Hugh Cortazzi - The Japan Times

November 22, 2024

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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

Jul 1, 2002

Tough talk is no key to success

LONDON -- An article in the June 10 Nikkei Weekly by a deputy editor of political news at the Nihon Keizai Shimbun had the headline "Foreign Ministry diplomacy failing nation on all fronts." The Foreign Ministry was criticized for not being tough enough in support of national interests. And praise was...

COMMENTARY

Jun 22, 2002

Media: bulwark of democracy

LONDON -- The British prime minister's chief of communications has publicly accepted that the overuse of "spin" in government has led to cynicism and that the emphasis should now be on policy and delivery. Most British observers would agree. But government ministers, who have spent much of their life...

COMMENTARY

Jun 13, 2002

Facing need for immigrants

LONDON -- The problem of illegal immigrants (or economic migrants) and of people seeking asylum because of persecution in their home countries have become dominant themes in the European media. Popular antipathy to the plight of these people has been exploited by rightwing parties, especially in France,...

COMMENTARY

Jun 8, 2002

A right royal celebration

LONDON -- Queen Elizabeth has just celebrated her Golden Jubilee (50 years) in splendid style. Her popularity has never been as high as it is today and people are now said to be planning for her Diamond Jubilee (60 years).

COMMENTARY

May 9, 2002

EU not growing anti-Semitic

LONDON -- The Jewish lobby and the religious right in the United States have described European critics of the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his government as anti-Semitic. Such comments reveal a woeful ignorance of Europe and the real issues in the Middle East. They also tend to...

COMMENTARY

Apr 30, 2002

How long will Koizumi last?

LONDON -- Voter disillusionment with Junichiro Koizumi's performance as prime minister has grown from an apparent lack of progress in clearing up bad bank loans, his inability to force through privatization of public corporations, limited action on deregulation and his failure to reform the Liberal Democratic...

COMMENTARY

Apr 22, 2002

Role remains for British royalty

LONDON -- On March 31, the Saturday before Easter Sunday, Elizabeth, the queen mother, passed away peacefully at the age of 101.

COMMENTARY

Apr 13, 2002

China: opportunity or threat?

LONDON -- Chinese leaders have been urging the Japanese to see China as an opportunity, not a threat.

COMMENTARY

Apr 2, 2002

Ending myths about lifestyle

LONDON -- Japan 2001, a major manifestation of Japanese culture in Britain, ends this spring. Consisting of more than 2,000 events large and small, it has had a significant impact and has helped to spread understanding of Japan among people throughout Britain.

COMMENTARY

Mar 28, 2002

Strategy for attacking Iraq

LONDON -- Ample evidence suggests that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is determined to develop weapons of mass destruction and terror. There are reports of various underground laboratories working on biological and chemical weapons and possibly on nuclear devices. Iraq probably also managed to hide from...

COMMENTARY

Mar 8, 2002

Recipe for democratic disaster

LONDON -- In a modern democracy where governments change after elections, it is essential for the sake of efficiency and transparency that the civil service be apolitical, independent and closed to corruption. Only an independent civil service appointed on the basis of merit can guarantee good government....

COMMENTARY

Feb 24, 2002

Dirty business taking a toll

LONDON -- The Enron affair has made it impossible to justify boasts about the effectiveness of corporate governance in the United States and the reliability of independent accountancy firms.

COMMENTARY

Feb 14, 2002

Force alone can't beat terror

LONDON -- U.S. President George W Bush's State of the Union message to Congress was unequivocal about the need to eradicate terrorists wherever they may be hiding. After the horrific incidents of Sept. 11, Americans and their friends must support policies that will make a repetition of such incidents...

COMMENTARY

Feb 11, 2002

Blame economy for weak yen

LONDON -- An article by Haruhiko Kuroda, vice finance minister for international affairs, appeared in the Financial Times on Jan. 23 under the headline "The yen's fundamental weakness." Perhaps it should have been titled "the fundamental weaknesses of the Japanese economy."

COMMENTARY

Jan 30, 2002

Japanese-British links after 100 years

LONDON -- The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was signed on Jan. 30, 1902. It was a significant and unique step for both countries. Britain had not previously concluded alliances of this nature in an area so distant from its shores; it was Japan's first alliance with a European power and confirmed its status...

COMMENTARY

Jan 14, 2002

Hardly another Argentina

LONDON -- "What is the difference between Japan and Argentina?" Answer: "five years." That was the riddle, or sick joke, said by the Financial Times in London to be circulating in Tokyo over the recent holidays. My immediate reaction was that the idea behind the question was silly and showed ignorance...

COMMENTARY

Jan 7, 2002

Assuaging threats to peace

LONDON -- The Taliban has been routed and, with the arrival of U.N. peacekeeping forces in Kabul, the prospects for Afghanistan are better than they have been for many years. But Osama bin Laden and his senior henchmen have not been accounted for. The search will have to continue, and terrorist havens,...

COMMENTARY

Dec 25, 2001

Conservatives out of touch

LONDON -- We British respect tradition, but institutions, including monarchies, need to adapt and modernize. Many of the more junior members of the British royal family, for instance, have no real role to play and should, like their cousins in Scandinavia, live ordinary unsubsidized lives.

COMMENTARY

Dec 8, 2001

Look of Japan belies reality

LONDON -- A recent, short visit to Japan made me doubt whether there was much sense of an economic crisis threatening Japan's future and how far the recession has affected ordinary people.

COMMENTARY

Nov 26, 2001

Freedom in the line of fire

WASHINGTON -- The first priority for all our governments must be the elimination of terrorism, but in the process we must do what we can to preserve our basic freedoms and human rights.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.

A boom for business tourism in Japan?

By Kathryn Wortley

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