Search - politics

 
 
Reader Mail
Jan 7, 2007

U.S. seems unable to learn

Regarding Leonard M. Orosco's Dec. 24 letter, "Caving in to U.S. pressure": I would have thought it blindingly obvious from my Dec. 13 letter that British Prime Minister Tony Blair, after having ignored the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the British people not to go to war in Iraq,...
EDITORIALS
Jan 5, 2007

Clean process for governors

Last year saw 15 local government heads arrested in connection with corruption in the bidding process for public projects. Three of them were the governors of Fukushima, Wakayama and Miyazaki prefectures. The elimination of bid rigging will help local government heads regain the trust of local residents....
EDITORIALS
Jan 4, 2007

Deja vu in 2007

Readers should be prepared for a recurring sense of deja vu in the year ahead. Few of the problems that dominated international affairs in 2006 were resolved. The headline issues that absorbed decision makers will continue to demand time and attention in 2007. There is little hope for resolution as neither...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jan 1, 2007

Dreaming of a Japan of United States

A time to dream impossible dreams. The New Year holiday season is surely such a time. And one such dream might be a Japan of United States.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2006

2006, politics and personalities

The year 2006 may best be remembered as a year when outsize personalities drove events -- rather than abstract political forces -- although there were, as always, lingering issues that defied resolution. In Pyongyang, supreme leader Kim Jong Il continued his brinkmanship, struggling to keep the world's...
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2006

Narrowing the great divide

Japanese and Chinese scholars held their first meeting this week in Beijing on a joint project to study both countries' ancient and modern history. Launch of the project had been agreed to in October by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Hu Jintao during their summit in Beijing.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2006

Reform minister Sata exits over fund snafu

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's three-month-old Cabinet suffered another setback Wednesday as administrative reform minister Genichiro Sata resigned after admitting accounting irregularities by one of his political support organizations.
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2006

Nuclear pragmatism

A merican President George W. Bush has signed legislation that lets his country and India cooperate on civilian nuclear-energy programs. The move is likely to be one of the legacies of Mr. Bush's presidency: It is the cornerstone of his attempt to forge a new relationship between the two countries.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 24, 2006

Word power: 'The way' and the way you say it

OGYU SORAI'S PHILOSOPHICAL MASTERWORKS: The Bendo and Benmei, edited and translated by John A. Tucker. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006, 478 pp., $56 (cloth). One of the foremost thinkers of our time, Noam Chomsky, has argued that the United States is a rogue state. To arrive at this conclusion,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2006

Warming to carbon rations

LONDON -- Here's the plan. Everybody in the country will get the same allowance for how much carbon dioxide they can emit each year, and every time they buy some product that involves carbon dioxide emissions -- filling their car, paying their utility bills, buying an airline ticket -- carbon points...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2006

Pigs, calves and democracy in America

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- Amid all the headlines about the Democrats gaining control of the U.S. Congress in the November elections, one big election result was largely ignored. Although it illuminated the flaws of America's political system, it also restored my belief in the compassion of ordinary Americans....
CULTURE / Books
Dec 17, 2006

Economic power struggles in Asia

JAPAN IN A DYNAMIC ASIA: Coping With the New Security Challenges, edited by Yoichiro Sato and Satu Limaye. Lexington Books, 2006, 271 pp., 2006 (paper). Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he will pursue a more assertive foreign policy. That won't be easy, report the authors of this comprehensive survey...
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2006

More fluid politics in Taiwan

Results of recent mayoral elections in Taiwan's two largest cities must have come as some relief for President Chen Shui-bian and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Although the opposition Kuomintang or Nationalist Party (KMT) took the capital of Taipei -- with Mr. Hau Lung-bin beating Mr....
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2006

Abe at crossroads of reform

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's two-month-old administration stands at the crossroads of how to implement the reform agenda inherited from the previous government of Junichiro Koizumi.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2006

Chaff that sticks to wheat

SYDNEY -- As scandals go in the annals of Australian business, the one over wheat sales to Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime is huge. And the political fallout, both domestic and international, may prove to be even mightier. It leaves many people here and abroad scratching their heads in amazement....
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2006

Russian elite still see U.S. as bogeyman

WASHINGTON -- An old saying in politics in Moscow is that relations between the United States and Russia are always better when a Republican rules in the White House. We are statesmen, and the Republicans are statesmen. Because we both believe in power, it is easy for the two of us to understand each...
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2006

Rolling back a dictatorship

Fifteen years after signing the Paris peace accord that ended its civil war, Cambodia has emerged as a full-fledged member of the international community. It joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1999 and the World Trade Organization in 2004.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 3, 2006

Your money's no object for Ishihara and his 'fourth son'

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara is the most transparent politician in Japan, which is good in that transparency is always welcome in matters of public policy and Japanese politics is prominently lacking in it.
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 2006

Peace at the top of the world

Citizens of Nepal have been rejoicing since their political leaders agreed to a peace deal that ended 10 years of bitter and bloody civil war. The accord lays the foundation for a durable peace in Nepal, but much depends -- as always -- on its implementation. Two other factors will also have a profound...
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2006

11 postal reform foes get nod to rejoin LDP and justify flip-flop

The 11 postal reform rebels Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is welcoming back into the ruling Liberal Democratic Party spoke Tuesday about why they voted against the legislation and then reversed themselves.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 27, 2006

U.S. democracy isn't a suitable export

NEW YORK -- The cover of The New Yorker the week after the Nov. 7 midterm elections showed a giant elephant statue being toppled, with people in the lawn way below jubilant and the White House beyond with the U.S. flag atop it at half mast.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2006

National security debate mushrooming since Oct. 9

security debate has been lacking. (We) have just come to think about how we should cope with various developments in the real world, as people in other countries do," Nukaga said. The long taboo of discussing going nuclear was most recently broached by Shoichi Nakagawa, LDP policy chief. Nakagawa said...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Nov 25, 2006

A land without similes

If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times.
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2006

Working for a better society

Japan's population began to shrink in 2005 and society continued to grow older. That year, people aged 60 or older accounted for 21 percent of the population, making Japan one of the grayest countries in the world. Taking these factors into consideration, the 2006 welfare and labor white paper compiled...
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2006

Politics of an energy boost

Recent events surrounding energy-development projects overseas highlight resource-poor Japan's vulnerability. They underscore the need for both the government and the private sector to develop a multipronged long-term strategy that will enable the nation to flexibly cope with unexpected changes in the...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2006

Al-Jazeera media revolution turns 10

JERUSALEM -- From its first appearance, the new satellite channel broadcast from Qatar lived up to its name. Al-Jazeera -- Arabic for "the island" -- represented a haven of professional, independent, current-affairs programming in a sea of one-sided, government-controlled Arab media.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2006

Wasted chance as Taiwan's president

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- Taiwan's public prosecutor has indicted the wife of President Chen Shui-bian for embezzling public funds. Chen, as a sitting president, cannot be indicted even though the prosecutor says he has evidence to prove his guilt. But Chen's legacy was already in tatters.

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