Search - politics

 
 
COMMENTARY
Sep 21, 2008

The Japanese knack for choking in a slump

Japan used to be held up in the United States as a model example, both of efficient economic management and efficient enterprise management. That economic management image disappeared with the "bubble" burst of the early 1990s.
Reader Mail
Sep 21, 2008

People need to challenge LDP

Hisahiko Okazaki's Sept. 15 article, "End the yearlong gridlock," is a metaphor for what's wrong with Japanese politics today. Okazaki puppets the party line -- that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda can judge himself objectively -- questions the patriotism of anyone who opposes the policy of the Liberal Democratic...
COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2008

A tale of two women candidates

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — This is a tale of two high-profile political candidates who don't simply happen to be women. They are political women up for very big jobs. This is also a story of two very different political cultures.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2008

Beefing up the National Archives

As part of his political agenda to bring politics closer to people, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has been eager to strengthen the system to manage and keep official documents. Although he will resign soon, we hope that ongoing efforts will continue and reach fruition.
COMMENTARY
Sep 15, 2008

End the yearlong gridlock

First of all, I would like to express my respect to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda for his swift decision to step down. My view on Prime Minister Fukuda since he came into office is that his strongest point lies in his humility.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2008

Nepali 'democracy' unlikely to push peace

ATLANTA — Nepal's special assembly has chosen Maoist chief Prachanda as prime minister over Sher Bahadur Deuba, a three-time former prime minister from the Nepali Congress party.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 14, 2008

Feed, don't fight, Afghanistan

The circumstances surrounding the kidnapping and killing of Japanese aid worker Kazuya Ito in Afghanistan last month remain unclear. In the web journal Japan Focus, Michael Penn conjectures that Ito's death resulted from a "botched effort to abduct him, not . . . premeditated murder." The gunshot wounds...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2008

Mindanao peace process: so near, yet so far

The Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) that had been given preliminary approval by peace panels of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Kuala Lumpur on July 27 stands as the only agreement in the annals of the peace process in the Philippines that...
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2008

LDP five's first public 'debate' subdued affair

The battle for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency continued Friday, but the only public debate to date ended on a subdued tone as the five candidates avoided aiming direct criticism at each other.
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2008

More substance, less drama

Political drama from the Liberal Democratic Party is in full play as five LDP politicians contend for the party presidency. Although the LDP is benefiting from media coverage, the race is taking place only because Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the current LDP president, announced his resignation suddenly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 12, 2008

She, herself and AI

With her sights set on achieving her long-held ambition of winning a Grammy award, Los Angeles-born and Tokyo-based vocalist AI is adamant that dreams only come true with hard graft.
COMMENTARY
Sep 11, 2008

Cameron eyes policy shift

David Cameron, the leader of Britain's Conservative opposition, is highly likely to be Britain's next prime minister when the general election comes in 12 to 18 months time. He is in effect the prime minister-in-waiting. His views about the international scene are therefore very important not just to...
EDITORIALS
Sep 11, 2008

Reality for the DPJ

Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa has secured a third two-year term as head of the No. 1 opposition as no one else ran against him in the party election. Mr. Ozawa will have a showdown with the successor to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in coming general elections. Mr. Ozawa said at a news...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 11, 2008

Annette Messager: one humble messenger

Around the 1960s, French artist Annette Messager began to move away from the idea of "great art." Using materials readily available around the house, her works acquired an air of familiarity and allowed her to use these often effeminated — and thus undervalued — materials to make social critiques....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2008

LDP rivals offer more reform or regression

OSAKA — In the short term, the next prime minister will either continue internationally sought fiscal and economic reforms or return to the traditional pork-barrel projects and failed economic policies of the past, forge closer military ties with the United States or maintain the status quo.
EDITORIALS
Sep 9, 2008

On to November

The race is on. With the official selection of Arizona Sen. John McCain as the GOP contender on the November ballot, the campaign to be the next president of the United States gets down to business. With less than two months to go before the election, the two parties' strategy and tactics are clear,...
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2008

Ozawa given a new DPJ mandate

Ichiro Ozawa's third term as president of the Democratic Party of Japan was effectively confirmed Monday when no one chose to run against him.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2008

How Libya warmed to trade and discourse

VALLETTA, Malta — The recent signing in Tripoli of "a comprehensive claims settlement" between the United States and Libya marks a new beginning not only in U.S.-Libya relations, but between Libya and the rest of the world.
Reader Mail
Sep 7, 2008

Japan's system needs overhaul

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's resignation was only logical. The Liberal Democratic Party knew that, with him at the helm, it stood to lose the next Lower House elections. The resignation lets the party give another party president/prime minister the chance to improve the LDP's record before the elections....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 7, 2008

Multiple interpretations of a tale told in many forms

ENVISIONING "THE TALE OF GENJI": Media, Gender, and Cultural Production, edited by Haruo Shirane. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008, 400 pp., 11 color plates, 66 b/w illustrations, $32.50 (paper) "The Tale of Genji," Murasaki Shikibu's long monogatari, upwards of a thousand pages in translation,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Sep 6, 2008

Change of study location proves fateful

It is not unusual for young Japanese to go abroad to study English. But where they choose to go for their studies can change their destiny.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2008

Yamaoka urges DPJ to stay focused

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's resignation has shifted much of the media's attention on to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2008

Need for mandate

Japan and the rest of the world have seen two Japanese prime ministers in a row suddenly throw in the towel without giving convincing reasons for doing so. Mr. Shinzo Abe announced his resignation Sept. 12, 2007, and Mr. Yasuo Fukuda on Sept. 1. The manner in which the two prime ministers decided to...
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2008

Fukuda gives LDP apology for quick exit

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told his fellow Liberal Democratic Party members in the Diet on Wednesday he was sorry about his surprise decision to step down earlier this week.
COMMENTARY
Sep 2, 2008

Unconventional American and Asian women

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — There are nonreductionist ways of looking at modern women. One is to view them as Warrior Queens. These women do not deny their biology or ignore its potentials but equip themselves to play ball with the big boys on a playing field that has grown more level by the decade.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2008

Ozawa to seek third DPJ term

Ichiro Ozawa of the Democratic Party of Japan announced Monday he will run for a third term as the party's president.
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2008

Biden brings a liberal interventionist slant

LONDON — Barack Obama, we are told, chose Joe Biden to be his running mate because he needed an older man, more experienced in foreign policy, to fill the gaps in his resume and reassure American voters that the United States would be safe under an Obama presidency.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2008

McCain aims to win by pandering to bigotry

NEW YORK — At a time when the Beijing Olympics have increased America's apprehension of China's rising power, Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, has chosen Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate. Biden is the influential chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee and an established...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years