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JAPAN
Dec 24, 2003

Political entities' fundraising powers on wane

The amount of funds raised by political entities in 2002 fell 11 percent from the previous year to 287.9 billion yen, according to a Kyodo News tally released Tuesday.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2003
Nov 8, 2003

Campaign financing still high, murky

"Five pass, four fail."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 22, 2003

We cannot forget Taiwan

TAIWAN: A Political History, by Denny Roy. Cornell University Press, 2003, 255 pp., $18.95 (paper). With international attention focused on Iraq and North Korea, the Taiwan problem has vanished from the headlines. It won't go away, however; geography and politics guarantee that. Put this break to productive...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 3, 2002

Japan masters the art of noise

There is no cure, no medicine, no surgery that can reverse the damage done. You probably won't die of it, but the unknowing victims number in their millions and are usually only diagnosed after it is much too late. This totally preventable scourge is noise pollution and Japan is arguably one the world's...
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2002

Le Pen victory a dark sign of the times

LONDON -- Political experts of all shades have been professing surprise and amazement that Jean-Marie Le Pen, with his wild mixture of views, some overtly racist, should have collected around 17 percent of the votes in the first round of the French presidential elections. But the real surprise is that...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2001

Myanmar's Shan State: a complex tragedy

THAI-MYANMAR BORDER -- Mae Sai is the end of the road in northern Thailand. This is not to suggest that the lackluster town is undeveloped: It does a roaring trade in gemstones (both real and fake), tourist trinkets, snacks and all kinds of contraband. It's literal. The main street, Pahonyotin, runs...
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2001

Koizumi poised to clinch poll, prime ministership

Former Health and Welfare Minister Junichiro Koizumi was running far ahead of his main competitor, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, in the LDP presidential primaries Sunday, virtually assuring his victory to replace Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2001

LDP presidential candidates spar over cure for economy

The four hopefuls in the race to replace Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori remained divided Sunday over their prescriptions for Japan's diseased economy.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2001

Ex-Prime Minister Hashimoto top candidate to replace Mori

The Liberal Democratic Party's factional interests appear to have put former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto into pole position in the race to find a successor to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2001

Upper House poll to usher in delay in vote-counting

The government plans to ease its rules mandating instant election returns by allowing votes for this summer's House of Councilors poll to be counted the day after balloting takes place, government officials said.
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 1999

Rudderless politics for Japan

The year that is now passing saw a giant coalition government come into being, with a triumvirate of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and New Komeito controlling about 70 percent of the influential Lower House and more than half of the Upper House.
The 1975 perform at the Brit Awards at the O2 Arena in London in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jul 22, 2023

Malaysia halts music festival after same-sex kiss by U.K. band The 1975

Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Rights groups have warned of growing intolerance against the country's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki speaks during an interview in his Tokyo office on September 7
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 12, 2023

Japan's opposition struggles to move beyond political fragmentation

The leadership race for the DPP has reignited debate over the state of the opposition, with calls for a united front clashing with divisions over policy.
Bianca Vara, a Democrat and grandmother of five, at the flea market where she runs a stall in Chamblee, Georgia, on Thursday. American voters’ broad discontent with the disarray in Washington transcends political parties, race, age and geography. "Disgust isn’t a strong enough word,” said Vara.
WORLD
Oct 7, 2023

Americans are too turned off by Washington to even complain

Griping about politics is a time-honored American pastime — but lately, the country’s political mood has plunged to some of the worst levels on record.
The rural economy has been hurt by a drop in the output of some key crops, such as wheat, in the past three years due to a rise in temperatures, patchy monsoon rains and falling reservoir levels.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 1, 2024

World-beating growth? Not for India's rural majority

For many in rural India, which is home to 60% of its 1.4 billion people, the country's so-called spectacular economic growth is nowhere in sight.
Wall Street giants are endorsing India as the prime investment destination for the coming decade.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 6, 2024

Wall Street snubs China for India in a historic markets shift

India has vastly expanded infrastructure under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his bid to lure global capital and supply lines away from Beijing.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during an interview at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Feb. 4. Yoon has been working to cheer domestic retail investors, who have been heavy sellers of Seoul shares.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Feb 23, 2024

Seoul hopes Japan stock playbook can narrow 'Korea discount'

