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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
Feb 4, 2010
Tony Blair still in denial
The official inquiry in London about the Iraq war is not a trial or an attempt to assign blame. It is an attempt to uncover the facts about the war and to consider lessons that should be learned from the war. Much of the testimony, which the inquiry has heard recently, has been about whether the war...
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2009
Ever-widening pay gaps
LONDON — According to recent reports, chief executives of top British companies are now paid 81 times more than the average British worker. The pay gap has nearly doubled in the past decade. There is no justification for this trend.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2009
No such thing as classless
According to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the taxation policies of the Tory (Conservative) Party were decided on the playing field of Eton (one of Britain's top private schools). Thus, Gordon Brown, whose Labour government trails in the opinion polls behind the Conservative opposition, seemed from this...
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2009
An abuse of intelligence
The U.K. government has been under pressure for some years to hold an inquiry into British participation in the Iraq war and on the events that led up to the decision to go to war. The various previous inquiries were seen by many as inadequate or whitewash. The government eventually conceded that once...
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2009
Wishing the science away
LONDON — Ahead of the Copenhagen conference on climate change (which starts Monday), those who have argued that there is no conclusive proof that climate change is man-made were encouraged by the recent leak of e-mails from the archives of the University of East Anglia. The exchanges suggested that...
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2009
An able, nonpolitical civil service
LONDON — In Britain and Japan, civil servants are supposed to be nonpolitical and to give unbiased advice. But their independence is threatened by some politicians who want posts to be filled by what Margaret Thatcher used to call "one of us" — people who share the same aspirations as the governing...
COMMENTARY
Oct 22, 2009
Does Japan really want to stay competitive?
LONDON — The reported remarks to members of the foreign press in Tokyo on Oct. 14 by Shizuka Kamei, Japan's minister for financial issues, made me wonder whether he was living in the real world — where nations are interdependent and must compete to survive.
COMMENTARY
Oct 8, 2009
Bureaucracy gone mad
Two policewomen with children work part time. While one is on duty, the other looks after the children of both families. When education authorities learn of this arrangement, they forbid it, as neither policewoman has a certificate allowing her to act as a child minder. Unless they have one, they are...
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2009
Divining Japan's new leadership amid the expectations of change
LONDON — On a recent visit to France, I was frequently asked about the results of the Japanese election. Did the results mean that Japan was really changing? Would the new Japanese government increase Japan's influence in the world?
COMMENTARY
Sep 11, 2009
Shifting balances of power
The hope was that the League of Nations before World War II and the United Nations, its postwar successor, would provide a more effective way of ensuring world peace than the "Balance of Power" that Britain, in particular, had tried to maintain in Europe for centuries. This hope has not been fulfilled....
COMMENTARY
Sep 2, 2009
Justice, clemency and U.K. politics
The secretary for justice in the devolved government in Scotland decided Aug. 20 to release Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only individual who had been convicted of involvement in the so-called Lockerbie tragedy. This terrorist incident occurred more than 20 years ago when a Pan American airliner was...
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2009
Seven topics for a summer day
LONDON — As Japanese lawmakers campaign for the Aug. 30 Lower House election, British members of Parliament are in recess and Prime Minister Gordon Brown is on holiday. Papers and weeklies are scraping the barrel for something to write about. Many fill their columns with so much sports that foreign...
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2009
Challenge of a straight question
LONDON — Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, recently was asked twice by the Defense Committee of the House of Commons whether the army chief of staff had requested that reinforcements of 2,000 men be sent to Afghanistan, where British forces have recently suffered a string of casualties. Brown...
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2009
Scrutinizing fitness to lead
LONDON — How much importance should we give to the right to privacy? Should politicians and personalities in the public eye be expected to forgo this right because the public need to know the facts about them in order to judge their fitness for office?
COMMENTARY
Jun 14, 2009
The will to deal imaginatively with a crisis
LONDON — The report that North Korea had set off a second underground nuclear explosion made headlines here, but European eyes were on issues closer to home, including elections to the European Parliament and the state of the European economy.
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2009
The deficits of democracy
LONDON — Britain and Japan have prime ministers who have not been endorsed by the electorate in a general election. Both are hanging on to power and argue that it is their right as prime minister to choose the date for the next election. Under our constitutions this is a valid claim, but is it in accordance...
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2009
The way forward in Afghanistan
So far, 157 British troops have died in Afghanistan and many more have been injured. These are significant and worrying losses. How long will British public opinion accept these losses when it is not clear whether the war in Afghanistan can be won?
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2009
The dead weight of a stubborn politician
"Never apologize, never admit mistakes" is a maxim that many politicians seem to regard as necessary to demonstrate that they are firm in pursuit of their policies. They do not recognize that obstinacy is usually a sign of weakness, not strength.
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2009
Politicians on the make
The image of members of Parliament (MPs) in Britain has been damaged by recent revelations about the way in which MPs — including ministers and some senior members of opposition parties — have taken advantage of the rules about expenses to feather their own nests. Some MPs have also been accused...
COMMENTARY
Apr 17, 2009
Taxing times for the rich
The agreements reached at the Group of 20 summit in London to try to close down tax havens and clamp down on tax avoidance have been welcomed by all except those who have benefited from such activities. But it would be foolish to think that the agreements will lead to speedy changes in the way in which...
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

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