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November 22, 2024
 

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David Howell
COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2006
'British' identity in the EU
LONDON -- British Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) Gordon Brown has been calling for a national debate on the subject of British identity and what he terms "Britishness."
COMMENTARY
Jan 30, 2006
Iran highlights EU failings
LONDON -- The battle for Europe's soul continues. Austria now holds the presidency of the European Union until July, and the Austrians see themselves very much as being at the heart of an integrated European state.
COMMENTARY
Jan 13, 2006
Gas as a weapon of choice
LONDON -- What did the Russians hope to achieve? Their threat two weeks ago, now happily averted, to cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine unless it immediately paid four times the current contract price was bound from the start to backfire.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2005
Britain's new political setup
LONDON -- Just as commentators have been writing about a fundamentally new political "setup" in Japan, following Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's overwhelming election victory, so also the same language is being used about British politics.
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2005
Making sense of the senseless
LONDON -- How can sense be made out of the senseless? How are the prolonged outbursts of mindless street violence and car-burning in town after town throughout France to be explained?
COMMENTARY
Oct 31, 2005
EU must win grassroots trust
LONDON, PARIS and ROME-- European leaders have been holding a special meeting at the invitation of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss what he calls "the strategic issues facing Europe in the years ahead."
COMMENTARY
Oct 19, 2005
Building a 21st-century Commonwealth
LONDON -- On the historic Mediterranean island of Malta there will take place in a few weeks time a meeting of nations with colossal potential significance for world peace and development.
COMMENTARY
Sep 22, 2005
Japan's 'Thatcher' moment?
LONDON -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koziumi's smashing election victory could give him the same kind of political power as that which fell into the hands of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Should he therefore follow the Thatcher recipes and methods for structural economic reform,...
COMMENTARY
Sep 9, 2005
Give Lebanon space to heal
BEIRUT -- The tragic assassination of Rafik Hariri, both former and prospective Lebanon Prime Minister, on St. Valentine's Day (Feb. 14) set in motion a chain of events that gave the world hope in Lebanon's future.
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2005
Know when not to apologize
LONDON -- Here is a telling statistic about Japan's foreign policy that is little known in the West, and may not be widely known even in Japan itself.
COMMENTARY
Aug 15, 2005
Energy myths and illusions
LONDON/OSLO -- People like to discuss whether the world is running out of oil and gas, and the big oil companies round the world have now joined in with warnings about energy shortages and the need to retool our economies on a more energy-efficient basis. And to emphasize their dire warnings, they are...
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2005
Calculating the costs of climate change
LONDON -- People who arrive at parties that are in full swing, and then ask who is paying and how much the party costs, are usually regarded as party poopers who should either keep their views to themselves or withdraw.
COMMENTARY
Jul 14, 2005
Unraveling motives of terror
LONDON -- After months of careful planning, it has been the turn of London to suffer the carnage already familiar to the people of Madrid, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Istanbul, New York (although not on the same scale) and many other world cities.
COMMENTARY
Jul 2, 2005
What about the billions given?
LONDON — The popular pressure being mobilized and brought to bear on the Group of Eight countries, including both Britain and Japan, to increase aid substantially to Africa and cancel poorer countries' debt, is certainly having an impact. But it is not quite the one at which the campaigners were aiming....
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2005
The euro's legs are shaking
LONDON -- Now that the proposed European Union Constitution has been well and truly sunk (although parts may be salvaged), could the same fate happen to the euro currency?
COMMENTARY
Jun 1, 2005
French lessons for the European Union
LONDON -- So the French have voted down the proposed EU Constitution decisively. What now? Will the European Union fall apart? Certainly not. Does it mean that the attempt to impose a single "top-down" constitution on all 25 member states is dead? Probably -- especially if the Netherlands also votes...
COMMENTARY
May 20, 2005
The right leader for Britain
LONDON -- British politics is now in a fluid state. The May 5 general election, which should have settled things, at least for four or five years, has unsettled everything in a very puzzling way.
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2005
A 'Eurasian Union' on deck
LONDON -- Where does Europe end and Asia begin? The question is of more than academic interest because the answer will determine what sort of entity the European Union is to be. There are those who talk about "the final completion" of the EU as though a line can be carefully drawn between the states...
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2005
A provincial pitch for votes
LONDON -- Britain is now in the grip of a general election campaign with voting due May 5. As with political campaigns generally in the modern world, this one is heavily oriented toward domestic issues and disputes. Globalization and the worldwide information revolution seem to have had the opposite...
COMMENTARY
Apr 11, 2005
EU Constitution in trouble
LONDON -- It is possible, even probable, that the French people will reject the European Union's proposed new constitution in their referendum on May 31.
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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