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May 19, 2024
 

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COUNTERPOINT

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 5, 2014
Lessons of Fukushima: Reactor restarts are unwise
Kyle Cleveland, my colleague at Temple University Japan, recently published a report in the online Asia-Pacific Journal, "Mobilizing Nuclear Bias: The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and the Politics of Uncertainty" that has drawn widespread media attention. Based on numerous interviews with government officials,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 29, 2014
Unpersuasive logic for death penalty in Japan
The death penalty in Japan is imposed in cases of murder, and robbery and/or rape leading to death. In such cases, capital punishment is not mandatory and is usually only imposed in cases of multiple killings, though since 2006 this criteria has not been strictly observed.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 22, 2014
Okinawa redux: Democracy and an alliance at risk
U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy made a meet-and-greet trip to Okinawa last month, an opportunity to gauge the lay of the land and listen to some of the stakeholders in the longstanding controversies over plans to reduce America's military footprint in the prefecture.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 15, 2014
The Fukushima tragedy justifies nuclear skepticism
The findings of a Kyodo survey conducted in February this year reveal a stunning level of reluctance to restart Japan's nuclear reactors in the host cities, towns and prefectures that stand to gain from revving them back up.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 8, 2014
Tsunami zone's village culture fades into fog of history
We can better appreciate what Tohoku's shoreline villages represented now that they have been washed away and former residents are marooned in soulless temporary housing ghettoes where the greatest risks are isolation and boredom.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 1, 2014
Japan's reactionaries waging culture war
The contemporary culture wars that have erupted over Japanese identity and history are undermining the country's national interests and damaging its reputation.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 22, 2014
Abe's culture wars boomerang against Japan
Japan's culture wars are heating up to the detriment of the nation. The Financial Times is right to warn that the jingoism of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and attempts to stifle public debate, are grave threats to Japan's open society. Most Japanese don't want to go where Abe is trying to drag them, but...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 15, 2014
Tokyo firebombing and unfinished U.S. business
Last week in this column, I suggested that Caroline Kennedy, the American ambassador to Japan, would be well advised to get the ball rolling on U.S. apologies for past misdeeds.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 8, 2014
Blast from the past: Lucky Dragon 60 years on
Sixty years ago, on March 1, 1954, a Japanese fishing boat named Lucky Dragon No. 5 was doused by radioactive fallout from a U.S. hydrogen-bomb test, codenamed Castle Bravo, on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Although the bomb was over 1,000 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Feb 1, 2014
Can local voices derail the Super Shinzo Express?
Voters in Nago, northern Okinawa Island, threw down the gauntlet on Jan. 19 when they reelected as mayor the incumbent, Susumu Inamine, a staunch opponent of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the congested city of Ginowan in the south to the Henoko...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 25, 2014
Spinmeister Abe: crisis-mongering and distractions
The news media tends to hyperventilate because this generates a buzz that attracts attention.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 18, 2014
Lexicon for today's Japan: Reading between the lies
Plowing through the news, one is often struck by the proliferation of acronyms, jargon, new names and terms. It can be a baffling experience, so I thought I would provide some explanations, keywords, synonyms, associative notions and interpretations to aid comprehension — even at risk of differing...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 11, 2014
A new-year Asian reading list to savor and inspire
At this time of year, many newspapers publish such lengthy lists of must-read books that it's daunting to even imagine them all piled up gathering dust on the bedside table. So let me narrow the field by sharing some amazing titles about or from Asia that I have enjoyed over the past year.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 4, 2014
Back and forward: Asia in 2013; predictions for 2014
Crystal-ball gazing is a notoriously inexact science, so before getting to that, let's lessen the potential exposure to ridicule by starting with a roundup of the last 12 months' key trends and events in Asia.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 28, 2013
Incredible India and the New Delhi Dissensus
On a recent visit to New Delhi, I met an activist promoting the rights of dalits (untouchables), who quipped, playing off a current national-branding campaign: "India is indeed incredible . . . but only in paradox."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 21, 2013
Terrorists unite: All you have to lose is your freedom
Everyone had been wondering when the real Shinzo Abe would bare the dark recesses of his political soul. There had been some glimpses, but with Abenomics in a swoon amid growing skepticism about its sustainability, Japan's prime minister finally ripped off his mask as he rammed secrecy legislation through...
COMMENTARY / World / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 14, 2013
Indonesia's challenges — from poverty to Papua
On a recent trip to Jakarta, I experienced firsthand what an infrastructure bottleneck feels like. My driver told me the city is only third in global traffic-jam rankings, trailing Mexico City and New Delhi, but what was a 40-minute ride when I lived there in the mid-1980s took a dispiriting 2½ hours....
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Dec 7, 2013
Pearl Harbor: The Day of Infamy that won't go away
Dec. 8 (Japan time) is the 72nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the infamous attack launched by Imperial Japanese forces against the United States that continues to reverberate in the popular imagination.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 30, 2013
Imagining post-nuclear Japan
Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has sent shock waves through the political establishment by calling for the end of nuclear power generation in Japan. "There is nothing more costly than nuclear power," Koizumi was quoted as saying during an interview with Tokyo Shimbun — something Japanese...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 23, 2013
Rookie trio make for a leadership deficit in East Asia
With three new leaders taking power over the past year — in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing (and a fourth in Pyongyang two years ago) — 2013 was never likely to be a banner year for regional diplomacy. But I didn't expect it to get quite this bad.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
America wasn’t made for walking, and it’s killing them
A 2010 study found that U.S. adults averaged 5,117 steps daily and that this was lower than the averages found in similar studies in Switzerland, western Australia and Japan.
U.S. envoy to Japan makes landmark visit to front-line island near Taiwan
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel meets with members of the Self-Defense Forces stationed on Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday.
Japan passes bill to introduce 'blue ticket' fines for cyclists
A new system under which bicycle riders pay fines for minor traffic violations to escape criminal punishment is expected to be introduced in Japan no later than 2026.
Japan changes law to allow joint custody after divorce
Legislation that allows the option of joint custody of children after divorce is passed at the Upper House plenary session on Friday.
Can AI-generated inventions be patented? A Tokyo court says no.
The Tokyo court's ruling comes amid ongoing debates on how to regulate generative AI and is part of a transnational class action lawsuit.
A new initiative rethinks old Tohoku crafts
The colored patterns of Tsuguru "nuri," made in Aomori Prefecture, are achieved by applying multiple coatings of lacquer, which are later polished down to reveal layers of colors beneath.
Xi and Putin mark ‘new era’ amid efforts to counter U.S. ‘containment’
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend an event in Beijing on Thursday. During Putin's visit, the leaders showed off their growing alignment amid efforts to push back against the U.S.-led world order.
Unraveling the Japanese prose of Yukio Mishima
Author Yukio Mishima accepts the Arts Festival Award in the drama category at the 20th Arts Festival Award Ceremony on Jan. 22, 1966.
New Taiwan president to set tone for ties with China at inauguration
Taiwan President-elect Lai Ching-te arrives at the CyberSec 2024 Exhibition in Taipei on Wednesday.

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