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November 28, 2024

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COMMENTARY

Sep 2, 2003

One-sided bilateral relations

By Brad Glosserman

TOKYO -- The conventional wisdom on the other side of the Pacific is that U.S.-Japan relations are the best they've ever been. The view is very different in Japan. Here, an increasing number of voices argue that the benefits of the relationship only flow one way. On a recent visit, I was continually...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 1, 2003

Japan's lesson for Europe

By Jonathan Fenby

LONDON -- At some point last year, it became fashionable to compare the economic plight of Germany and, by extension, the euro zone as a whole with the situation in Japan. As recession bit into the country that used to be Europe's motor and as the 12-nation euro area began recording declining growth...

COMMENTARY

Sep 1, 2003

Merger of opposition parties may bring grand reform era

By Takamitsu Sawa

On July 24, lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Party approved an agreement for the two opposition parties to merge before the end of September. Some pundits criticized the scheduled merger as "unprincipled," but I disagree. I believe it has major significance for the nation.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 1, 2003

Mess with the bull and you might get gored

By Christopher Lingle

GUATEMALA CITY -- At last, the Nikkei stock average has risen above 10,000 points for the first time in more than a year, rebounding from 7,600 in April. Much of the rally is due to the net buying of Japanese shares by foreign investors as global money managers increase their holdings.

COMMENTARY

Aug 31, 2003

France's long, hot summer

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- Fifty-three thousand deaths in August against 40,000 the same month in 2002: This has every chance of being the minimum toll of the unprecedented heat wave France has known this summer, with daytime peaks of more than 40 degrees Celsius vs. a seasonal norm of 27 degrees.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 31, 2003

Enthusiasm for EU club has evaporated

By Jiri Pehe

PRAGUE -- When communism in Eastern Europe collapsed, the region's new democratic leaders agreed that joining the European Union -- fast -- must be their priority. "Back to Europe!" became the slogan, one enthusiastically backed by a majority of their populations. Yet eight months before that dream formally...

COMMENTARY

Aug 30, 2003

Governments must plan today for tomorrow's energy needs

By David Howell

LONDON -- Electric power -- or lack of it -- is once again in the news. It is not just the millions of East Coast Americans and Canadians who have suffered with monster blackouts. Power cuts have become drearily regular in France, Japan, China, Spain, Italy, not to mention in struggling Iraq. And shortages...

COMMENTARY

Aug 30, 2003

A tax hike for God? Don't you believe it

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- It has long been said that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Today religion plays that role in the United States. At least it does for Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama, who is pushing a massive tax hike in the name of God.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 29, 2003

Washington lays siege to WTO system

By David Wall

LONDON -- In the last few weeks the U.S. Congress has approved free-trade agreements with Chile and Singapore and has approved the opening of talks on FTAs with Bahrain and the Dominican Republic.

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 29, 2003

Aussies discover cost of being Big Brother

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- No good deed goes unpunished, says the cynic. And that's the way it's looking for Australia's efforts to bring peace and stability to the South Pacific.

COMMENTARY

Aug 28, 2003

Brinkmanship in Beijing

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- "Surrender means death!" This pretty much sums up North Korea's opening position at the six-nation talks in Beijing this week. U.S. insistence that North Korea dismantle its nuclear program "fully, verifiably, and irreversibly" in advance of dialogue (or rewards) "is little short of demanding...

COMMENTARY

Aug 28, 2003

Asia needs export controls to keep terrorist forces at bay

By Brad Glosserman

SINGAPORE -- The recent bomb blast at the J.W. Marriott hotel in downtown Jakarta is only the most recent reminder of the ruthless cruelty of international terrorism. The topic dominates every discussion of Asian security. Those talks have become increasingly sharp in the face of a rising death toll...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

By Greg Dvorak

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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