More Commentary Articles - The Japan Times

November 27, 2024

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COMMENTARY

Jul 5, 2003

Tony Blair: a casualty of war

By Sarah Benton

LONDON -- As the grim business of policing a vanquished Iraq drags on, it seems less and less likely that Prime Minister Tony Blair's authority over party and country will survive. For the first time since Labour's landslide victory in 1997 the Conservatives are nudging ahead of Labour in opinion polls...

COMMENTARY

Jul 4, 2003

Does irrelevancy await Japan?

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- Japan-U.S. relations are at a postwar high, "the best they have ever been," report policymakers on both sides of the Pacific and longtime observers of the relationship. Credit growing realism in Japan about security issues, unprecedented decisions in Tokyo and a remarkable personal relationship...

COMMENTARY

Jul 2, 2003

Drive for European unity gets a boost from Iraq war

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- Two months ago, the European Union seemed bound to be one of the major casualties of the trans-Atlantic rift generated by the Iraqi war. Now, however, the climate is improving.

COMMENTARY

Jul 2, 2003

Pyongyang: keep the gloves on for now

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- There is no question that the anachronistic communist regime in North Korea threatens the peace in Northeast Asia. In the absence of good intelligence, however, it is difficult to estimate the extent of the threat. American intelligence on Iraq was faulty, and it is doubtful whether the CIA...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 1, 2003

Hong Kong strives to end SARS stigma

By Alex Fong

As the principal representative of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo, I am pleased to share the challenges and achievements of Hong Kong with our friends in Japan on the sixth anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.

COMMENTARY

Jul 1, 2003

A ridiculous SDF restriction

By Kenzo Uchida

The first half of 2003 was marked by the war in Iraq, led by the United States and Britain, and the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which hit China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Canada.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Jun 30, 2003

U.S. policy only fuels fundamentalism

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- "In pre-surrender discussions of the postwar world, no principle, save the basic principle of democracy itself, was more frequently cited than that of religious freedom as essential to the establishment of a permanently peaceful world."

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Jun 30, 2003

An irrational space odyssey?

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- Of all the arms races humankind has been involved in, the one in space has been the most bizarre. If a person is interested in a case study of unintended consequences, one could hardly find a better subject. Scientific curiosity, imperial dreams, down-to-earth geopolitics, interests of commerce...

COMMENTARY

Jun 30, 2003

U.N. strives to control real weapons of mass destruction

By Keizo Nabeshima

In July 2001 the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus an action program to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. Two months later, the 9/11 terror attacks hit the United States, shifting the focus to international terrorism and the proliferation...

COMMENTARY

Jun 29, 2003

Six lies of Myanmar's junta

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG -- Myanmar's military junta has reacted to growing international disquiet over its current crackdown on the country's duly elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy by telling lies that only increase fears for her personal survival.

COMMENTARY

Jun 29, 2003

Humane results don't justify bad policy

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Never mind finding Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, intones U.S. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican: Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was a bad man and "our war to liberate Iraq was right and just." Liberal pundit Nat Hentoff agrees, calling humanitarianism "the most compelling reason...

COMMENTARY

Jun 29, 2003

China a laggard in preemptive reforms

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- When China sacked its health minister and the mayor of Beijing on Easter Sunday for their mishandling of the SARS crisis, many political analysts predicted that severe acute respiratory syndrome would have the same effect on China that the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 had on the Soviet...

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

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

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

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