Search - politics

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 7, 2004

Jill Scott: "Beautiful Human"

Originally a street poet who found her singing voice after she sat in with The Roots in her hometown of Philadelphia, Jill Scott was pushed a little too fast on an audience that still hadn't completely digested the neo-soul stylings of Erykah Badu and Angie Stone. On her first album, Scott's earthiness...
COMMENTARY
Nov 7, 2004

Silence the loose cannons

HONOLULU -- The U.S. presidential election is finally over! Now the hard part begins. I'm not talking about getting North Korea back to the negotiating table; that will come soon enough. Now that Pyongyang knows it has no choice but to deal with the Bush administration, it will find a way to resume the...
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2004

Koizumi, Bush like two peas in a pod

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi displayed typical forthrightness last month when he openly backed President George W. Bush -- a man he calls his friend -- in the U.S. presidential election.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2004

Surely U.S. set to reconcile

WASHINGTON -- After a campaign that stressed the importance of continuity, some might expect few changes in policies during the second term of President George W. Bush. But the outcome of this bitterly fought election has clarified many issues in the United States and will send a signal far beyond America....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2004

U.S. will also lose if it sells out Taiwan

NEW YORK -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, during a recent visit to China, provoked a diplomatic uproar when he said that Taiwan is not a sovereign state and that the United States seeks to bring about Taiwan's reunification with China.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2004

U.S. pressure on North may sideline abductee resolution

U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to increase pressure on North Korea over the Pyongyang nuclear threat in his second term -- something Japan does not want, experts say.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2004

Tokyo can expect stronger ties, demands

George W. Bush's re-election to another four years in the White House will ensure that strengthening the U.S. security alliance with Japan remains a major component of bilateral ties.
EDITORIALS
Nov 4, 2004

Ukraine makes a crucial choice

A mid the clamor and confusion of the U.S. elections, it is easy to forget that ballots are being held elsewhere in the world. This week Ukraine held a presidential election, and while the outcome will not shape international politics as much as the U.S. vote, it will be significant nevertheless. The...
JAPAN
Nov 3, 2004

Nakao's prison term suspended due to sickness

The Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office decided Tuesday to suspend a prison sentence handed down against former construction minister Eiichi Nakao, who was found guilty of bribe taking, because he is ill.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2004

Kanzaki gets new term at New Komeito helm

New Komeito, the junior but pivotal member of the ruling coalition, re-elected Takenori Kanzaki as its leader at a party convention Sunday in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 31, 2004

Todd Snider: "East Nashville Skyline"

Leaving Seattle six CDs ago to travel the country writing songs, Todd Snider has steeped his craft in a wealth of experience. As he sings on "Age Like Wine," the opener to "East Nashville Skyline," he's gone through, "Seven managers, five labels/a thousand picks and patched cables/three vans, a band/a...
EDITORIALS
Oct 30, 2004

Mr. Tsutsumi's lack of accountability

To the dismay of many people, the stock scandal involving Seibu Railway Co. has exposed a cloistered corporate culture. Seibu -- which went public more than half a century ago -- allegedly filed a false securities report to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It is also suspected of illegal insider trading....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 28, 2004

Where the candidates stand on your environment

When it comes to politics, I'm a one-issue voter, and the environment is my litmus test. More often than not, if a politician is responsive to environmental concerns, then he or she is likely to support other policies I care about.
COMMENTARY
Oct 24, 2004

The alliance hasn't expired

HONOLULU -- Much recent U.S. strategic thinking about Asia has focused on China or the prospect of a nuclear-armed North Korea. These concerns have overshadowed important changes in Japan that have been influenced in part by developments in those two countries.
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2004

Bracing for an ugly two weeks

The U.S. presidential election is less than two weeks away. With both candidates running neck and neck, the election is still too close to call. Poll watchers worry that the victor will not be known even after the polls close: dysfunctional voting machinery and legal challenges may hold up results for...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2004

Power of opinion rising in Muslim Asia

SINGAPORE -- Three major political events in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bandar Seri Begawan the past month could have profound effects on the rising power of civil society and of party and public opinion in Southeast Asia.
COMMENTARY
Oct 18, 2004

