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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2008

Healing Bolivia at a gloomy political junction

BUENOS AIRES — Since the mid-19th century, Latin America has suffered fewer interstate wars and undergone less state creation than any other region of the world. The continent has been a relatively quiet periphery because its countries tend neither to fight each other nor to divide from within. Bolivia,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2008

Why do displays of compassion differ between East and West?

NEW YORK — Why are French, British and American warships, but not Chinese or Malaysian warships, sitting near the Burmese coast loaded with food and other necessities for the victims of Cyclone Nargis?
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2008

Upper House hits Fukuda with censure

The opposition-controlled Upper House passed an unprecedented, but nonbinding, censure motion Wednesday against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, hoping to marshal public discontent with his stagnant administration into calls for a snap election.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2008

With Europe waiting, Ireland votes on treaty

MAYNOOTH, Ireland — On Thursday, Irish voters will vote on the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, the instrument designed to improve the efficiency and legitimacy of the now 27-member bloc.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jun 11, 2008

Of Darwin and Mishima . . .

If I said that I met Darwin last week, you might think I'd gone crazy.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2008

Testing times for Malaysia

SINGAPORE — The man who once gave lectures to the West and its leaders is back again regaling his captive Malaysian audience with his trademark rhetoric.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2008

American finds his voice in the world of 'enka'

The world of "enka" ballads has been set on its ear with the historic debut of Jero, a 26-year-old black American from Pittsburgh whose sole passion since he was a child was to make the big time in the traditional crooning genre.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 8, 2008

Dutch women bid for techno parity

AMSTERDAM — Seen from Japan, a country known for dragging its feet in terms of gender equality, the Netherlands is often regarded as a model of social enlightenment.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2008

Media frets 'right to know' limits ahead of lay judge system debut

A TV network news director's dilemma: Preparing a story on a string of sensational random killings, is it proper to add a neighbor's comment that the teenage boy arrested for the crimes was trouble waiting to happen?
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2008

Mr. Obama clinches it

I t's over. Sen. Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2008. After a grueling, grinding battle to secure the nomination, he now must gird for a ferocious fight to win the November election.
Japan Times
Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR
Jun 6, 2008

Women's postwar triumph recalled

19th in a series
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2008

Why Israel is engaging Syria

On May 15, U.S. President George W. Bush gave a speech before the Israeli parliament, decrying "radicals and terrorists." His archaic references to the "promised land" and "chosen people" certainly appealed to the equally outdated and exclusivist views of many, although not all Israeli Knesset members,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 4, 2008

Tokyo upstart offers freeters mobile flexibility

Ryoji Kaneko is always looking for work. It's been six years since the 25-year-old aspiring actor moved to Tokyo from his home in Hyogo Prefecture, and he's still waiting for his big break. He can't get a regular side job because the auditions and the occasional gig require him to have a flexible schedule....
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 3, 2008

Absentee ballot system up, running

Suffrage is a fundamental right of a democracy, and many countries ensure their citizens can cast absentee ballots.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 1, 2008

Rivalry in Asia upsets the balance of power

RIVALS: How the Power Struggle Between China, India and Japan Will Shape Our Next Decade, by Bill Emmott. London: Allen Lane, 2008, 314 pp., £20 (cloth) The United States and Europe are coming to understand that the rise of China and India means that there will be increasingly less scope for the status...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 30, 2008

Good drinks for those who wait

In most sake breweries, the brewing season is over by May, a month marked by the announcement of the National New Sake Awards, the biggest public prize to which a brewer can aspire. (Those interested can taste some of the prizewinners at the National Sake Fair in Tokyo's Ikebukuro on June 11th.)
JAPAN
May 30, 2008

Reform bill sidesteps 'amakudari'

The Lower House passed a bill Thursday to reform the civil servant system, but the legislation omitted any steps to curb the notoriously corrupt system of "amakudari," the practice whereby bureaucrats retire into lucrative posts in industries they had overseen.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2008

Mr. Ma reaches out

Taiwan has a new president. Mr. Ma Ying-jeou, of the KMT (Nationalist) Party was inaugurated Monday after a decisive win in March's election. In his inaugural remarks, Mr. Ma hit the right notes, reaching out to both Taiwanese at home and Chinese 150 kilometers away across the Taiwan Strait. This is...
Japan Times
JAPAN / AFRICA LIFELINE
May 25, 2008

Opportunity to knock on Japan's door at TICAD, Gabon envoy says

The upcoming conference on African development in Yokohama will showcase opportunities in resource-rich African countries that are hoping to build strategic partnerships with Japan, according to Gabon's ambassador to Japan.
JAPAN
May 23, 2008

If push comes to shove, DPJ won't

Yasuo Fukuda and his Cabinet are sinking, and political analysts say the prime minister's condition is critical. So this would seem like the perfect time for the Democratic Party of Japan to pounce.
Reader Mail
May 22, 2008

The right thing for public health

Tom Plate's May 4 article, "A chance for Beijing to take a stand on health," is insightful in that it points out that health, press freedom and, most of all, human consciousness are our most precious assets. There are no national boundaries for epidemics such as SARS and bird flu. They could occur in...
JAPAN
May 22, 2008

Tokyo Station face-lift adds old, new looks

JR Tokyo Station is in the midst of its first major reconstruction work since the end of the war as part of efforts to revitalize the heart of the capital.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2008

Permanent SDF overseas deployment law endangers democracy

The Japanese government wants permanent legal authority to send military forces overseas. Letting it have it would be a mistake for many reasons, but one seldom raised is the impact the move would have on the nature of Japan's democracy. A law conferring permanent authority to deploy troops would eliminate...
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2008

Mr. Siniora gambles and loses

It is increasingly clear that the administration of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is the government of Lebanon in name only. In deciding to confront Hezbollah last week, Mr. Siniora badly miscalculated, and was forced to make a humiliating retreat. Now, the country teeters on the precipice of a civil...
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2008

What if Barack Obama were a real Muslim?

LOS ANGELES — A significant number of West Virginians (and some others in America) evidently take the view that U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim. In a surpassingly depressing report from the coal-miner state on the eve of Tuesday's West Virginia primary, The Los...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 13, 2008

Top medal eluded 'East L.A. Marine'

Armed but alone, U.S. Marine Pfc. Guy Gabaldon roamed Saipan's caves and pillboxes, persuading enemy soldiers and civilians to surrender during the hellish World War II battle on the island.
COMMENTARY
May 10, 2008

Britain's next government must beat mood of retreat

LONDON — Has the political tide in Britain now turned? And is the Labour Party under Prime Minister Gordon Brown now heading for defeat?
COMMENTARY / World
May 8, 2008

Inflation caused by Ukraine's peg to dollar

KIEV — Inflation in Ukraine is skyrocketing. By March, it reached 26 percent per year and continues to rise. Although prices are increasing around the world, Ukraine's is extreme, twice as much as in neighboring Russia. Amazingly, instead of dampening inflation, Ukraine's central bank is stoking it....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 6, 2008

Would you consider going on strike?

BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
May 5, 2008

Japan lags European peers on female empowerment

The latest EU-Japan summit wrapped up on April 23, with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda holding talks with European Council President Janez Jansa (the Slovenian prime minister) and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The meeting came at a time when both Europe and Japan are facing an enormous...

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