Search - international-reports

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2006

Australia's dirty little secret

SYDNEY -- A dirty little secret in Australian society has been exposed, and federal and state governments are maneuvering to clean up the mess or face international condemnation for allegedly allowing the violation of human rights.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 14, 2006

Bewitching tales of when a foreign woman takes a Japanese man

Though it boasts one of the highest living standards in the world and a crime rate that is low compared to other developed countries, many of its citizens believe that Japan is a very difficult place to live for non-Japanese. The most commonly held reason for this belief is that the language and social...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 7, 2006

So what did Yokota's trip to the United States really achieve?

National interest is in the eye of the beholder. For example, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi traveled to Ethiopia and Ghana last week to offer aid, but also to reinvigorate the African Union's support for reform of the U.N. Security Council, of which Japan still hopes to become a permanent member....
EDITORIALS
Apr 19, 2006

An unhealthy blast from the past

The ruling coalition has agreed to include a clause on patriotism in a bill that will revise the Fundamental Law of Education for the first time, although Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has not decided when to send the bill to the Diet. The 1947 law, although drafted under the leadership of the Occupation...
COMMENTARY
Apr 15, 2006

2006 is all about democracy

HONOLULU -- The 2006 National Security Strategy (NSS) document has just been released. News coverage has focused on one word: preemption. Largely overlooked has been the much greater emphasis on the promotion of democracy as the primary objective of American foreign policy in the second administration...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 11, 2006

Sick, desperate Japanese turn to booming Chinese organ trade

When Kenichiro Hokamura's kidneys failed, he spent four years on dialysis before going online to check out rumors of organs for sale.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2006

Canberra-Jakarta ties sink

SYDNEY -- Fragile relations between Indonesia and Australia have taken a nosedive, again, and Canberra is concerned that any sudden venting of anger in Jakarta may wreck years of painstaking efforts at building up mutual good will. The Indonesian ambassador has been recalled from Canberra "for consultations."...
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2006

No more tax money to U.S.

The administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has played down Japanese public sentiment against the U.S. military presence, believing that most people approve of it in general but object when their own community is affected.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2006

U.S. Navy puts maritime pirates on notice

HONOLULU -- In ordering a U.S. Navy destroyer to capture and board a suspected pirate ship on the high seas in the Indian Ocean, the United States has fired a warning shot across the bow of would-be terrorists who might lash up with pirates in the Asia-Pacific region.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2006

Tokyo-Beijing fire rages on over diplomat's suicide in 2004

A spat between Japan and China over the 2004 suicide of a diplomat at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai continued Thursday as Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe urged Beijing to give a "sincere response" over what has been reported as an attempt to extort intelligence.
EDITORIALS
Dec 31, 2005

A year of battered dreams

The year 2005 is likely to be remembered as a bitter one in which many dreams were battered and many cherished ideals tarnished. For sure, there were high points, but they were overshadowed by the many disappointments.
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2005

Testing times for Japan, China

HONOLULU -- Taro Aso's recent comment in plain words about the "threat" posed by China's military modernization effort is as remarkable as the supposed threat itself. The readiness of a Japanese Cabinet official, and a foreign minister no less, to publicly acknowledge and criticize China's military buildup...
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2005

China slammed over diplomat's suicide

Tokyo has lodged protests with Beijing four times since last year over the 2004 suicide of a diplomat at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, claiming China violated an international treaty by trying to blackmail him for intelligence, government sources admitted Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2005

Iraq has been and will be a U.S. problem

WASHINGTON -- The debate in Washington over policy in Iraq remains contentious and even ugly, but one fact is certain: The United States will remain essentially alone. American policy must reflect the fact that no one is going to help Washington resolve the conflict into which it has blundered.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 23, 2005

Big Money warms to socially responsible investing

Environmentalists have been preaching for decades that true societal change will only happen when the really big-money players, such as multinational corporations and banks, begin to balance profit-making with social responsibility.
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2005

Toward a new Constitution

The special constitution research committee of the Lower House has started debate on establishing legislation to make it possible for Japan to hold a national referendum on revising the Constitution.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2005

Disaster relief team heads to Islamabad

Japan sent a disaster relief team to Pakistan on Sunday to provide emergency assistance a day after a huge, killer earthquake hit the country.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 27, 2005

Owen still looking for home as transfer deadline closes in

LONDON -- It seems remarkable that Michael Owen, who will surely become England's leading goalscorer at international level soon, is struggling to find himself a club before the transfer window closes next Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2005

First step of the peace process

Israel has begun its unilateral withdrawal of troops and evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip. This is the first time that settlements have been dismantled from land that Israel occupied in the third Middle East War (1967). There have been reports of small-scale clashes between settlers...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2005

A fresh democracy or Maoist disaster?

HONOLULU -- For 10 years, the remote Himalayan kingdom of Nepal has been slipping nearer and nearer to the edge of collapse; the tipping point is now close at hand.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2005

U.K. attacks trigger official fears that Japan is next

Thursday's deadly terrorist bombings in London raised fresh concerns among Tokyo officials Friday that Japan might be the next target due to its support for the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
EDITORIALS
May 21, 2005

Trouble in Uzbekistan

In Uzbekistan, which likes to behave as a regional power in Central Asia, large-scale antigovernment protests by citizens have begun to shake the foundations of the authoritarian regime of President Islam Karimov. Demonstrations broke out last week in the town of Andijan in the Fergana Valley, where...
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2005

China cracks rights window

HONG KONG -- Last month, China issued a white paper that purported to show progress it had made on the human-rights front in 2004. It was immediately dismissed by human-rights organizations as little more than propaganda. While this may well be true, there are signs of significant progress on human rights....
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2005

Design for sustaining peace

DILI, East Timor -- The United Nations has not been notably successful in moving from initial stabilization, infrastruc- ture reconstruction and re-establishment of local governance institutions to the more demanding goal of leaving behind self-sustaining structures of state that can implement rapid...
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2005

Caldron of simmering views

In advance of Constitution Day, on Tuesday, research commissions on constitutional reform from both houses of the Diet last month adopted final reports summarizing five years of debate. The Lower House panel focused on amending the supreme law, including revision of the war-renouncing Article 9.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2005

Postwar reconciliation with rest of Asia in peril

Bilateral relations between Japan and the United States during the four years Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been in office have often been characterized as a "honeymoon."
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2005

Asahi censors ad critical of its sponsored 'news'

The Asahi Shimbun published a partially blacked-out advertisement Thursday that had been placed by the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun to plug an article accusing the newspaper of engaging in "checkbook journalism."
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2005

Northern Territories dispute highlights flawed diplomacy

Japan is now in serious territorial disputes with all of its neighbors -- Taiwan, China, South Korea and Russia. True, this could prove there is something wrong with all of Japan's neighbors. But it could also prove that there is something wrong in the way Japan handles territorial problems with its...
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2005

More warnings of bird flu

Rising numbers of cases of avian flu in Asia are fueling fears of a global outbreak. The disease appears to be resurfacing in the region, and health officials worry that they do not have the tools to fight it. A mutation that allows the disease to pass from person to person could be the spark that sets...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2005

Foggy North Korean shuffle

BRUSSELS -- Recent events in North Korea have been interpreted in various ways and, generally, the wish has been father to the thought. The truth is difficult to discern, but indications are that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has placed himself firmly behind a reform program that may finally bring...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami