More Commentary Articles - The Japan Times

November 27, 2024

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 21, 2003

EU troubles will also expand

By Jonathan Fenby

LONDON -- The symbolism could hardly have been better. Against a background of the columns of ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy, 25 government leaders signed documents that will bring into the European Union countries that spent much of their postwar existence under communist dictatorship....

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Apr 20, 2003

Nice work so far but can U.S. pay up?

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- By now there is very little doubt that the armed forces of the United States are quite phenomenal. The display of technology, tactics, teamwork, discipline and control in the four-week campaign that has taken control of Iraq has been quite a show, a demonstration of military power that...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 19, 2003

Stop demolitions of Palestinian homes

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- Systematic home demolitions, severe travel restrictions, curfews and town blockades are cruel occupation policies aimed at intimidating Palestinians and making them leave their lands. Since the start of Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands in 1967, more than 10,000 homes have been demolished,...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 19, 2003

View talks with skepticism

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- The North Koreans have set both doves and hawks all a-twitter in Washington, Tokyo and Seoul by agreeing to discuss its nuclear plans with American diplomats. But a word of skepticism is in order.

COMMENTARY

Apr 19, 2003

World must push Indo-Pakistani dialogue

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- India's decision to pursue the development of its Agni-III nuclear missile despite being urged by Western countries to abandon the plan will intensify an already worrisome arms race in South Asia.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 18, 2003

Firm resolve propels Sri Lankan peace aims

By Sisira Edirippulige

KOBE -- The United States demonstrated its serious commitment to the Sri Lanka's peace drive by hosting an international seminar on Sri Lanka's reconstruction and development on Monday at the U.S. State Department in Washington. But the U.S. decision to exclude Tamil Tiger rebels from the donor conference...

COMMENTARY

Apr 17, 2003

Taiwan referendum bill may rile Beijing

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- The Taiwan legislature is discussing the politically charged proposal of adopting a referendum law to allow important policy issues, such as whether to build a nuclear power plant, to be decided by the island's 23 million people.

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 16, 2003

Why does Japan choose to remain naked to the threat of North Korean missiles?

By Robyn Lim

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, fearing that he is next on U.S. President George W. Bush's list for "regime change," is openly threatening Japan with his Nodong missiles. Yet Japan chooses to remain naked to this threat. Why doesn't it ask for PAC-3 (Patriot) missiles to be deployed by U.S. forces in...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Apr 16, 2003

Surviving victory in Iraq

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- It is, of course, unknown how future Western and Arab writers will treat the fall of Baghdad in April 2003, and whether U.S. troops or the people of Iraq -- or perhaps neither side -- will be proclaimed an eventual winner. In any case, there is every reason to believe that the battle for Baghdad...

COMMENTARY

Apr 15, 2003

Koizumi still Japan's best hope

By Hugh Cortazzi

The publicity given to the quarreling between members of the Japanese Cabinet, including accusations of lying, the resignation of the minister of agriculture and the difficulty Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apparently had in finding a suitable successor suggest that his government cannot last much...

COMMENTARY

Apr 14, 2003

Implications of the Iraq war

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- Why diplomacy failed in Iraq remains a subject of intense debate. Even Baghdad's supporters could not argue that Iraq had fully complied with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, which found Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime in material breach of numerous earlier resolutions and promised...

COMMENTARY

Apr 14, 2003

China stumbles on SARS and Pyongyang

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Mistake-making is a common occupation of governments everywhere, but lately the Chinese government has made two monster blunders that uncomfortably reopen the question of whether China has made all that much progress after all. The issues concern North Korea and severe acute respiratory...

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

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports