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November 25, 2024

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COMMENTARY

Feb 18, 2001

This cup of coffee is on George W. Bush

By TED RALL

NEW YORK -- I admit it: The money's already spent. I know, I know. I should have waited until that huge GOP windfall actually hit my bank account before going out on a wild tax-cut bender, but I just couldn't help myself. The mere thought of all that budget surplus loot -- trillions! of dollars! just...

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 18, 2001

Falun Gong feels the heat

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG -- Former Indian Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati perfectly illustrated the enormous gulf between the political cultures of India and China when he arrived in Hong Kong recently as part of a United Nations human-rights inspection team.

COMMENTARY

Feb 17, 2001

Press is partly to blame for Mori's image

By Ryuichiro Hosokawa

On Dec. 10, 1954, Ichiro Hatoyama became prime minister after a long and bitter political struggle with Shigeru Yoshida. In the immediate postwar period, Hatoyama had appeared to be the most promising of the candidates aspiring to head the government. But he was forced to leave the political arena after...

COMMENTARY

Feb 17, 2001

Filling in Bush's Asia policy

By Ralph Cossa

With one notable exception, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's Senate confirmation testimony outlining the Bush administration's Asia policy signaled a remarkable degree of continuity. Powell identified America's bilateral-alliance network, and particularly the U.S.-Japan relationship, as the bedrock...

COMMENTARY

Feb 16, 2001

The Ehime Maru tragedy: spotlight on failed leadership

By Minoru Tada

Both Japanese and U.S. officials are shirking their responsibilities in connection with last weekend's sinking of a Japanese fisheries training ship off Honolulu following a collision with a U.S. nuclear submarine. The training ship Ehime Maru, of Uwajima Fisheries High School, went down after colliding...

COMMENTARY

Feb 14, 2001

The 'freeter' phenomenon

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- An article in the Jan. 31 issue of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun began with these words (my translation): "It was afternoon when he woke up. There was nothing he had to do. To avoid meeting his parents he got up without making any noise and went out of the house. It was the same thing for him every...

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 12, 2001

Hints of thaw in Indo-Pakistani relations

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- When Pakistani military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke on the phone for a few minutes after the devastating earthquake that hit parts of India recently, many observers were relieved.

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 12, 2001

Give power to the people

By Hiroshi Kato

The newly reorganized government ministries and agencies began operating Jan. 6. The administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, however, seems to be oblivious to the purpose of the reform.

COMMENTARY

Feb 12, 2001

Destroying a fragile trust

By Gregory Clark

In the semirural area near Tokyo where I and some others spend weekends, we have just suffered our first break-ins. Nothing serious. Someone, probably delinquent kids, going through unlocked parked cars looking for loose items. Far more interesting is why we have been able to leave our houses and cars...

COMMENTARY / World

Feb 12, 2001

U.S. needs allies, not deputy sheriffs

By Robyn Lim

Comments by new U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell have stirred some controversy in Australia. During his confirmation hearings, Powell said that the United States would let Australia take the lead in Indonesia, "as they have done so well in that troubled country." Critics saw this as evidence that...

COMMENTARY

Feb 11, 2001

In the land of the militantly mellow

By TED RALL

NEW YORK -- San Franciscans, if we're to believe reporters who've spent the last week running up their New York employers' expense accounts, are searching the bottom of their recyclable souls in the aftermath of the death of Diane Whipple. Whipple, 33, was killed by one (or two, according to some sources)...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Feb 11, 2001

Yeltsin and Reagan revisited

By Constantine Pleshakov

This year there were two sad anniversaries in the first week of February: two former political superstars, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Boris Yeltsin celebrated their birthdays in the shadow of severe health problems. Confined to hospital, they were unable to appreciate the cheering...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.

A boom for business tourism in Japan?

By Kathryn Wortley

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