Search - local-elections

 
 
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2011

Integration, radiation top Kansai poll agenda

OSAKA — Further regional integration and the future of nuclear power in the prefecture with the nation's largest number of reactors are topping voter concerns in Kansai heading into the April 10 elections.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2010

Can Kan survive the leadership gauntlet?

Japan has gone through prime ministers at a dizzying rate — Naoto Kan is the sixth in the last four years, and 14th over the past two decades — the highest turnover among the major industrialized countries.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / JAPAN-U.S. SYMPOSIUM
May 15, 2010

Japan, U.S. need closer cooperation

There is concern in Washington over the future of the Japan-U.S. alliance at a time when the two countries should be working close together on a broad range of international issues, including North Korea and Iran, U.S. foreign policy experts said at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2010

King Bhumipol's last play

HONG KONG — It is not easy to see any way out from the present impasse in Thailand, which has seen successive governments at the mercy of mob rule while the security forces have failed to do their duty.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2010

Democracies that lack liberty

BEPPU, Oita Pref. — Around the world, our generation is witnessing the three Ds: deregulation, decentralization and, ultimately, democratization. The export of democracy is no doubt one of the most important items on the Western foreign policy agenda. Nevertheless, the effort seems to bring more failures...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2010

Year of U.S.-China discord?

NEW YORK — In 2009, Forbes magazine named U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao the "world's most powerful people." In 2010, we will discover that neither has the power to keep U.S.-Chinese relations on track. That is bad news for those who believe that U.S.-China cooperation...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2009

Yet another 'Battle of Okinawa'

CANBERRA — Elections in August gave Japan a new government, headed by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. In electing him and his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the Japanese people, like the American people less than a year earlier, were opting for change. Remarkably, however, what followed on the part...
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2009

Mr. Hatoyama at the DPJ's helm

The Democratic Party of Japan on Saturday elected its secretary general, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, as its new leader, ending an internal dispute that has rocked the party since the March 3 arrest of former party leader Mr. Ichiro Ozawa's chief aide for alleged political donation irregularities. Mr. Hatoyama...
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2009

Moment of truth for Afghanistan

This week U.S. President Barack Obama faces a real test of his powers of persuasion when he attends a NATO summit and presses his allies to step up their presence in Afghanistan. Success depends not only on his words but also on the new strategy his administration has adopted to stabilize that embattled...
EDITORIALS
Mar 26, 2008

Fertile ground for policy formation

More than 100 Diet members from the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, the Democratic Party of Japan and Kokumin Shinto have formed a supra-partisan lawmakers' association in response to a call by Sentaku (Choice), a policy study group mainly pushing for devolution and elections based on concrete and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2008

Insurrections push Philippines to the brink

MANILA —The current president of the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo, whose election in 2004 was deeply flawed, but probably not fraudulent, is currently beset by a sea of troubles that threaten to overwhelm her regime.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2007

Winner with 'no connections'

Election of TV entertainer Mr. Sonomanma Higashi on Sunday as governor of Miyazaki shows that voters are looking for a fresh politician -- someone who has no connections with traditional political forces or vested interests. Such a sentiment among Miyazaki voters should have been strong because the election...
EDITORIALS
Nov 30, 2006

LDP's opportunistic move

The Liberal Democratic Party's move to readmit into its fold 11 Lower House members who were kicked out of the party for opposing postal service privatization bills is widely regarded as an act of political expediency. It is designed to use the political resources of these Diet members, who have strong...
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2006

The landslide in Washington

As anticipated, Democrats are the big winners in this week's elections in the United States. After 12 years, the party regained control of the House of Representatives with at least a 12-seat majority and, after a neck-and-neck race in Virginia, claimed 51 of the Senate's 100 seats.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 19, 2006

European politics swing right

BRUSSELS -- Europe is in danger of seeing its extreme-right parties move into the mainstream. The message has changed. Anti-Semitism has metamorphosed into "Islamophobia" since 9/11, finding a popular resonance with those bearing the consequences of the war on terror. Islamophobia has become the prejudice...
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2006

Rebels return to haunt LDP

An aftereffect of the legislative battle over postal service privatization a year ago now vexes the Liberal Democratic Party leadership. It is how to treat Diet members who rebelled against the party by voting against the privatization bills.
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2004

Political parties amassed 319.6 billion yen in donations last year

Political parties raked in 319.6 billion yen in 2003, marking a 10.8 percent rise from 2002 and the first increase in three years, according to a tally of government political fund reports.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Sep 23, 2004

Putin's bloodless coup d'etat

MOSCOW -- In what amounts to a coup d'etat five years after he came to power in August 1999, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a number of measures annihilating the fragile system of checks and balances constructed during President Boris Yeltsin's tenure in the 1990s.
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2004

Campaigns fail education role

MANILA -- Ideally, an electoral campaign in a democracy offers the voter the chance to study the available alternatives before deciding which options are most compatible with his or her individual preferences. In this sense, electoral campaigns should be exercises in political education.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2004

Reliance on Komeito reflects LDP decline

Soon after the Nov. 9 general election of the House of Representatives, the Democratic Party of Japan compiled a thick report analyzing the results of all 300 single-seat constituencies.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Dec 11, 2003

A step back for democracy

MOSCOW -- Last Sunday's parliamentary elections in Russia have resulted in a sweeping defeat of democracy and a new start for the Russian nationalists.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2003

China dreads contagion of unrest

SINGAPORE -- The heavy losses suffered by proadministration and pro-Beijing parties in Hong Kong's Nov. 23 municipal elections clearly bore out a prodemocracy message.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2003

British National Party must be stopped

BRUSSELS -- There has been a step-change in the activity and success of the British National Party. It is now a serious element in electoral politics. Driven by new ways to attract voters, party members no longer cry "repatriation." Instead, their slogan "pensioners before asylum seekers" is aimed at...
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2003

Lower House set to be dissolved in October for election, Koizumi hints

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave a strong hint Saturday that he will dissolve the House of Representatives in October, saying he will make a decision on the timing after taking into consideration Lower House by-elections scheduled for late October.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2003

Too rich, too complex to be run by slaves

HONG KONG -- China's new premier, Wen Jiabao, on his first visit to Hong Kong in his new job gave a resounding speech, declaring that local people were in charge of their own destiny. The question now is whether he meant it and whether the leaders in Beijing are prepared to trust the maturity of Hong...
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2003

Asian politicians slowly embrace the Net

MANILA -- Irrespective of ideological leanings, all politicians are keen on receiving media coverage. As one U.S. political campaign publication noted, "If you don't exist in the media, you don't exist."

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight