Search - cross-country

 
 
COMMENTARY
Mar 21, 2005

Antisecession law may have opposite effect

HONG KONG -- The impact of the adoption by China of the antisecession law, widely criticized in Taiwan and in the West even before it was unveiled last Monday, may well be the opposite of what the drafters of the controversial legislation intended.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 19, 2005

Unraveling the mysterious choo-choos

Japan is a nation obsessed by trains. Every time you turn on the TV, there is a program about trains. Not necessarily high-speed trains, either. These programs cover trains around the world, celebrities traveling across Japan by train, or just trains choo-chooing peacefully through mountain scenery to...
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2004

Ukraine's poisonous politics

How far will the old order in Ukraine go to safeguard its privileges? News that opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned suggests that it is desperate indeed. Three months after the alleged poisoning, questions continue to mount about how Mr. Yushchenko ingested what should have...
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2004

Casting a wider net against crime

The rising wave of international crime is making it necessary to promote international cooperation in criminal investigations. As a step in this direction, Japan and South Korea have agreed to begin preparatory work on a bilateral treaty that will enable their law-enforcement authorities to conduct joint...
EDITORIALS
Jul 9, 2004

A new face in Indonesia

In a stunning performance, Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a political newcomer, is projected to come out on top in the first round of voting for the presidency of Indonesia. The former general will not cross the 50 percent threshold required to claim the office on the first round; instead, he looks set...
COMMENTARY
Jul 9, 2004

Hu's star will keep rising

HONG KONG -- Ever since Hu Jintao took over as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2002 and assumed the presidency in 2003, there has been much speculation as to whether he really wields the powers of those offices or whether his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who remains head of the armed...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 7, 2004

Much ado about Shakespeare: Reworking a Renaissance giant

SHASHIBIYA: Staging Shakespeare in China, by Li Ruru. Hong Kong University Press, 2003, 306 pp., 14 plates, £21.50 (cloth). It has been 100 years since Shakespeare was first staged in China. His name now sinicized to Shashibiya and even colloquialized, ("Old Man Sha"), productions of his plays continue...
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2003

SDF dispatch plan needs a review

The worsening security situation in Iraq is raising serious doubts about Japan's plan to send troops for humanitarian and reconstruction aid. It looks as if the whole country is slipping into a new "war," with terrorists and guerrillas stepping up attacks on occupation troops as well as civilians. Reinforcing...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2003

Only recourse is to negotiate

Will Myanmar (also known as Burma) be banned from the summit meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations next week? That's not likely, but Myanmar's new prime minister, Gen. Khin Nyunt, could utterly lose face unless the regime frees prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi before the...
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2003

A 'peaceful' parade in Pyongyang

A parade of military hardware was conspicuously absent from North Korea's 55th anniversary celebrations on Tuesday. That seemed to reflect its present external position. Perhaps the country was trying to send a dual message to the world: It wants to reconcile the political imperative of maintaining a...
COMMENTARY
Jun 2, 2003

Visions clash over EU future

LONDON -- It could be the most momentous change in Britain's history or it could be a big yawn -- something that reaches only the most nerdlike minds of constitutional lawyers. Yes, it's the European Union Constitution, worked on for months by a 13-member presidium and a convention of 105 ministers and...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 16, 2003

Enslaved and liberated by lust

CONSUMING BODIES: Sex and Contemporary Japanese Art, edited by Fran Lloyd. London: Reaktion Books, 2002, 224 pp., 134 color and 34 black-and-white illustrations, £16.95 (paper). In her introduction to this very interesting collection of essays, Fran Lloyd emphasizes that the portrayal of sex and consumerism...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2003

North Korea escapees form help group

A group of escapees from North Korea announced Wednesday they have formed an association to help support them in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 25, 2002

Dancing to the Eastern wind of change

Asian performers of contemporary dance embody an inherent contradiction. With their Asian physiques and being raised in Asian cultures, they perform an art form that was pioneered by Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) and developed in the West.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 5, 2002

. . . but soccer hosts are a dream team on stage

As in soccer, so on stage. Japan-Korea collaboration (or is it Korea-Japan collaboration?) is happening all over.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 22, 2002

Japan, South Korea's asylum policies slammed

OSAKA -- The May 8 attempt by five North Korean family members to seek asylum at the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China, was not the first time the consulate has dealt with North Koreans fleeing their country, according to a senior representative of an Osaka-based citizens' group...
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2001

12 Japanese nationals flee Afghanistan

Twelve of the 15 Japanese in Afghanistan have left the country, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday, as fears mounted of an imminent U.S. military campaign in the country in retaliation for Tuesday's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 24, 2001

Charity begins at the checkout

No time for voluntary work? An easy -- and fun -- way to alleviate your conscience is to go shopping.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2001

The hallucinogenic security of nuclear mushroom clouds

When former U.S. President Bill Clinton was recently in India, the story goes, he was walking along the beach one evening in a contemplative mood. Spying an object sticking out of the ground, he pulled it out, gave it a rub to see what it was and found it was a brass lamp. True to form, a genie appeared...
COMMENTARY
Apr 8, 2001

Panic commands a high price

LONDON — The foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain is not devastating British farm production. It is devastating farming's relationship with the rest of Britain. Less than 2 percent of Britain's livestock have been slaughtered either because they have the disease or because, though healthy, they might...
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2001

U.N. should have power to save historic sites: Hirayama

The United Nations should be empowered to protect culturally valuable sites in war-torn, politically unstable and poverty-stricken areas by registering them as World Heritage sites at its own initiative, UNESCO goodwill envoy Ikuo Hirayama says.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 9, 2001

Show me what you've got!

I'd like to greet all the players in the J. League and look forward to seeing the joy of football in Japan this year. I'd specifically like to welcome the new foreign players. My message to you, as well as to the Japanese players, is simply play your best, play football.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 31, 2001

A chaotic Southeast Asian haven

CEBU, Philippines -- Denis is a purple-nosed ex-con with yellow teeth, asterisk eyes receded deep in their sockets and tattoos covering his arms and knuckles.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Dec 6, 2000

Expats all losers, choosers or abusers?

Wetting my whistle on a humid afternoon inside a Tokyo establishment for the soberly impaired, I listened to the following affirmation by a foreign longtime friend.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Sep 7, 2000

Dream Team foes face mission impossible

I left Team USA's practice on Tuesday with one lingering thought: poor Angola. At the time, I didn't even know exactly where Angola was (it turns out it's just north of Namibia along the Rio Cunene, if that helps any). But here's what I already knew about the country: It has a basketball team that's...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2000

People-to-people ties will reunite Korea

Probably the most clear-cut dissimilarity between Germany when it was divided and the present state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula is the status of cross-border people-to-people contacts and relations. In the long years of Germany's division, a multitude of communication channels existed between...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2000

Time for Delhi to show trust in Kashmiris

NEW DELHI -- The Kashmir problem defies solution. Three recent developments have even compounded the impasse.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2000

Japan signals willingness to help Plan Colombia

After months of foot-dragging, Japan appears willing to help Colombia pay for its ambitious, multibillion-dollar plan to crack down on drugs, achieve peace with guerrillas and rebuild its economy.
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 1999

Trade must extend to poorer countries

Prosperous countries in the North, such as the United States, can no longer rely on trade between developed countries led by Fortune 500 corporations alone. Trade must increase in developing countries and transitional economies if all are to benefit from a growing world economy. Policymakers and businesses...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?