Hugh Cortazzi - The Japan Times

November 01, 2025

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Hugh Cortazzi

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Hugh Cortazzi

Hugh Cortazzi was posted to British Commonwealth Air Forces in Japan in 1946, and he joined the British Foreign (later diplomatic) service in 1949. After retiring, he worked in the city of London and was an adviser to a number of Japanese companies. He was chairman of the council of the Japan Society from 1985-1995. Since 1983 he has researched and written a number of books about Japanese culture and history and has edited and compiled a series of books on personalities active in Anglo-Japanese relations.

COMMENTARY

Aug 13, 2004

An uphill battle for women

LONDON -- Morgan Stanley last month agreed to a $54 million out-of-court settlement to ensure that serious allegations of sexual discrimination against it did not come to trial in the United States. The bank proclaimed its innocence, but if it really had nothing to hide, why didn't it let the evidence...

COMMENTARY

Aug 5, 2004

Sincerity is not good enough

LONDON -- A London weekly headed a recent issue with photos of U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair and with the caption "Sincere Deceivers?" Perhaps they were sincere in their belief that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq was a threat to U.S. and British national interests,...

COMMENTARY

Jul 20, 2004

Time, terror shadow oil era

LONDON We cannot afford to be complacent about the future energy supplies needed to maintain our current standards of living and economic growth. Nor can we be complacent about the environmental impact of current consumption levels of carbon fuels.

COMMENTARY

Jul 12, 2004

EU visions go head to head

LONDON -- At the final summit of the Irish presidency of the European Union in Brussels late last month, European heads of government agreed on the text of a European constitution for the enlarged group of 25 states that came into being at the beginning of May. Representatives of the 10 new states were...

COMMENTARY

Jun 19, 2004

Where has America gone?

LONDON -- The 60th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day landings focused attention on the nature of the relationship between Europe and America. The liberation of France and the overthrow of the Nazis in 1944-45 could not have been achieved without American forces. Britain had stood alone against Adolf...

COMMENTARY

Jun 3, 2004

1-2 punch to modern health

LONDON -- In the "bad old days," tuberculosis and epidemics of infectious diseases were the main killers. In advanced societies today, the No. 1 killers are cardiovascular problems and various forms of cancer. Some of these diseases can be traced to hereditary causes, but lifestyle and environment are...

COMMENTARY

Apr 30, 2004

Tunnel vision on Japan trade

LONDON -- The recent conclusion of the bilateral trade agreement between Japan and Mexico was heralded as opening the way to other bilateral trade agreements that would substitute for a successful round in World Trade Organization negotiations. This view is mistaken.

COMMENTARY

Apr 25, 2004

Denying terror a moral gain

LONDON -- The terrorist attacks on trains in Madrid in March, which killed more than 200 people and maimed or wounded hundreds more, were planned and executed by Islamic extremists from Morocco, probably with connections to al-Qaeda. It has been claimed that the attacks were inspired by opposition to...

COMMENTARY

Apr 12, 2004

Disillusionment over Iraq

LONDON -- In March 2003, British Prime Minister Tony Blair apparently believed that there was an imminent threat that Iraq might use weapons of mass destruction. A majority of British voters were accordingly persuaded that Britain was probably justified in taking part in an attack on the tyrannical regime...

COMMENTARY

Apr 1, 2004

Lowering risks from WMD

LONDON -- The decision of the Libyan regime to declare and destroy its weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, is clearly beneficial to world peace and is a most welcome development. But we should beware claims by some Western leaders that this has come about because the Libyan dictator has seen what happened...

COMMENTARY

Mar 22, 2004

BBC still plays a vital role

LONDON -- The British Broadcasting Corporation has one of the longest and respectable histories among the world's public-service broadcasting organizations. Since its establishment in the 1920s, it has built up an enviable reputation for independence and reliability.

COMMENTARY

Mar 10, 2004

No easy answers to immigration issues

LONDON -- A fundamental principle of the European Union has been freedom of movement within it and the right to work in any member country. This principle has, however, been undermined by the decision of some EU founder states to limit immigration from the new member countries in Eastern Europe for varying...

COMMENTARY

Mar 2, 2004

Stomach to cut government

LONDON -- A British government review, to be published shortly, has apparently suggested that some 80,000 civil service jobs could be cut and up to £14.5 billion ($28 billion) could be saved by 2007 if recommendations such as "streamlining" back-office functions and raising productivity in education,...

COMMENTARY

Feb 14, 2004

The fallibility of intelligence

LONDON -- The Jan. 28 report of Lord Justice Brian Hutton's inquiry into the death last July of British government defense scientist David Kelly was highly critical of the behavior of the British Broadcasting Corp. and a BBC reporter who had accused the government of "sexing up" intelligence for the...

COMMENTARY

Feb 1, 2004

Paying more for education

LONDON -- Last week the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Tony Blair just barely won a vote in the House of Commons on the payment of "top-up" fees at British universities. The government had failed to consult widely in the Labour Party before announcing its policy on fees, and this was one reason...

COMMENTARY

Jan 24, 2004

Tolerance in the name of God

LONDON -- So many crimes have sadly been committed in the name of religion that many humanists reject religion while Marxists regard religion as the opium of the people. Humanists and Marxists who condemn religion fail to see the good that can flow from sincerely held religious beliefs, but the perversion...

COMMENTARY

Jan 18, 2004

Authoritarian threat grows

LONDON -- The real threat from terrorists is being used as a pretext for growing authoritarian tendencies in democratic countries. On the grounds that every possible step must be taken to prevent terrorist attacks, suspects are being imprisoned without trial or access to lawyers, and Draconian controls...

COMMENTARY

Dec 22, 2003

Courageous decision on Iraq

LONDON -- The Japanese government's decision to send members of the Self-Defense Forces to take part in humanitarian efforts in Iraq was a courageous one.

COMMENTARY

Dec 13, 2003

Not a two-party system yet

LONDON -- Is Japan becoming a "normal" parliamentary democracy with a two-party system? Commentators outside and inside Japan have suggested that the Nov. 9 general election may have fundamentally altered the balance of power in Japan and that, with the growth of the Democratic Party of Japan, the country...

COMMENTARY

Nov 27, 2003

Across the Bush-Briton gap

LONDON -- U.S. President George W. Bush's state visit to Britain ended Nov. 21 with a carefully stage-managed call on British Prime Minister Tony Blair's constituency in the North East of England. The visit went well despite generally peaceful protests. Although there was some of the usual pageantry,...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.

Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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