Reforms floated last month by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol may not continue to boost the Seoul bourse, analysts say.
An image taken from video released by Roman Starovoit, governor of the Kursk region of Russia, last month purportedly shows firefighters working to extinguish flames at an oil depot after a Ukrainian drone strike.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 15, 2024

Ukraine, stalled on the battlefield, targets Russia’s oil industry

This year, Ukraine has claimed responsibility for nearly a dozen assaults on Russian oil infrastructure.
Giant cut-outs of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other party leaders are positioned beside a road in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Feb. 25.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 21, 2024

Hardships and broken promises no hindrance for Modi in India's rural north

If India's prime minister earns a third term in office, it will be in spite of the state of the rural and farming economy — not because of it.
The Brisbane skyline in 2021
OLYMPICS
Apr 3, 2024

Olympians call for Brisbane 2032 stadium rethink

The 14 Olympians and Paralympians said in a letter that the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre (QSAC) was not a suitable venue for the Olympics.
Peru's President Dina Boluarte, who is facing an inquiry into possible illicit enrichment and failure to declare ownership of luxury watches, addresses the audience during an assistance program for the elderly, in Lima on Feb. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2024

How Rolexes put Peru's presidency at risk

Dina Boluarte is under investigation for illicit enrichment for possessing luxury timepieces watches without proving how she got them.
A voter casts their ballot at a polling station in Seoul early on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 10, 2024

Opposition projected to retain majority in South Korean parliament

The Democratic Party and its satellites are forecast to win between 184 and 197 seats, up from 156 in the last parliament.
South Korean officials count ballots following a parliamentary election on April 10. President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative bloc is set for a major setback in a vote for a new parliament, exit polls showed, likely meaning he will be in a weak position for the remaining three years of his term and face political gridlock.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 18, 2024

Billionaire families lose hope for tax cut after Korean vote

South Korea’s regular maximum inheritance levy of as much as 50% is the second-highest among members of the OECD, after 55% in Japan.
Smoke rises in the distance as a burnt vehicle blocks a road near the Montravel area of Noumea, New Caledonia, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 21, 2024

Australia and New Zealand send evacuation flights to New Caledonia

Australia and New Zealand said they will send government planes to New Caledonia on Tuesday to evacuate nationals from the French territory, which has experienced a week of deadly riots sparked by electoral changes by the French government in Paris.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, soaked in rain,  pauses as he delivers a speech to announce July 4 as the date of the U.K.'s next general election, at 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2024

Sunak gambles on July 4 election as Tories struggle in polls

The leading opposition party holds a poll lead of about 20 points that Sunak has been unable to shift since he took over from Liz Truss in late 2022.
Managing India's regional tensions will be critical for the nation's future, as demographic shifts and economic disparities threaten to exacerbate existing divides.
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2024

Hindu-Muslim split isn’t India’s most dangerous divide

If the long-established consensus around states’ rights continues to erode, India will be in real trouble.
Entrepreneur Lee Hee-tae at his office in Seoul. Lee had planned South Korea's largest sex festival in April, but the two-day event was banned by authorities following a backlash by local rights groups.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 30, 2024

Pervert or pioneer? The entrepreneur trying to get South Korea into porn

The South Korean adult content industry produces around 2,000 adult movies a year, compared with Tokyo's 2,000 a day $36.5-billion-dollar behemoth.
A Liberal Democratic Party fundraising event in Tokyo in 2023
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 31, 2024

Why Japanese politics can't quit fundraising parties

To succeed in Japanese politics, it’s long been said that a politician must have, among other things, a fat purse.
France's President Emmanuel Macron looks on as he delivers a speech at New Caledonia's High Commissioner residency in Noumea on May 22, during his trip to the Pacific archipelago.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2024

A Pacific island in flames cuts Macron’s global ambition down to size

The French president's decision of pushing through a contentious law before New Caledonia’s provincial elections has developed into a lasting problem for the Elysee.
The Taung Kalat Buddhist complex on Mount Popa in central Myanmar's Mandalay Region on July 7. A shrine perched on an extinct volcano in Myanmar once thronged with the bustle of pilgrims praying to flower-eating spirit Popa Maedaw, but civil war has cut the complex off from the faithful.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 31, 2024

War in Myanmar heartlands silences volcano shrine

The plains around the temple are now a battle zone, with the faithful blocked from access by fighting and checkpoints.

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