Hugh Cortazzi - The Japan Times

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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

Nov 24, 2010

Japan's declining prestige

LONDON — Japan's prestige abroad has continued to decline despite the change from the clapped out Liberal Democratic Party with its series of old hack prime ministers to a government led by the Democratic Party of Japan. Foreign observers thought that surely a DPJ government must represent a change...

COMMENTARY

Nov 21, 2010

To fold on rights is not an option

LONDON — In his recently published self-justifying and self-congratulatory memoir "Decision Points," former U.S. president George W. Bush declared that the waterboarding of al-Qaida suspects, which he had authorized, was justified because the information obtained from the suspects had been instrumental...

COMMENTARY

Oct 30, 2010

A diet for Britain's defense

One of the first acts of the British coalition government was the establishment of a National Security Council. Its primary task was to prepare a new strategic defense and security review. This was published on the day before the government announced its austerity program.

COMMENTARY

Oct 27, 2010

A British lesson for Japan?

The program of cuts to be made in the British budget over the years to the next election due in 2015 was outlined by Finance Minister George Osborne to Parliament on Oct. 20. The program envisages the elimination of the structural deficit by 2015 and the axing of just under half a million jobs in the...

COMMENTARY

Sep 24, 2010

Pope in a secularized state

LONDON — On Sept. 19, Pope Benedict XVI completed a four-day state visit to Britain. This was the first state visit by a pope to a country that had abjured allegiance to the papacy nearly 500 years ago and had played an important role in the Protestant Reformation.

COMMENTARY

Sep 15, 2010

Corruption is not very sporting

Top players in world sports earn salaries that are staggeringly large. But, if various allegations that have recently been published are true, the earnings of top sportsmen, combined in many cases with huge payments from companies using the stars' images to advertise their products, have not been sufficient...

COMMENTARY

Sep 4, 2010

Coalition on the right track

The British coalition government, formed after the last election between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, has not only survived its first quarter in power but has launched some significant reforms that could change the way Britain is governed.

COMMENTARY

Aug 24, 2010

Save overseas assistance

LONDON — The British government, faced with the need to make drastic cuts in government expenditure, has nevertheless decided to ring-fence the overseas aid budget and has pledged to continue to work toward the U.N. target of providing aid equivalent to 0.7 percent of GDP.

COMMENTARY

Aug 2, 2010

Go past Koizumi's reforms to restore the Meiji spirit

LONDON — "Japan has lost its place in world, no longer serious economic power."

COMMENTARY

Jul 17, 2010

U.K. eyes welfare reform

The cost of providing welfare benefits in Britain has risen by 45 percent in a decade and could rise from £87 billion annually to £192 billion by 2015. These costs are a major element in the national budget.

COMMENTARY

Jul 7, 2010

The price of living longer

The British coalition government has announced that it will set from 2016 the qualifying age for old-age pensions for men at 66 instead of 65. Women have hitherto received old-age pensions at 60, but the qualifying age will be brought into line with that for men through a speedier timetable than hitherto...

COMMENTARY

Jun 18, 2010

Recipes for curbing deficits

LONDON — Following the Greek financial crisis, governments in Europe have been adopting austerity measures designed to reduce public sector deficits. The main reason that cuts in governments expenditure are needed is that unless clear and determined steps are taken to reduce public sector deficits,...

COMMENTARY

Jun 15, 2010

Poor grades for U.K. schools

COMMENTARY

May 19, 2010

Coalition off to a good start

Britain's May 6 general election was different from previous elections both in the way the campaigns were conducted and in its final outcome.

COMMENTARY

May 9, 2010

Will the euro live through the Greek crisis?

LONDON — The British, who have not joined the single European currency, have watched somewhat complacently the development of the economic crisis in Greece. They have been happy to leave Greece's rescue to the other countries that use the euro and to the International Monetary Fund.

COMMENTARY

Apr 11, 2010

Which way will the British go?

The United Kingdom will go to the polls on May 6, almost five years since the last general election. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has clung to power as long as he legally could. Now he must face the electorate. The electorate is fickle and the outcome is uncertain.

COMMENTARY

Apr 6, 2010

Getting a leg up on health care

LONDON — The signature by U.S. President Barack Obama of his health care bill was welcomed by most people in Britain and Europe. Many thought that the provision of health care for those not covered by insurance or whose insurance could not be renewed because of an existing health condition was...

COMMENTARY

Mar 12, 2010

Rule of law vs. security

LONDON — Politicians in Britain and in Japan often talk glibly about the importance of the rule of law. But how many of them have a clear idea of what this important phrase means?

COMMENTARY

Mar 3, 2010

Zero tolerance for bullying

The British media have given prominence recently to allegations that Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a bully who intimidates those who work for him. It has also been alleged that some of his staff have briefed against Cabinet ministers with whom Brown disagrees. The government has dismissed these charges...

COMMENTARY

Feb 18, 2010

Building the best military

What sort of defense capability is now needed and how much can be afforded?

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

By Tomoko Otake

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