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November 22, 2024
 

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Keizo Nabeshima
COMMENTARY
Aug 26, 2002
Diplomatic prowess for less
A ministerial meeting of the Initiative for Development in East Asia, held in Tokyo on Aug. 12, acknowledged the significance of maintaining adequate Official Development Assistance as a tool for strengthening regional cooperation and agreed to examine how to make more effective use of ODA. The meeting...
COMMENTARY
Aug 13, 2002
Protecting Japan's interests
Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi's advisory panel on ministry reform came up with its final report in late July. On the basis of the panel's recommendations, the ministry this month will formulate an action plan on ways of implementing reform. A spate of scandals involving the ministry have prompted...
COMMENTARY
Jul 29, 2002
Chance to engage Pyongyang
In the first meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, foreign ministers and officials will gather in the Brunei capital of Bandar Seri Begawan on Wednesday to discuss tense situations on the Korean Peninsula and between India and Pakistan, plus other regional issues....
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2002
Mark of Koizumi's mettle
At the end of the recent Group of Eight summit in Kananaskis, Canada, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed confidence in successfully implementing his reform programs, including plans for highway administration and postal services. Koizumi said, "My G8 partners praised and encouraged me when I...
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2002
Pork-barreling still rampant
Lower House member Muneo Suzuki was recently arrested by the Tokyo District Prosecutor's Office on charges of accepting a bribe in an influence-peddling scandal. Following the arrest, the Lower House approved a nonbinding motion demanding Suzuki resign as a lawmaker. This was the second such motion approved,...
COMMENTARY
Jun 17, 2002
Cracks in a nonnuclear core
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda's comment on Japan's three nonnuclear principles caused political confusion at home and deepened misunderstanding abroad.
COMMENTARY
Jun 3, 2002
Too cozy for visions of reform
Japan is groping in the dark politically, economically and diplomatically. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform initiative is deadlocked; there is even a sense that it might end up as an empty slogan. Prospects for the postal deregulation bills, a top item on his reform agenda, are at best uncertain...
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2002
Overhaul the foreign service
The police intrusion into the Japanese Consulate General in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on May 8 has revealed, both here and abroad, the sorry state of Japanese diplomacy.
COMMENTARY
May 6, 2002
Koizumi must focus or fail
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration, which marked its first anniversary April 26, stands at a crossroads. Its future hinges on whether his "no pain, no gain" reform initiative will produce tangible results. Thus far his administration has made no substantial achievements to speak of. Its...
COMMENTARY
Apr 22, 2002
Defense bills only a first step
Japan has moved a step closer to enacting emergency security legislation to deal with direct military attacks on the nation. Last Wednesday, the government introduced in the Diet a package of three bills for such emergencies.
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2002
Another failure in the making?
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who will complete his first year in office April 26, finds himself in a precarious position as his reform initiative faces mounting resistance from the ruling coalition, particularly his own Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY
Mar 25, 2002
Koizumi takes aim at collusion
The scandals involving two Liberal Democratic Party bigwigs -- former LDP Secretary General Koichi Kato and former Hokkaido and Okinawa Development Agency Director General Muneo Suzuki -- are a reminder of the cozy ties that bind LDP politicians, bureaucrats and businesses.
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2002
Keeping politicians on leash
In a report published March 4, the Foreign Ministry acknowledged that Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Muneo Suzuki exerted exceptional influence over ministry affairs. The report, based on an in-house probe and released by Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, confirmed allegations that Suzuki intervened...
COMMENTARY
Feb 25, 2002
U.S. stake in Japan's revival
The Tokyo summit between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush demonstrated that Japan's economic revival has strategic importance for security in East Asia. The Japan-U.S. alliance is no longer based merely on military cooperation; it now hinges on Japan's economic clout...
COMMENTARY
Feb 11, 2002
Fixing the Foreign Ministry
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid a high price for sacking Makiko Tanaka as foreign minister — a free fall in his Cabinet's popularity ratings. The debacle highlighted three major problems involving the Foreign Ministry:
COMMENTARY
Jan 28, 2002
Toughen the antigraft law
"The establishment of political ethics is fundamental to parliamentary politics," states the code of political ethics approved by the Diet in 1985. "We must conduct ourselves with integrity and strive to eradicate political corruption."
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2002
Tokyo conference to work on reconstructing Afghanistan
The Jan. 21-22 international conference in Tokyo on the reconstruction of Afghanistan will provide an opportunity for the post-Sept. 11 international community to unite in contributing to the war-ravaged country's stability.
COMMENTARY
Jan 1, 2002
New national goal for Japan
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent developments have brought home to Japan a critical challenge it faces in the post-Cold War world: Establishing a new national goal and designing a national strategy geared to international cooperation.
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2001
Door to constitutional change
Last June, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi created an advisory panel on his proposal aimed at empowering the public -- not lawmakers as at present -- to directly elect the premier. The group is expected to come up with recommendations on the plan by next summer.
COMMENTARY
Dec 5, 2001
Koizumi and LDP square off
With the government's decision to scrap or privatize seven key public corporations, including four highway corporations, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has cleared a major hurdle on the road to "structural reform with no sanctuary." Now his battle against the "resistance forces" -- the old guard of...
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.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
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.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
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.

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

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