Brad Glosserman - The Japan Times

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Brad Glosserman

COMMENTARY

Mar 11, 2002

Reform takes back seat to economic values

HONOLULU -- Despite the hype, Japan's antideflation package has failed once again to impress the critics. This failure is remarkable given the international attention that has focused on the proposal, the vote of no-confidence that had been delivered by the markets and the pressure applied by the U.S....

COMMENTARY

Jan 31, 2002

Toughest task yet: rebuilding Afghanistan's civil society

HONOLULU -- Two decades of war have exacted a horrific toll on Afghanistan. As the dust settles after the latest conflagration, the meaning of "nation building" is becoming clear -- and it's a mind-boggling assignment.

COMMENTARY

Jan 24, 2002

What is normal for Japan?

Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro has done an extraordinary job in leading Japan's response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Both the package of measures his government put together to support the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism and the speed with which it was approved have...

COMMENTARY

Jan 18, 2002

War taking U.S. policy hostage

HONOLULU -- The fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan has been greeted with quiet satisfaction. In fact, despite the sudden collapse of the Kabul regime, the tone in Washington has been sober. Washington has reminded us that the U.S.-led "war" against terrorism has three objectives -- the removal...

COMMENTARY

Dec 31, 2001

Resist the urge to keep score

HONOLULU -- There is an irresistible temptation to sort out winners and losers in the post-Sept. 11 world. Relations with the United States are the grand prize as governments scramble for position in the war against terrorism.

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Dec 23, 2001

Rethinking the threat that never was

NO MORE BASHING: Building a New Japan-United States Economic Relationship, by C. Fred Bergsten, Takatoshi Ito and Marcus Noland. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, October, 2001, 328 pp., $23.95 (paper). What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, the United States was widely...

COMMENTARY / World

Dec 22, 2001

Tanaka isn't the true target

HONOLULU — Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka has been engaged in a very public battle with Foreign Ministry officials since her appointment in April. While the controversy has focused on Tanaka's gaffes and her seeming inability to serve effectively as foreign minister, the real clash is...

COMMENTARY

Nov 21, 2001

Recipe for economic change

WASHINGTON — In recent weeks, Taiwan has taken two steps to prepare for the transformation of its economy. Taipei's decision to lift many of the restrictions on investment in the mainland and the island's entry into the World Trade Organization will produce fundamental shifts in the way Taiwan...

COMMENTARY

Nov 15, 2001

The dilemma at Doha: balancing security and commerce

HONOLULU -- Terrorism is very much on the minds of trade ministers meeting since the weekend in Doha, Qatar, to discuss a new round of global trade talks. Some are worried about personal safety: Many received security briefings from their national intelligence services on the possibility of a terror...

CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF

Oct 28, 2001

Engagement or isolation?

KOREAN SECURITY DYNAMICS IN TRANSITION, edited by Park Kyung-Ae and Kim Dalchoon. New York, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001, 209 pp., $45.00 (cloth) The euphoria that followed the historic inter-Korean summit in June 2000 has worn off. North Korea's peek-a-boo diplomacy -- now you see us, now you don't --...

CULTURE / Books

Sep 9, 2001

A long-term relationship that works

PARTNERSHIP: The United States and Japan 1951-2001, edited by Akira Iriye and Robert A. Wampler. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2001, 333 pp., 3,800 yen (cloth). On Sept. 8, 1951, Japan and the United States, along with 47 other governments, signed a peace treaty that officially ended the Pacific...

CULTURE / Books

Sep 2, 2001

Looking ahead to a reunified Korea

KOREA'S FUTURE AND THE GREAT POWERS, edited by Nicholas Eberstadt and Richard J. Ellings. University of Washington Press, 2001, 361 pp., $22.95 (paperback). Think what you will about North Korea's Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, but the man has a gift for theater. He captivated much of the planet when he...

COMMENTARY

Aug 21, 2001

Koizumi's unfinished business

HONOLULU -- Last week was rough for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The last thing he wants to do now is revisit the Yasukuni Shrine question, but there is unfinished business that he must attend to.

CULTURE / Books

Aug 12, 2001

Victimhood in the national psyche

THE VICTIM AS HERO: Ideologies of Peace and National Identity in Postwar Japan, by James J. Orr. University of Hawaii Press, 2001, 271 pp., $22.95 (paperback). August 15 approaches, and once again Japan's neighbors are up in arms over the prospect of a prime minister's visit to Yasukuni Shrine. In...

COMMENTARY

Aug 6, 2001

Now Koizumi's battle begins

HONOLULU -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi delivered on his promise to revive the fortunes of the Liberal Democratic Party the weekend before last. LDP candidates steamrollered their opposition, claiming 64 of the 121 seats that were contested in the Upper House ballot. After an independent candidate...

COMMENTARY

Jul 23, 2001

A textbook lesson for Japan's leaders

HONOLULU -- The controversy over middle school textbooks continues to damage relations between Japan and South Korea. Last week, the Seoul government announced that it was canceling military exchanges and the introduction of Japanese cultural products in retaliation for Tokyo's failure to meet South...

COMMENTARY

Jun 24, 2001

In diplomacy, two tracks is better than one

There is a better than even chance that this is the only article you will ever read about the Asia Pacific Roundtable that was held earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur. That's a pity. Not only because the meeting has some history behind it -- this year marked the 15th annual get-together -- or because...

CULTURE / Books

Jun 17, 2001

China no threat to Asia just yet

CHINA AND THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY: Great Power or Struggling Developing State? by Solomon M. Karmel. MacMillan, 2000, 229 pp., 35 UK pounds (cloth). China is a revisionist state. It wants to challenge the existing international order -- or at least the way things work in Asia. The country's history,...

COMMENTARY

Jun 14, 2001

Solving Asia's nuclear-waste dilemma

Nuclear energy is news again. It has always been an issue for some people -- environmental activists and energy industry groups -- but nuclear power has largely faded from public consciousness, despite periodic incidents that highlighted fears of a catastrophic mishap at a nuclear power plant. The luxury...

CULTURE / Books

Jun 3, 2001

Past obscures Korea's nuclear future

SOLVING THE NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR PUZZLE, edited by David Albright and Kevin O'Neill. Washington, D.C.: ISIS Press, 2000, 333 pp., $29.95 (paper). We may never know how close the world came to war in 1994, but most accounts suggest the margin was slim. Suspicions about North Korea's nuclear program...

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