Balancing work with other ways of life

LONDON -- Alan Milburn, the British secretary of state for health, resigned last year to "spend more time with his family." This excuse has often been used to cover some misdemeanor or a falling out with colleagues, but in this case it seems to have been genuine.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 17, 2004

Revealing true colors of Chinese justice

WHEN RED IS BLACK, by Qiu Xiaolong. Soho Press Inc., 2004, 309 pp., $25 (cloth). Like so many other inventions and contraptions that have filtered down throughout history, fictionalized stories of crime and detection are believed to have originated in China. Whodunits set in the Middle Kingdom have been...
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2004

A peace overture from Taiwan

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian last weekend bid to improve relations with China. In his National Day speech, Mr. Chen called on Beijing to resume long-stalled talks and help build confidence and lower tension across the Taiwan Strait. Critically, he seems willing to resume talks on the basis of the...
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2004

An aviation milestone

I f it didn't cross your mind while watching video footage of SpaceShipOne streaking into space over California's Mojave Desert on Monday, there were plenty of commentators on hand to jog your sense of history. One was Gregg Maryniak, executive director of the foundation that offered a $10 million prize...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 9, 2004

Sisterly reporting from Catholic feminist view

It comes as quite a surprise when Joan Chittister opens her hotel room door. All photos seen to date suggest a rather fearsome individual. Here instead is a smiling roly-poly figure in a casual two-piece summer suit. All she needs is a large white apron and she could be a merry farmer's wife instead...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Oct 9, 2004

When stumped, real English teachers 'goflibberate'

The other day I had coffee with a foreign friend who bore the fizzled hair and drooping face of long years of English teaching in Japan. It looked like the blood had been sucked from his skin and bicycle-pumped into his eyeballs.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 9, 2004

Real Madrid already on defensive over signing of Owen

LONDON -- It usually means the kiss of death for a coach and it is almost unprecedented for a player to be given a vote of confidence, but Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has spoken up for his non-striking striker Michael Owen, who has come under fire after failing to score since his arrival from...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2004

Expect loose reins on Japan

LAS VEGAS -- For decades, Tokyo has wanted to be treated like a "normal" nation free from the constraints of the Occupation Era and U.S. foreign-policy dominance. Well, Japan is on the edge of realizing that dream, but the costs will be the end of the special U.S.-Japan relationship and the emergence...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 5, 2004

Does Japan deserve a seat on the U.N. Security Council?

Gordon Steel Student, 20 From an economic point of view, perhaps, but from a political, international relations point of view, no. Japan isn't much of a player unless they need resources. When it comes to international incidents they tend to play a minor role. Japan's star is falling and they don't get...
COMMENTARY
Oct 4, 2004

Staying on path of resistance

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi defines the aim of his new Cabinet as "privatizing the postal services." The new executive lineup of the Liberal Democratic Party, of which he is president, attests to the importance he attaches to postal privatization as the mainstay of his "structural reform" agenda....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 3, 2004

The writings of Mori Ogai, a multifaceted Meiji intellect

NOT A SONG LIKE ANY OTHER: An Anthology of Writings by Mori Ogai, edited by J. Thomas Rime. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004, $42 (cloth). Editor J. Thomas Rimer includes in this anthology an excellent introduction that clearly and succinctly outlines Mori Ogai's achievements and expands readers'...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 2, 2004

Democrats Abroad: last chance to vote Bush out

Lauren Shannon is both a director and the front-of-house manager of Fujimamas, the highly successful restaurant bar and cafe in Jingumae, central Tokyo. An American citizen, she is also the vice chair of Democrats Abroad.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2004

Toward ASEAN integration

SINGAPORE -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has begun a more promising phase of its integrative process in the face of three formidable challenges:
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2004

LDP promise to revise political funds law shrouded in doubt

Responding to recent money scandals involving Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers, the secretaries general of the two ruling parties agreed Thursday they would make an effort to revise the Political Funds Control Law.

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