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November 26, 2024

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COMMENTARY

Jun 15, 2002

Japan remains very abnormal

By Gregory Clark

When the framers of Japan's postwar Constitution included the much-debated Article 9 prohibiting the nation from ever having armed forces or from ever going to war, they had a reason. They saw Japan as a nation with an incurable propensity to slip into militarism.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Jun 14, 2002

Moscow's bloody Sunday

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- The Bloody Sunday of June 9 took Moscow by surprise. Nobody expected a mob of soccer fans, upset by the performance of the national team, to launch a drunken rampage barely 100 meters away from President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin residence. The outburst of violence lasted for several hours,...

COMMENTARY

Jun 13, 2002

Facing need for immigrants

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The problem of illegal immigrants (or economic migrants) and of people seeking asylum because of persecution in their home countries have become dominant themes in the European media. Popular antipathy to the plight of these people has been exploited by rightwing parties, especially in France,...

COMMENTARY

Jun 13, 2002

Wounds of flawed partition remain raw

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG -- Once again, Indo-Pakistani relations are seen to be teetering on the brink of potentially calamitous conflict. Yet too little attention is being paid to the possible solutions that could diminish the sustained Indo-Pakistani cold war with its proven tendency to occasionally become hot.

COMMENTARY

Jun 12, 2002

Focus on military power overlooks crucial issues

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- Months of rising friction followed by recent signs of an easing of tensions between India and Pakistan have sent analysts scrambling for fresh assessments of the military balance between South Asia's two nuclear powers.

COMMENTARY

Jun 11, 2002

Optimist has lost his bearings

By Kenzo Uchida

The government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi continues to face greater difficulties than perhaps ever before. I previously criticized his Cabinet as beset with troubles, both at home and abroad, as a result of scandals involving lawmaker Muneo Suzuki, former Liberal Democratic Party secretary general...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 11, 2002

Flaws in Japan's nuclear-arms debate

By Jun Sakurada

The ongoing debate in Japan on nuclear arms lacks sophistication. On May 31, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said if the international situation were to change, public opinion might favor a nuclear-armed Japan. He was commenting on the government's long-standing three nonnuclear principles of not...

COMMENTARY / World

Jun 11, 2002

Let them breathe water: U.S. blocks sustainable development talks

By Alexander Weissink

BALI -- Already from the beginning there was an air of defeatism at the preparatory meeting in Bali for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It was certainly not the ambience: The resort-style lodging for the 6,000 delegates could hardly have been a reason for complaint. But after two weeks of...

COMMENTARY

Jun 10, 2002

Peculiarities that give pause

By Takamitsu Sawa

More than a year after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi debuted under the "structural reform" slogan, its real meaning remains vague. The pivotal question is, what aspects of the Japanese structure (systems and practices) should be changed, and how?

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Jun 10, 2002

Going 'international' is a matter of trust

By Jean-pierre Lehmann

Fifteenth in a series

COMMENTARY

Jun 10, 2002

Britons fete their status quo

By David Howell

LONDON -- If anyone had doubts about the public mood in Britain, a few days last week would have dispelled them beyond all argument.

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Jun 10, 2002

Tariff decisions proving costly for Bush

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- I cannot help but remind everyone that I thought President George W. Bush made a bonehead decision when he imposed the quotas on imported steel a couple of months ago. I said it was a mistake for him politically, both domestically and internationally. I said it would destroy his hopes of...

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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