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November 26, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Sep 28, 2002

Stick to the facts on Saddam Hussein

By Michael O'Hanlon

WASHINGTON -- The claims of U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney that Iraq might join with terrorists to strike the United States at any time are far-fetched. Very little about the historical record or current intelligence lends credence to that view. It cannot be...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 26, 2002

It's not the economy, stupid!

By Michael Mertes

Gerhard Schroeder will remain the German Chancellor after Germany's recent elections, but his majority in Parliament has become extremely narrow. His Social Democrats (SPD) got 38.5 percent of the vote, and so did the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) of his rival, Edmund Stoiber. The main reason Schroeder...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 26, 2002

A sustainable recovery for developing Asia?

By Jungsoo Lee

The strong global recovery that was widely expected to take place in the latter half of 2002 has not materialized. On the contrary, increasing uncertainties are undermining the confidence of consumers and investors worldwide, and the speed of economic recovery in the industrialized world is likely to...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 26, 2002

Indonesia's poor pay too high a price to receive Japan's ODA

By Richard Susilo

Have you ever experienced a day without food? How about losing your land or losing your culture, or losing your income? The worst is losing your family, or having your sweet daughter forced into becoming as a prostitute because, lacking money and a decent education, she can't find a proper job.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 26, 2002

Strike a balance in the Security Council

By John Barry Kotch

SEOUL -- While virtually all countries are agreed on the danger posed by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's surreptitious efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD), this is not the only -- or even the main danger -- facing the international community over how to respond to Iraq's noncompliance...

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Sep 26, 2002

Iraq dominates Washington's agenda

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- The Oct. 4 target date for the adjournment of Congress is fast approaching. The top priority for President George W. Bush is to convince Congress to give him some form of support for his crusade against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

COMMENTARY

Sep 25, 2002

Strengthen Sino-Japanese ties

By Keizo Nabeshima

Japan and China will soon observe the 30th anniversary of their normalization of relations, which took place Sept. 29, 1972. The bilateral relationship was placed on a solid foundation with the conclusion of a treaty of peace and friendship in 1978. Economic relations have since dramatically expanded....

COMMENTARY

Sep 24, 2002

Building corporate integrity

By Kiroku Hanai

A spate of corporate scandals have rocked Japan this year. Snow Brand Foods Co. and Nippon Ham Co. mislabeled beef, abusing the government's buyback program that was set up to bail out the beef industry following the outbreak of mad cow disease in Japan. Trading giant Mitsui & Co. was implicated in a...

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Sep 23, 2002

Youth must lead creative destruction

By Jean-pierre Lehmann

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The turn of the century is an important opportunity to engage in questioning and re-evaluating some of the global community's basic tenets, assumptions, policies and directions. On these matters we are being well-served by some excellent books.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 23, 2002

Reform delays discouraging

By Mamoru Ishida

Junichiro Koizumi was Japan's first prime minister to receive a mandate to push structural reforms by convincing the public that there would be no economic growth without painful reforms. It remains to be seen, however, whether Koizumi will succeed in his reforms. More than a year after launching his...

COMMENTARY

Sep 23, 2002

EU immigration issue heats up

By David Howell

LONDON -- The enlargement of the European Union, with the addition of up to 10 more states and dozens of new local cultures and minorities, is approaching.

COMMENTARY

Sep 22, 2002

Label that foils compromise

By Gregory Clark

Sept. 11, 2002, brought us no closer to sensible thinking about the causes of events a year earlier. The United States concentrated on its own sufferings, and plans for revenge against "terrorists." In Japan, a high-level NHK roundtable dragged out that favorite of aid agencies seeking bigger budgets,...

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

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