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May 03, 2024
 

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THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2001
One man's fight for the unvarnished truth
My historian friend Richard Minear tells me that Saburo Ienaga has been nominated for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He then follows up on this news by sending me Ienaga's autobiography, which he has translated, "Japan's Past, Japan's Future: One Historian's Odyssey" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001).
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 26, 2001
Never say you've apologized too much
When Ursula Smith, my publisher friend up in Vermont, wrote to say, "I can't close without offering some (futile) form of apology, as one national to another, for that unfortunate accident off Hawaii," I said there was no need to apologize to me. It was an accident, and I wasn't too clear about the meaning of one national apologizing to another in a situation like this. Besides, having lived in the United States for more than 30 years to savor many facets of its society, I have largely lost the culturally definable sense of nationality.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 5, 2001
Nanjing Massacre evidence twisted at historian's whim
A publisher asks me to make excerpts from Judge Radhabinod Pal's "dissentient judgment" and write an introduction to the selection. The Indian jurist Pal was one of 11 judges who sat on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the Tokyo Trial). He found Japan not guilty, the only one to do so.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 29, 2001
Was Pearl Harbor really a surprise?
My young colleague at work, Donald Howard, comes to me and wryly asks: Why is this Japanese office having a Christmas party on Dec. 7? Impressed by his historical acuity, I only manage: Well, from the Japanese perspective, the Pearl Harbor assault didn't take place on Dec. 7, but on Dec. 8 in the predawn hours.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 25, 2000
Emotion trumps logic in whaling debate
Over a sushi lunch with Scott Latham, I mention "whaling," and Scott, my trade-consultant friend, doesn't miss a beat: "The Whaling Wall."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Dec 4, 2000
Judging history's 'single most violent act'
At a midtown bar, Wolcott Wheeler, whom I call a historian without portfolio, tells me a story about Robert Oppenheimer: how the physicist, meeting President Harry Truman in the Oval Office, said, "Mr. President, I have blood on my hands."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 30, 2000
U.S. reporter misses the mark on Japan
"Given America's willingness to avert its eyes from the most troubling chapters of its history and to resist critical self-evaluation and discussion of the country's atrocities against native Americans and African Americans . . ."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 27, 2000
Old memo presages present struggles
Japan wasn't an "unprovoked aggressor" in the 1930s. China and the United States were to a considerable extent responsible for a sequence of events that led to Japan's actions in Manchuria and, to a lesser degree, in China.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Aug 28, 2000
A revisionist's view of Japanese history
"Kokumin no Rekishi," published last year, has been touted as the first major attempt to rewrite Japanese history. I've acquired and read it because I've been asked to comment on Japanese nationalism next month, in Chicago. The author of the book, Kanji Nishio, has been prominent in the movement known as the Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho o Tsukuru Kai, The Japanese Society for Textbook Reform.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 29, 2000
Play revives old debate over Nazi A-bomb
"Absence of A-bomb: Were the Nazis duped -- or simply dumb?" So asks the weekly U.S. News & World Report in a piece for its July 24-31 cover story, "Mysteries of History." The question is being revisited now perhaps because of a recent Broadway import from London: Michael Frayn's "Copenhagen."
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 23, 2000
Japan as No. 1 (in being bullied by U.S.)
With a refreshing bit of journalistic acuity, the USA Today reporter James Cox has reminded me how bizarre the U.S. attitude toward Japan has become. Under the headline, "U.S. bullies Japan like no other nation," Cox noted the astonishing extent of U.S. high-handed meddlesomeness with Japan, suggesting that it is reminiscent of the time U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur ruled the country.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Saudi Arabia steps up Gaza-related arrests as Israel ties edge closer
The arrests for Gaza-related posts indicate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s regime will take a hard line against citizens not toeing the line when it comes to normalizing ties with Israel.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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