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November 22, 2024
 

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John J. Metzler
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2018
Moralizing, demonizing and common sense at the U.N.
In a week of speeches that swirled from the sublime to the ridiculous or were simply just boring, the recent United Nations General Assembly debate reached some notable exceptions. Among the sonorous drone of 193 addresses, either restating the obvious or repeating by rote the contemporary global mantra...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2016
U.N. human rights panel is no place for abusers
A political Who's Who of authoritarian regimes are seeking seats on the U.N. Human Rights Council.
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2016
Governments paranoid over free media
Many of the world's leaders are developing a form of paranoia about legitimate journalism.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2013
Making sense of North Korea's March madness
It's ironic that tougher U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea are matched by food and humanitarian assistance from U.N. agencies.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 4, 2013
Results for 2013 rely perilously on leadership
It's time once again to peer ahead at the global political and economic horizons this year. The political landscape offers both promise and peril, but much of the problem is that many of the outcomes will fall to the judgment of leadership.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2012
Quebec vote signals uncertainty for Canada
Political uncertainty shadows Quebec in the aftermath of a contentious provincial election campaign. Since the vote, the specter of separatism has re-emerged in the multiethnic Canadian province where political rhetoric by the French-language-focused Parti Quebecois could bring about the return of economic...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2012
French never blase about the American arts
One of the more instinctive knee-jerk comments in trans-Atlantic relations is that the "French don't like Americans."
Jun 22, 2012
Cold War shadows Serb's win of key U.N. post
Shadows of the Cold War returned to the United Nations in the recent elections for president of the General Assembly, where a previously agreed candidate from Lithuania was challenged and subsequently defeated by a Russian-backed contender from Serbia.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2012
Somali pirates see their ambitions trimmed
There has been a significant drop in ship seizures and hijackings by Somali pirates in the troubled waters off East Africa.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2012
Pyongyang's next move after the missile fizzle?
In the bizarre ritual of North Korea, a recent rocket launch was intended to put the icing on the dynastic cake of the centennial birthday celebrations of the late dictator Kim Il Sung. The world press had been invited to the reclusive neo-Stalinist state, and the stage was aptly set for the kind of...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2012
Syrian crisis shadowed by outcome in Libya
As the conflict in Syria churns out a ghastly human carnage, diplomatic efforts to halt the violence are shadowed by last year's intervention in the Libyan conflict, which resulted in a six-month-long military operation to topple a tyrant.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 16, 2012
Is Burma's reintegration with the West for real?
In a world beset by war, ethnic conflict and humanitarian disasters, Burma (aka Myanmar) seems one of those rare places where diplomats can say they are making a positive difference.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2012
Egypt muddies waters of relationship with U.S.
When the government of erstwhile U.S. ally Egypt shut down 17 Western prodemocracy groups, trashed their Cairo offices and slapped travel bans on some of their staff, political relations between Washington and Cairo hit a new and unexpected low.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 5, 2011
Ex-East Bloc states reflect on the Arab Spring
A seamless political thread running through the current U.N. General Assembly debate has been that of the Arab Spring, the movement that has shifted the political sands throughout the Middle East.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2011
China rocks South China Sea boat
A rhetorical conflict has roiled the waves of the South China Sea, the strategic resource-rich region bordered, and in part claimed in various parts, by six Southeast Asian states.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2011
Portugal has a lesson if the U.S. is watching
Portugal is far along the primrose path to economic bankruptcy, following in the steps of Greece and Ireland. While the Portuguese debt crisis is not nearly as acute as that of Greece and Ireland, it nonetheless serves as a warning to other European Union countries, as well as the United States, that...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2010
North Korea evokes pity and condemnation
UNITED NATIONS — Amid severe food shortages affecting up to a quarter of the population, horrific human rights abuses, and an expanding and costly nuclear weapons program, the United Nations has tried to respond to North Korea with a combination of carrots and sticks.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2010
For a fairer, more unwieldy Security Council
UNITED NATIONS — Reform and redesign of the U.N. Security Council has long been on the diplomatic drawing boards. Few countries will argue against the necessity for that, but most balk at the specific details.
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

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