forum for regional security discussions. ASEAN would use that foundation to become an institution of truly global significance, offering a model...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 3, 2001

Trade, security top agenda

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- A new regional security mechanism involving the United States, Japan and Australia that risks offending China is high on the agenda of Australian Prime Minister John Howard for his Tokyo visit.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 3, 2001

Shades of hubris in Kumaratunga's political offensive

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

NEW DELHI -- The July 24 rebel attack on Sri Lanka's only international airport at Colombo further underscored that peace cannot be easily achieved in the island nation that has witnessed an ethnic crisis for almost two decades now. The minority Tamil-speaking people have been demanding an independent...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 3, 2001

The Thai dilemma: ethics or stability?

By Kevin Rafferty

BANGKOK -- Is Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra just an entrepreneurial businessman in a hurry, anxious to bring to the country the same benefits that he won in the telecom business, where he became a U.S.-dollar billionaire and very quickly, one of the world's richest 500 people? Or does...

EDITORIALS

Aug 2, 2001

Fishing in troubled waters

Talks between Japan and South Korea over the latter's fishing activity in waters around the Russian-held Northern Territories have broken down as both sides have dug in their heels. With little prospect of the two governments reaching agreement soon, the dispute could develop into yet another knotty...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 2, 2001

Blame misplaced in Okinawa rape case

By Sheila K. Johnson

I am deeply disturbed, although not surprised, by the news that Japanese weeklies are harassing the young woman who claims to have been publicly raped in late June in Okinawa. Even Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka evidently blames her for having been out so late, drinking, in a bar frequented by American...

COMMENTARY

Aug 1, 2001

Dialogue welcome and needed

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- When it comes to U.S. missile defense, the Chinese remain unconvinced -- and unconvincing. Despite numerous attempts by Washington to reassure Beijing that it is not the intended target -- the latest coming this past weekend during Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to China -- Chinese...

EDITORIALS

Aug 1, 2001

Breathing new life into the Tories

A political party that suffers a major defeat after 18 years in power is obviously in need of serious self-examination. If it repeats the experience four years later at an election marked by an unusually high degree of abstention, the need for wrenching change may well become inescapable.

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

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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