Tag - burma

 
 

BURMA

EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2017
Aung San Suu Kyi marks her first year in power
Myanmar's defacto leader continues to face daunting challenges.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2016
Suu Kyi's greatest challenge is to share power
Myanmar's new government should strive to accomodate the country's ethnic minorities through greater autonomy and federalism.
EDITORIALS
May 20, 2016
Myanmar gets democracy dividend
In recognition of Myanmar's transition toward democracy, the U.S. is lifting some of its economic sanctions against businesses and individuals.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2015
A long and winding road for Myanmar's NLD
Forging a relationship with the military while edging it aside will require extraordinary sensitivity on the part of the NLD government.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES
Jun 27, 2015
'Harp of Burma' is an adventure story concealing weighty themes
"Harp of Burma" was published in Japan in 1946, but it would be 20 years before Michio Takeyama's story of Japanese soldiers stranded in Burma after the close of World War II was translated into English. In fact, Kon Ichikawa got there first in 1956, with his stark cinematic adaptation, "Biruma no Tategoto" ("The Burmese Harp"), which was internationally praised upon its release. Anglophone cinephiles who bought the book expecting the same gravitas were surely disappointed. Although immediately popular with a wide cross-section of Japanese readers, "Harp of Burma" is unmistakably an adventure story for children. Its themes are weighty — the human cost of war, the healing power of song — but they are not explored in great depth; the cliffhanger-driven plot takes precedence.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
May 25, 2015
War vet, 98, recalls two tours as an 'expendable'
Soldiers were merely "expendables" in the Imperial Japanese Army, says a 98-year-old survivor from World War II.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 17, 2014
Tortured POW meets his Japanese tormentor
"He is most interested in having contact with you for he has lived with many unanswered questions all these years, questions to which perhaps only you can help him to find the answers." So wrote Patricia Lomax in a letter sent from her home in England to Takashi Nagase, who at the time lived in Okayama Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2013
Don't ignore Myanmar's ongoing oppression
If the international community ignores Myanmar's ongoing abuses, justice may never be a part of Myanmar's future.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2013
Myanmar-North Korea link
With investments by Japanese, American and European companies on the rise, it is worth asking how much the once-pariah state of Burma has really changed since the days of military rule.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2013
Has Myanmar's moment come at last?
Can investing in Myanmar live up to the soaring expectations? There are major uncertainties, and Myanmar cannot rely on energy and mining alone.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores