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COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2011

BRICS without the mortar

Last month's summit of the BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China, now renamed BRICS with the addition of South Africa, announced with great fanfare that the group was determined to punch its new muscle on the world economic stage and no longer to be pushed around by the tired old powers. But you...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 14, 2011

Global coordination task falls to French schmoozer

HONG KONG — Pity French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and be careful what you wish for. Sarkozy has taken over as the president of the once-cozy Group of Eight developed economic powers as well as the Group of 20 countries, which combines the club of old economic powers with the up and coming new ones....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2010

Reviving the West is key

LONDON — In 2008, at a time of financial peril, the world united to restructure the global banking system. In 2009, as trade collapsed and unemployment rose dramatically, the world came together for the first time in the Group of 20 to prevent a great recession from spiraling into a great depression....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 7, 2010

Noriko Hama: Scholar brings economics to life

Clouds of gloom have been shrouding Japan and its economy for quite some time. The bursting of the asset- inflated economic bubble in the early 1990s, and the failures of banks, insurers and other big corporations later in that decade, has put a huge dent in Japan's collective self-confidence. That is...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2010

Globalization's benefits are moot unless everybody gets to play

One aspect of the globalized world today is that the world has plunged into fast-paced, turbulent times where everyone is connected — so much so that British sociologist Anthony Giddens has been compelled to write of today's age as one where "the local and the global are inextricably intertwined."...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2010

The G20's expensive party

HONG KONG — Leaders of the world's most powerful nations and a few less powerful hangers-on, like Canada and Italy, have just spent a few more billions of their taxpayers' money as they failed to devise a rescue plan for a world economy that is still perilously close to the cliff edge of disaster....
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2010

Three lessons from Copenhagen

The world now accepts that protecting our atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere and even cyberspace — the "global commons" — is the responsibility of all countries. Enforcing that norm is proving the difficult part.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 9, 2009

Swim legend Furuhashi inspired Japan at tough time

There are historical icons in every nation. But only a few individuals can be considered symbols of a nation's collective psyche during a particular era.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2009

Educating Americans about Muslim voices

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama has extended an open hand of friendship in his landmark Cairo speech to the Muslim world — seeking to engage Muslims with a commitment of mutual respect. No one can doubt his sincerity. From his first days in office, he has emphasized the importance of embarking...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2009

Group of 20 too diverse to succeed

HONG KONG — Amid great fanfare, pestered by a rainbow alliance of protesters, and protected by almost blanket security costing $30 million for a mere seven hours of meetings and making London a virtual no-go area, the leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) countries meet this week, promising to restore hope...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2009

Bourbons of global finance

Today's International Monetary Fund (and, to a lesser degree, the World Bank) recall Talleyrand's description of France's Bourbon kings: having learned nothing and forgotten nothing. At a time when rich countries like the United States are running deficits of 12 percent of GDP because of the global financial...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2008

Beyond Pax Americana?

NEW YORK — It has become popular to suggest that when the dust settles from the global financial crisis, it may become clear that the United States-led postwar world has come to an end.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Still 'efficient' G8 faces new realities

The 19th-century historian and political analyst Walter Bagehot divided affairs of state between what he called the dignified and the efficient. In the dignified category were great formal meetings of state, the pomp and ceremony surrounding heads of state and monarchs, and all the symbolic parades and...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Creation of low-carbon societies demands wholesale changes on national, global level

"In pursuit of Japan as a low-carbon society" was the theme of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's speech at the Japan Press Club on June 9. The following is an abridged excerpt from a translation of his remarks.
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2008

Geopolitical risks on the rise

DAVOS, Switzerland — At the recent World Economic Forum meeting of top political, business, intellectual and civil-society leaders, the discussions centered on a range of major international challenges — from new threats to the growing strain on water and other resources.
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2007

Mr. Zoellick's vision

I t has been a difficult time for the World Bank. The international development organization has been challenged by the maturation of capital markets that threaten to supplant its lending function as well as by questions about its priorities.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 1, 2007

Worlds notebook; Day 7

OSAKA — News and notes from Day 7 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 25, 2007

Distance great Bekele aims for more glory

OSAKA — Kenenisa Bekele is the greatest athlete you've probably never heard of.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Aug 5, 2007

Antiwar activist Steven L. Leeper

In a sense, it is the ultimate irony: The man appointed to oversee the memorial to victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 by an American B-29 aircraft is . . . an American.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2007

Will the dollar lose its crown to the euro?

NEW YORK — Much of America's dominance in world finance comes from the dollar's status as international money. America's commitment to free capital markets, the rule of law, and price stability confer credibility on the dollar as a store of value. But American spending habits have undermined the dollar's...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2007

A rare internationalist off to the rescue

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Will newly anointed World Bank President Robert Zoellick be able to get the organization back on its feet after the catastrophic failed presidency of Paul Wolfowitz? Although hardly a megawatt star of the Bob Rubin category, he certainly brings some positive attributes to the job....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 2, 2006

Zidane's spot in last three a joke, no matter who says otherwise

LONDON -- Managers and players know football best because they are involved in it.
BASKETBALL
Aug 19, 2006

Commish Kawachi tips U.S. for top prize

As the FIBA World Championship tips off Saturday, Toshimitsu Kawachi, the commissioner of the bj-league, Japan's first professional basketball league, shared his thoughts on the tournament, including the Japan national team, the American team and other topics in a wide-ranging interview at his Ginza...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 8, 2006

Eyes on Germany as show time nears for soccer's greatest

BONN -- Finally, the finals.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 21, 2006

Will Japan's 'positive influence' persist as it didn't before?

Well, the news is out, and it's good news.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2006

U.S. is its own worst enemy

HONG KONG -- U.S. congressmen heartily congratulated themselves when -- after their outcry -- Dubai Ports World backed off and decided to relinquish control of the U.S. ports that were included in its takeover of P&O.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2005

New power landscape demands sophisticated approach to China

With China firmly on its path toward becoming a top player in the world economy, it is crucial for Japan to work out a relationship with its giant neighbor or risk hampering the rise of Asia as a whole, a renowned U.S.-based journalist told a recent lecture meeting in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 26, 2005

Japan and the United Nations

On Dec. 18, 1956, Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu stood before the General Assembly of the United Nations to make a speech marking Japan's admission to the organization. In this address he stated that as the only nation to suffer the ordeal of atomic bombing, Japan hoped with all its heart...

Longform

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