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Keizo Nabeshima
COMMENTARY
Dec 4, 2000
Fight the spread of small arms
The United Nations General Assembly has decided to hold the U.N. Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Aspects in New York in July 2001. The trade involves a broad range of hand-carried arms from automatic rifles to portable missiles.
COMMENTARY
Nov 20, 2000
Confusion rocks the alliance
The deadlock over the results of the U.S. presidential election is likely to undermine the administration that will be inaugurated next January. It remains to be seen if the United States, the world's only superpower, will continue to lead world affairs in the 21st century as it did in the last one....
COMMENTARY
Nov 5, 2000
Mori administration reeling
The administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is in crisis, visibly weakened by the resignation of Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa over a drug-related extramarital affair.
COMMENTARY
Oct 30, 2000
Zhu puts relations to rights
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's visit to Tokyo this month marked a turning point in Sino-Japanese relations, which have been strained for the past two years as a result of disagreements over wartime history. In a Tokyo news conference Oct. 16, Zhu said the Japanese people, as well as the Chinese, were "victims...
COMMENTARY
Oct 16, 2000
Reorganization isn't reform
Japan's central bureaucracy will be reorganized, effective Jan. 6, to mark the start of a new administrative system. The reform will have significant influence on local governments and the public, too. It is part of efforts to restructure Japanese society, which has been bound by webs of restrictions...
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2000
Hazards of electoral reform
The tripartite ruling coalition is moving to submit to the Diet a bill for a new Upper House proportional-representation voting system that would allow voters to choose either individual candidates or political parties when casting ballots. The Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative...
COMMENTARY
Sep 18, 2000
Toward peace with Pyongyang
While North and South Korea are moving dramatically toward rapprochement as a result of the inter-Korean summit in June, Japanese and North Korean officials are set to meet again next month to discuss ways to normalize relations. Establishing diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, along with settling the territorial...
COMMENTARY
Aug 28, 2000
U.N. central to future peace
Hisashi Owada, former ambassador to the United Nations and now president of the Japan Institute of International Affairs, emphasized in a recent interview with this writer that Japan should play a larger role in the 188-member world body, saying: "Japan should contribute to the resolution of global issues,...
COMMENTARY
Aug 15, 2000
LDP faces the ethics test
Kimitaka Kuze was recently forced to resign as chairman of the Cabinet-level Financial Reconstruction Commission for receiving illegal benefits and payments from companies. This dealt a heavy blow to the credibility of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and stirred a strong sense of distrust in Japanese politics...
COMMENTARY
Jul 29, 2000
Putin the big winner at G8 summit
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin, both attending a summit of major industrial powers for the first time, played markedly different roles at the Group of Eight Okinawa summit that ended July 23.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2000
Ethical void damages Japan
The political ethics issue confronts the new administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. The question at stake is whether Japan will be able to put an end to the politics of patronage.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2000
Japan's voters call for change
Voters apparently called for a change in the nation's politics in Sunday's elections for the House of Representatives. The Democratic Party of Japan consolidated its position as the No. 1 opposition party by winning an additional 35 seats, although it failed to win enough votes to allow it to establish...
COMMENTARY
Jun 19, 2000
Defining issues for Japan
The June 25 Lower House election will be critical for Japan, since it will mark the first step in charting the nation's course for the 21st century. The most important campaign issue is the makeup of the next government. These alternatives are possible: the existing tripartite coalition of the Liberal...
COMMENTARY
Jun 6, 2000
Korean challenges for Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung agreed in their talks in Seoul May 29 that the two nations should coordinate their policies toward North Korea. Mori and Kim also concurred that the North-South Korea summit in Pyongyang, which begins June 12, and the ongoing...
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2000
Tough challenges for the LDP
The death of former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, coming in the wake of the retirement of his mentor, former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, marks the end of the "Takeshita politics" that wielded considerable clout within the Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY
May 9, 2000
Hold the line with Russia
The St. Petersburg summit held April 29 between Japan's new prime minister, Yoshiro Mori, and Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin marked a new stage in bilateral negotiations on signing a peace treaty. The two nations had earlier agreed to settle their territorial dispute on the Northern Territories...
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2000
Mori's real test comes in July
Like many Japanese, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori will travel overseas in the Golden Week holiday period, which starts April 29. He will have little time to relax, however. Mori, who will chair the Group of Eight summit in southern Japan in July, will visit the participating nations to prepare for the...
COMMENTARY
Apr 17, 2000
Time for a grand strategy
The new Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori should start mapping out a grand design for Japan's national-security policies for the first half of the 21st century.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2000
Election reform isn't the cure
The ruling coalition and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan have worked out a bill to correct defects in the existing election system. If approved by the current Diet, the proposed changes to the Public Office Election Law will apply to the next Lower House.
COMMENTARY
Mar 11, 2000
A concession to North Korea
The Japanese government announced March 7 it would resume food aid to North Korea, offering 100,000 tons of rice through the United Nations World Food Program. Following the decision, the two countries agreed to resume Red Cross talks on humanitarian issues March 13 in Beijing and reopen the ambassadorial-level...

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?