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JAPAN
Aug 1, 2009

Aso unveils LDP policy platform

Prime Minister Taro Aso revealed the campaign platform for his ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday, pledging to bring about 2 percent economic growth in the second half of 2010 and boost Japan's per capita income to among the highest in the world within 10 years.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 5, 2009

The return of religion to Europe

BUDAPEST — It's a well-worn contrast: the United States is religious, Europe is secular. Yet, in some respects, this cliched opposition has actually been reversed recently: Religion played virtually no role during the last American presidential election, while in a range of different European countries...
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2009

Aso hints at calling snap election

Despite his dwindling opinion poll numbers, Prime Minister Taro Aso said Thursday that he will dissolve the Lower House before too long, brushing off growing calls within his own Liberal Democratic Party to find a new leader.
COMMENTARY
Jun 14, 2009

A purge of Parliament is calling

LONDON — In British politics the familiar scenario is for the opposition to press for an early general election — there being no fixed-term provision in the very flexible British constitution — and for the government of the day to reject all such demands and sit tight.
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2009

Nonoption in Afghanistan

KABUL — A five-day visit to Afghanistan left me profoundly pessimistic about the accomplishments to date to stem the drain on international blood and treasure, yet convinced of the importance of not losing Afghanistan to the other side.
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2009

Consider the budget deficits

The Diet has started deliberations on the fiscal 2009 supplementary budget, which, with ¥14 trillion in spending, is a record economic stimulus. The government hopes that the extra budget will help pull the Japanese economy out of the recession. Since the main and supplementary budgets for fiscal 2009...
EDITORIALS
Apr 30, 2009

A respite for the DPJ

Mr. Takashi Kawamura, a former Democratic Party of Japan member of the Lower House who gave up his seat to run in Sunday's Nagoya mayoral election, trounced a candidate supported by the prefectural chapters of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2009

The lessons from Iraq

It has been six years since the United States led a coalition of forces into Iraq. The euphoria that followed the easy defeat of the Iraq Army gave way to dismay and disgust as "Phase 4" of the operation — the postconflict stage — fell apart and Iraq disintegrated. A misreading of the situation along...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2009

Watanabe expects poll will be held before fall

Prime Minister Taro Aso will probably not be able to delay a general election until September, when the current term of Lower House members expires, former administrative reform minister Yoshimi Watanabe said Monday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2009

Will Afghanistan turn into Obama's Vietnam?

You aren't really the U.S. president until you've ordered an airstrike on somebody, so Barack Obama is certainly president now: two in his first week in office. But now that he has been bloodied, can we talk a little about this expanded war he's planning to fight in Afghanistan?
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2009

Aso set to lead LDP's last stand?

In 2007 it was Shinzo Abe. In 2008 it was Yasuo Fukuda and in 2009 it is Taro Aso.
EDITORIALS
Nov 25, 2008

Mr. Aso needs to get serious

The recent behavior of Prime Minister Taro Aso makes one wonder whether he is taking the heavy responsibility his job carries seriously enough. One example is his failure to immediately submit a supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 to the Diet. The supplementary budget is necessary to implement the government's...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2008

Sri Lanka sees LTTE at the end of the tunnel

SINGAPORE — Sri Lanka's government says its armed forces are in the final stage of a campaign to annihilate the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebel group that has been fighting for 25 years to carve out a homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east of the island-state.
EDITORIALS
Oct 18, 2008

Winning in Afghanistan

Seven years after coalition forces invaded Afghanistan and drove the Taliban from power, the war slogs on. The initial euphoria from the "victory" has dissipated. Officials are increasingly concerned about the Taliban's resurgence and the durability of the government of President Hamid Karzai. The North...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Oct 4, 2008

Life — it's all in the books

Sometimes it seems I live holiday to holiday. Having just finished Respect for the Aged Day, and the Autumn Equinox (both national holidays) I am now looking forward to Sports Day in October. The problem with national holidays in Japan, however, is that they are rarely a chance to relax. Instead, they...
EDITORIALS
Sep 20, 2008

Pakistan ensnared

In a sign of growing concern over the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and a renewed commitment to kill or capture al-Qaida's top leadership, the United States has launched military strikes across the border into Pakistan. These attacks signal U.S. frustration with Pakistan's efforts to battle...
CULTURE / Books
Aug 31, 2008

All you need to know about Japan's politics

GOVERNING JAPAN: Divided Politics in a Resurgent Economy, by J.A.A. Stockwin. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008, 298 pp., £19.99 (paper) Arthur Stockwin, who was until recently Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford, is the leading British expert on Japanese politics....
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2008

Nonnuclear high ground

This month, as in previous years, newspapers and television programs in Japan were filled with stories about the Pacific War to commemorate the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan's surrender.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2008

Barack Obama's overseas tour

Barack Obama wants three things out of his tour of the Mideast and Europe. He wants people everywhere to think that he has the answers for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He wants U.S. Jews to believe that he is Israel's unquestioning supporter. And he wants Americans to notice that Europeans would vote...
COMMENTARY
Jul 23, 2008

Omar al-Bashir versus the ICC

All the opposition groups in Darfur celebrated when the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced on July 14 that he was seeking the indictment of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on the charge of genocide, but almost everybody else had a problem with it. They don't doubt that al-Bashir...
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2008

Mr. Ma reaches out

Taiwan has a new president. Mr. Ma Ying-jeou, of the KMT (Nationalist) Party was inaugurated Monday after a decisive win in March's election. In his inaugural remarks, Mr. Ma hit the right notes, reaching out to both Taiwanese at home and Chinese 150 kilometers away across the Taiwan Strait. This is...
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2008

Publicity stunt on Everest

NEW DELHI — As a triumphal symbol of its rule over Tibet, China is taking the Olympic torch through the "Roof of the World" to the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, which straddles the Tibetan-Nepalese border. That publicity stunt will only infuse more politics into the Games, already besmirched...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 1, 2008

LDP gets drivers' ire for gas hikes

Angry motorists swiftly slammed the government's decision Wednesday to reinstate provisional extra tax rates on gasoline, with some calling the imminent price hike a "terrible act" and others criticizing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda for his strong-arm political tactics.
COMMENTARY
Apr 12, 2008

Games failing to meet Olympian ideals

LONDON — The Chinese government sought the 2008 Games for Beijing to promote Chinese national interests. There is nothing new or exceptional about Chinese motives. Britain sought the 2012 Games for London for political purposes as well.
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2008

New strategy in Pakistan

The new government in Pakistan could bring about important changes in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban. The Cabinet of new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, sworn in Monday, will not give the United States the free hand that it has enjoyed in Pakistan since the months after 9/11.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2008

Bangladesh's female workforce powers silent revolution

DHAKA — The women of Bangladesh are a force to be reckoned with.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2008

Bangladesh ready to rival Asia's mighty manufacturing hubs

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh — Sure, the shipping distance from Japan to this sprawling industrial park might be great, and his trucks must sometimes compete with rickshaws and livestock on the crowded roads outside its walls.

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