Search - politics

 
 
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2005

War-dead families ask Koizumi to consider Asia

An association of families of the war dead on Saturday asked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to show more consideration for Japan's Asian neighbors over his contentious visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2005

Checking the threat that could be China

HONOLULU -- When U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld addressed the Shangri-la Security Dialogue in Singapore last weekend, most of the attention in the meeting and later in the press focused on his candid comments about China's military strategy, spending and modernization.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2005

Catalyst for global stability

Asia's rapid economic growth, vast population and strategic geographical location are among the factors suggesting that the region should play a more prominent role in the international community. To cite but one example of Asia's influence on global issues, it is predicted that the rapid growth of energy...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2005

China showing a knack for taking risks

SINGAPORE -- A China that is willing to take ideological and political risks is emerging not only in affairs involving Hong Kong and Taiwan but also in the increasingly troubled relations with Tokyo and Washington.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 5, 2005

MLB Japan tries to reassure NPB on World Baseball Classic

Disturbed by repeated media reports saying Nippon Professional Baseball is dissatisfied with the organization and conditions of next year's proposed World Baseball Classic, Major League Baseball's Managing Director in Japan Jim Small invited the media to a coffee session in his Tokyo office on May 30...
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2005

'Europe' on the ropes

To no one's surprise, the Netherlands this week rejected the proposed European Union constitution. Coming on the heels of the French "no" last weekend, the EU now faces a serious reckoning. European leaders insist that the ratification process should proceed on schedule, but the resounding verdicts by...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2005

Koizumi dismissals stir up Kasumigaseki

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last month abruptly dismissed two senior Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry officials he believes were not cooperating with his effort to privatize the postal services.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2005

The Alban Berg Quartett know Schubert inside out

The Alban Berg Quartett occupies a near-legendary position among string quartets. Their technical fluency, the beauty of their playing, the harmony of their interpretation -- have left critics searching for superlatives and ensured their constant demand in recital halls around the world.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 28, 2005

Liverpool's win shows miracles do happen

LONDON -- I now believe I will marry Julia Roberts. I now believe I will win the lottery triple rollover. I now believe I will win the Tour de France, the Olympic 100 meters and climb Mount Everest, possibly all in the same year.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2005

Jakarta and Beijing cozy up

SINGAPORE -- During Chinese President Hu Jintao's recent visit to Jakarta and Bandung for the Golden Jubilee Commemoration of the 1955 Bandung Conference, Indonesian organizers underscored China's place at the conference and Hu stayed an extra day to sign a Strategic Partnership Agreement between Indonesia...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 26, 2005

Mining the Earth's problems for drama

'It starts with the Earth. How can it not?"
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2005

Breaking the legislative logjam

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's campaign to privatize the postal-services system has entered a crucial stage now that the Lower House has set up an ad hoc committee on government-sponsored privatization bills. The establishment of the panel attests to the prime minister's resolve to get the package...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 15, 2005

When law and justice won't mix

JAPAN'S COLONIZATION OF KOREA: Discourse and Power, by Alexis Dudden. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005, 215 pp. $45 (cloth). Lawful and just are two separate things that may be irreconcilable. A good example that offers plenty of material to fathom this out was the annexation of Korea by Japan....
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
May 15, 2005

No laughing matter

O n the stage, Charlie Chaplin was known as the tramp who made millions laugh without saying a word. But in his heart of hearts, it seems the great comic wanted to be a statesman whose words could change history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 2005

Composing with an eye on the big picture

The Aichi Expo, with its theme on "Nature's Wisdom" and its pavilions packed with technological wonders, obviously sees no irony in its situation. This contradiction may be highlighted, however, when composer Philip Glass brings his ensemble to perform the music of "Koyaanisqatsi." Directed by Godfrey...
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2005

Tony Blair's Pyrrhic victory

HONG KONG -- The people of Britain have just re-elected Tony Blair and his Labour Party to a record third successive election victory. But in what should have been his moment of greatest triumph, Blair faces the ultimate question -- when will he give up the job of prime minister?
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 10, 2005

Japan's gender debate

Grave risks Thank you very much for your article "Turning back clock on gender equality."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 8, 2005

TV show scrapes bottom of barrel in bringing Asia to Japan

One of the hoariest cliches of international politics is the idea that governments only have beefs with other governments, not with their citizens. The tragic irony is that the citizens suffer anyway. Maybe the majority of Iraqi people didn't like their tyrant, but one has to wonder how much they accept...
Japan Times
Features
May 8, 2005

It's time to get out there and grrrrrrrill!

Years ago, at a friend's house in Kobe, an intense argument broke out between the Americans and Australians present. It turned into quite a searing row, and for a while it threatened to inflame tempers and disrupt the otherwise festive occasion.
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2005

Journalism turns deadly in the Philippines

MANILA -- Many Filipinos are proud of the freedom the press enjoys in their country but this rosy picture has been tarnished by the killings of a number of journalists. With 13 Filipino journalists killed last year and four media workers murdered so far in 2005, the Philippines -- according to the Brussels-based...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 2, 2005

Sexual, visual politics: from shunga to shojo

GENDER AND POWER IN THE JAPANESE VISUAL FIELD, edited by Joshua S. Mostow, Norman Bryson and Maribeth Graybill. Honolulu: Hawai'i University Press, 2003, 292 pp., 7 color plates, 106 b/w illustrations, $36.00 (cloth). The original impetus for this interesting volume came during the 1994 Kyoto Conference...
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2005

Strong apology needs a willing recipient

HONOLULU -- The issue of Japan's apology for invading China from 1931 to 1945 and occupying Korea from 1910 to 1945 just won't go away, for two reasons:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 1, 2005

Sadako Ogata: Front-line fighter for a better world

Sadako Ogata, formerly United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is one of Japan's most prominent international figures.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2005

Howard scores big in China

SYDNEY -- You can't win 'em all. Fast-jetting Australian Prime Minister John Howard discovered that on his latest barnstorming through East Asia.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Apr 30, 2005

Standing still in time and place

For my money, there are two "not-to-miss" sights in the overall Kanto area.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 29, 2005

Chelsea deserves credit for achievement, but may not get it

LONDON -- When Arsenal won the Premiership title last year even supporters of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, the Gunners' two biggest rivals, had to acknowledge -- albeit through gritted teeth -- that it had been a fabulous achievement.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2005

Cabinet OKs postal reform package amid chaos in LDP

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi finalized a package of postal privatization bills Wednesday night after executives of his Liberal Democratic Party rammed the bills through a series of internal meetings.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Apr 27, 2005

Soft-focus images to unsettle us

The first Yokohama Triennale, held back in 2001, was a critical success, and so I was delighted to hear that the second incarnation of the contemporary art extravaganza has been set for September.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2005

By-election losses dent DPJ's pitch to ditch opposition image

Don't call us an opposition party, says Katsuya Okada, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan.
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2005

Mending battered ties

It appears that Japan-China relations, severely strained by recent anti-Japanese demonstrations in Chinese cities, are beginning to move toward rapprochement. Credit goes to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao, who agreed on the urgent need to improve bilateral ties at a...

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