Search - article

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2001

India's barbaric idea of school discipline

Corporal punishment has no place in a civilized society. Yet a recent High Court judgment in the southern Indian state of Kerala recently upheld the legitimacy of this method of punishing a child.
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 21, 2001

Tiny birds and dwindling treasure

BANGKOK -- Imagine for a moment that you are an edible-nest swiftlet. You are a dusky bird, tiny enough to fit in the palm of a hand. In southern Thailand, where you live, you soar above the turquoise waters and jungle-clad islands of the Andaman Sea. You build your nests inside island caves hidden by...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2001

Osaka leaders' talk fest serves up more than usual platitudes

KYOTO -- When the Kansai region's leaders gather here every year for a two-day seminar to discuss the regional economy, corporate heads, economists and local government officials pontificate on issues ranging from information technology to employment.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Bar 'problem pupils' from classrooms: draft bill

A government-sponsored draft bill to revise the School Education Law calls for elementary and junior high school students who inflict either physical or mental injuries on teachers or other students to be kept out of schools.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2001

Bar 'problem pupils' from classrooms: draft bill

A government-sponsored draft bill to revise the School Education Law calls for elementary and junior high school students who inflict either physical or mental injuries on teachers or other students to be kept out of schools.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2001

Reflections on a ticklish relationship

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- While I fully endorse the spirit and the letter of a recent article in The Japan Times by former British Ambassador Sir Hugh Cortazzi on civil servants and politicians, I am conscious that what follows may be dismissed as an instance of the well-known bureaucratic tendency to...
COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2001

Which 'global standard'?

At the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland last month, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara reportedly attracted more attention than Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2001

Public incentives urged to help Kansai economy

KYOTO -- Kansai region business leaders on Thursday called for increased local government involvement in business promotion, strengthened relations with Asia and better understanding of the security arrangement with the U.S. during their annual seminar here.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2001

Quake made worse by greed and ineptness

NEW DELHI -- The earthquake that devastated many parts of India's western state of Gujarat opened a Pandora's Box, out of which tumbled a shocking spectacle of ignorance and mismanagement driven by greed and callousness.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2001

Air traffic control to be improved

Air traffic control systems will be upgraded after investigators determined incorrect instructions from controllers caused Wednesday's near collision between two Japan Airlines jetliners, the Transport Ministry announced Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2001

Air traffic control to be improved

Air traffic control systems will be upgraded after investigators determined incorrect instructions from controllers caused Wednesday's near collision between two Japan Airlines jetliners, the Transport Ministry announced Saturday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 1, 2001

Making work a lifestyle choice instead of just making a living

In an effort to get some idea of why the suicide rate among college students is on the rise, the weekly magazine AERA recently sent a reporter to the Muroran Institute of Technology, where there have been seven student suicides in the last two years.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2001

Nukaga promises to clear his name

Fukushiro Nukaga, who stepped down from his post last week as minister of economic and fiscal policy, announced Tuesday his intention to explain his involvement with the scandal-tainted mutual aid organization KSD at a political ethics council.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2001

It's up to Japan to act on trade ties

The new administration of George W. Bush has placed low priority on trade policy toward Japan, making it crucial that Tokyo take the initiative in developing closer trans-Pacific economic ties rather than waiting for overtures from Washington, a U.S. think tank member told a symposium held just before...
COMMENTARY
Jan 24, 2001

Time for Japan to root out corruption

LONDON -- Fifty years ago this year, the San Francisco Peace Treaty was signed and the Japanese government began preparing to resume full sovereignty. Then-Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida was a shrewd politician. He knew that the peace treaty, despite the difficulties some of the clauses would cause for...
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2001

FSA should hire experts to enhance effectiveness of No-Action Letter system

Third in a series
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2001

Avoiding generalizations about ASEAN

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Recent days have seen the emergence of a number of cliches in the press with reference to policies and trends in Asia and particularly to ASEAN. Among the most common are the following:
COMMENTARY
Jan 19, 2001

Mori's fate hangs on Upper House election

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will face a moment of truth in the Upper House election scheduled for July. Results of the election could cause serious political turmoil.
CULTURE / Books
Jan 16, 2001

New looks at an enduring alliance

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON U.S.-JAPAN RELATIONS, edited by Gerald Curtis. Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 2000, 302 pp., paper. JAPAN-U.S. ALLIANCE: New Challenges for the 21st Century, edited by Nishihara Masashi. Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 2000, 191 pp., paper. It's...
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2001

Hiranuma welcomes Zoellick nomination

Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry on Friday hailed President-elect George W. Bush's decision to name Robert Zoellick as his nominee for U.S. trade representative.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2001

APEC paving the way for cooperation

We believe history will judge the eighth APEC Economic Leaders Meeting held in Brunei Darussalam Nov. 15-16 an important milestone in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's mission to create a peaceful, prosperous and open Pacific community. The Brunei meeting saw three "firsts" for APEC.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2001

Book of Allied surrender fliers proves hot draw for publisher

OSAKA -- The publisher of a book reproducing a series of "rakkasan" (parachute) news leaflets that were dropped on battlefields in Japan and Southeast Asia by the U.S. military toward the end of World War II is excited over the high demand for his book.
CULTURE / Music / HOGAKU TODAY
Jan 6, 2001

Japanese music gets support from New Year's tradition

New Year's in Japan is a period when Japanese suddenly seem to "rediscover" their traditional music. Radio and television stations, which, except for NHK, practically ignore traditional music for most of the year, get into the seasonal spirit and air programs of the classical performing and theatrical...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 5, 2001

Have Japanese novelists lost touch with readers?

The fading interest in reading among younger Japanese first caused alarm several years ago in Japan, but I was recently startled to see a full page devoted to the topic in The New York Times' Book Review section (Dec. 10).
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

A question of hegemony

An implicit alliance has emerged in Washington since the Cold War's end between avowedly "Wilsonian" liberals, anxious to extend American influence and federate the democracies, and unilateralist neoconservative believers in U.S. power projection, who call for American world leadership, aggressively...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2001

Toward mutually assured peace

As we enter the 21st century, recent trends in technological development make the problems of nuclear weapons a pressing issue requiring greater attention and a more serious response.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building