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August 15, 2024
 

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Philip J. Cunningham
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 31, 2016
In U.S. election, the fix is in
When push comes to shove, the status quo must — and will — be maintained.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 21, 2014
'The Interview': It's time for Sony Japan to say no
To put the lame, ill-conceived comedy film 'The Interview' on the frontline of a trumped-up battle in defense of Western values is a bit like betting the bank on Bozo the Clown and refusing to back down.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 13, 2008
Yes we can . . . what, Mr. Obama?
KYOTO — America appears to have been swept up in a feel-good moment. But as much as U.S. President-elect Barack Obama appeals to me as a public speaker and wordsmith, as much as I appreciate his candid, inclusive style as an antidote to everything redolent of President George W. Bush, as thrilled as...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2005
Disaster responses redefine 'Third World'
BANGKOK -- "If America and Thailand were both hit by natural disaster, Thais would handle it better," a Thai lawyer once told me.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2005
Homecoming for Taiwanese icebreaker
BEIJING -- The just-ended visit of Lien Chan, the chairman of Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), to China symbolized the end of a long-standing intra-China feud and is undeniably a diplomatic breakthrough for both sides.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2004
Koizumi diplomacy takes a bold step
BANGKOK -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is to be commended for his pluck in venturing to North Korea at a time like this. Indeed, given the political maelstrom he is stepping into, his bold move has every chance of failure. There is predictable opposition from Japan's aging legions of anticommunists,...
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2004
Myanmar sanctions hurt more than help
BANGKOK -- With the imminent release of prodemocracy leader Aung San Su Kyi from house arrest, it is not too soon to reconsider the usefulness of U.S. sanctions against Myanmar.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 20, 2001
Face to face with individuality
"Are you Korean or Japanese?" goes the question.
CULTURE / Books
Feb 12, 2001
How to profit from a nation's tragedy
THE TIANANMEN PAPERS: The Chinese Leadership's Decision to Use Force against their Own People -- in their Own Words, compiled by Zhang Liang, edited by Andrew Nathan and Perry Link, with an afterword by Orville Schell. Public Affairs, 2001, 560 pp., $30 (cloth). "The Tiananmen Papers" surfaced with...
CULTURE / Books
Jan 30, 2001
When does a faith become a cult?
FALUN GONG'S CHALLENGE TO CHINA: Spiritual Practice or "Evil Cult," by Danny Schechter. Akashic Books, 2000, 225 pp., $24 (cloth). Last year about this time, I visited Tiananmen Square, mingling with tourists and day-trippers enjoying the warmth of the midday sun. As I reminisced about this historic...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2001
In Thailand, good losers teach a key lesson
SISAKET, Thailand -- "If the counting is fair, losers must accept the results," said Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, trying to calm down an anxious nation as rioting spread to over a dozen provinces in the wake of national elections Jan. 6. Having just lost the premiership as his party was trounced...
CULTURE / Books
Nov 21, 2000
From the mouths of babes: a myth
SPITTING IMAGE: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam, by Jerry Lembcke. New York University Press, 2000, 280 pp., $18.95 (paper). My most lasting memory of the Vietnam War is the divisiveness it created in the small American town where I grew up. The nation was divided at every level. Even junior...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 1, 2000
The right WTO strategy for the wrong reasons
U.S. President Bill Clinton's victory in getting Congress in line on the WTO question was capped by a triumphant New York Times Op-Ed piece by him about why China should be in the World Trade Organization. There are many good reasons why, but Clinton's argument that this will "save" China and make it...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2000
Crackdown keeps online China in line
The arrest of poet Huang Beiling in Beijing on Aug. 12 was reported by his brother Huang Feng, an independent publisher, who was himself arrested a week later. Going after writers and publishers with "political problems" is not a new sport in China, but an unfair one. Civil society has not yet produced...
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
Japan's tourism industry hit by cancellations after megaquake alert
A beach closed due to a megaquake alert in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Friday to Thursday.
Focus shifts to incoming typhoon as Tropical Storm Maria dissipates
Newly formed Tropical Storm Ampil, which is forecast to approach eastern Japan this weekend, is seen on the left side of this satellite image.
Kishida to step down in September in bid to show ‘LDP has changed’
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a news conference Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
Publisher finds surprise audience after translating history textbooks
Yamakawa Shuppansha president Takeshi Nozawa holds the publisher's textbook on Japanese history — used in high schools across Japan — alongside the new English version in Tokyo on May 23.
Economic security is about strengthening and sustaining growth, former minister says
Former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi says changes in the international balance of power, along with deepening economic interdependence, have led some countries to attempt to use their economic power to impose their will on others.
Ice bandanas, convenience store breaks: Running under Japan’s summer sun
Blistering heat is becoming a fixture of summer in Japan, but a few tweaks to your routine can make your outdoor runs bearable — if not enjoyable — until cooler temperatures return.
Japan issued its first-ever megaquake alert. What does that mean?
Naoshi Hirata (center), chairman of a committee tasked with evaluating the risk of a Nankai Trough earthquake, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
France brings down the curtain on its Olympic party with Tom Cruise and Leon Marchand
Fireworks are set off during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis on Sunday.
Japan fuels U.S. LNG boom even as climate targets and impacts loom
Flaring at the Cameron LNG export terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana. Flaring, a common sight at LNG plants, is a controlled burning of gas for reasons ranging from depressurizing equipment to disposing of gas that can’t be used. The practice is a "waste of money" and negatively impacts climate change and human health, says the International Energy Agency.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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