Search - international-report

 
 
EDITORIALS
Jul 21, 2007

New warning on oil

Brace for another energy crisis. A new authoritative assessment forecasts sharply higher demand that will raise prices and increase reliance on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and unstable regions for oil supplies. While some experts dismiss the analysis as alarmist, we need...
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2007

Taiwan seen losing military edge to China

The military balance between China and Taiwan is shifting in Beijing's favor and the qualitative superiority of Taipei's fighting force may soon be lost, the Defense Ministry warned Friday in a report.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 29, 2007

Aso Mining's POW labor: the evidence

One year after media reports that Aso Mining used 300 Allied prisoners of war for forced labor in 1945, Foreign Minister Taro Aso is refusing to confirm that POWs dug coal for his family's firm — and even challenging reporters to produce evidence.
EDITORIALS
May 20, 2007

Don't be shy about study abroad

A recent report has found that fewer Japanese students than ever are studying abroad. After a peak in the early 1990s, the numbers have declined to the lowest level in years. Remaining in Japan without experiencing life abroad will have repercussions that may last far into the future. More students should...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 27, 2007

'Multicultural Japan' remains a pipe dream

In February, education minister Bunmei Ibuki called Japan "an extremely homogenous country." Eighteen months earlier, now Foreign Minister Taro Aso described Japan as having "one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture, and one race." What was notable about these comments is that they were...
EDITORIALS
Jan 4, 2007

Deja vu in 2007

Readers should be prepared for a recurring sense of deja vu in the year ahead. Few of the problems that dominated international affairs in 2006 were resolved. The headline issues that absorbed decision makers will continue to demand time and attention in 2007. There is little hope for resolution as neither...
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 10, 2006

Politics at the grass roots

Judging by the society pages of certain publications in Japan, politicians at both the local and national levels seem to spend a lot of their time being photographed with ambassadors, captains of industry, assorted aristocrats, passing film stars and all manner of other folk.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2006

Chaff that sticks to wheat

SYDNEY -- As scandals go in the annals of Australian business, the one over wheat sales to Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime is huge. And the political fallout, both domestic and international, may prove to be even mightier. It leaves many people here and abroad scratching their heads in amazement....
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 25, 2006

Where's the will to break energy status quo?

Berating the Kyoto Protocol for failing to cut greenhouse-gas emissions is a bit like kicking the dog at a party when someone passes wind. Sure, it's nice to skirt the blame, but don't fault the Kyoto accord for society's flatulence.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 26, 2006

Laws, morals and the delay of the financial products trade law

A mid the public uproar over insider trading prompted by the arrest of investment fund manager Yoshiaki Murakami, the Diet quickly enacted a new law to regulate transactions involving financial products on June 7. The legislation combines the previous Securities and Exchange and other laws in an attempt...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2006

Ignored epidemic: violence against women in Russia

NEW YORK -- It is under-recognized and under-reported. It is also one of the most significant epidemics in the Russian Federation today. It is gender violence, manifested essentially as violence against women. A recent report by Amnesty International, "Russian Federation: Nowhere to Turn to: Violence...
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2006

Preventing a flu pandemic

The chances that the avian flu virus will mutate into a form that can be transmitted from human to human is high enough for the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify the present situation as a "pandemic alert." Should a pandemic break out it would likely do so in Asia. Therefore Japan needs to...
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2005

Nuclear foes want Rokkasho, Monju on U.N. nonproliferation agenda

KYOTO -- Japanese and international antinuclear groups plan to use an upcoming United Nations conference on nuclear nonproliferation to push for a moratorium on the Rokkasho atomic fuel reprocessing plant and the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2004

Constitutional revision draft broke no law: probe

The Defense Agency has concluded that a senior Ground Self-Defense Force officer's recent drafting of a constitutional amendment did not breach the principle of civilian control over the military.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 7, 2004

Costly crackdown

Prospects of stricter visa requirements on foreign entertainers wishing to enter Japan worry Filipino recruiters and entertainers who say the restricted entry of Filipino workers into Japan may mean less money for families who depend on remittances being sent by relatives.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2004

Japan to accelerate push for permanent UNSC seat

When United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan met with Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura in Egypt's Sharm el Sheikh last week, he playfully asked whether the so-called G4 nations' campaigning for U.N. Security Council reform stands for the "Gang of Four."
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2004

Japan must open door to foreign workers, panel head says

The government needs to look at the broader picture and actively work to open the domestic labor market to unskilled workers so Japan is not alienated from the global community.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 14, 2004

Japan and the immigration issue

Japan is not ready or willing to accept an immigrant influx, says Barry Brophy One of the great givens regarding Japan's aging population and declining birthrate is that an influx of immigrants, or "replacement migration," is needed if the nation's pension burden is not to become unmanageable, and the...
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2004

DPJ removes itself from Okada's suggestion to revise Article 9

The Democratic Party of Japan on Friday tried to play down its president's remarks in Washington about revising Article 9 of the Constitution.
EDITORIALS
Jul 7, 2004

Constitution remains a major issue

The debate over constitutional reform -- supposedly a crucial issue in Sunday's Upper House election -- remains low-key even as the campaign enters the home stretch. It is fairly clear, though, where main parties stand on this subject -- particularly on war-renouncing Article 9. This election, therefore,...
BUSINESS
May 15, 2004

Nuke power will remain nation's key energy source

Japan will continue to use nuclear power as its main energy source while trying to expand other energy sources to diversify risks, according to an annual report on national energy policy released Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2004

Collins affair rocks Australia

SYDNEY -- Punch-drunk is how one Canberra insider describes the current state of Australia's security intelligence services. Never before in their roller-coaster history have the government's spying and spy-catching bodies been held in such public disrepute.
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2004

Defense policy put to test

With Monday's government order to dispatch the main contingent of ground troops to Iraq, the Self-Defense Forces is ready for full deployment in the conflict-torn country. The troops will be sent in stages, starting with a group of engineers, to Samawah in southern Iraq. With air and navy units also...
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2003

Let's not forget Afghanistan

More than two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the fate of that country is still uncertain. There has been notable progress in installing a working government and in transitioning toward a functioning market economy. There are also ample reasons to be concerned. The central government's...
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2003

Crystals for lasers to be made in space

In a move that could lead to the realization of "space factories," Japan's space agency said Saturday it will make the world's first attempt to manufacture in space photonic crystals to be used in commercial laser equipment.
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2003

Tehran under assault

Iran is under mounting pressure from within and without. Just as the international community is becoming increasingly concerned about Tehran's nuclear program, the regime faces increasing domestic unrest. Conspiracy-minded individuals see the two as linked, the product of U.S. efforts to undermine another...
BUSINESS
May 1, 2003

ANA fails to right '01's financial wrongs

All Nippon Airways Co. said Wednesday it failed in the year to March to rebound from the losses it suffered the year before, blaming its sluggish performance on weak consumer spending and stiff competition on prices.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes