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November 24, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Mar 28, 2000

No stopping the IT revolution

By Eisuke Sakakibara

Most economic experts seem to agree that the information-technology revolution will bring profound changes to the global economy, and to the Japanese economy as well. Some people still believe that the revolution and the development of multimedia communications technology are only a bubble. However,...

COMMENTARY

Mar 27, 2000

Election reform isn't the cure

By Keizo Nabeshima

The ruling coalition and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan have worked out a bill to correct defects in the existing election system. If approved by the current Diet, the proposed changes to the Public Office Election Law will apply to the next Lower House.

COMMENTARY

Mar 26, 2000

All eyes on nuclear energy

By Gregory Clark

It is axiomatic that any group in Japan -- doctors, dentists or candlestick makers -- will want to turn itself into a tightly bound community, closed off from the outside world. It will be concerned almost entirely with its own survival and prosperity.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 25, 2000

Ethanol: a green opportunity for Japan

By Dan Considine

Bad things can sometimes yield good. Loss of the Saudi Arabian oil-producing contract and the rise in the price of oil from $10 to $30 a barrel in the past year should therefore be a wakeup call to Japan to follow the United States' lead in investing in research and development of alternatives to petroleum-based...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 24, 2000

Election aftershocks rocking Taiwan

By Rick Mercier

TAIPEI -- Taiwan continues to feel the aftershocks of the political earthquake that hit last Saturday, when Democratic Progressive Party leader Chen Shui-bian's presidential victory rocked the foundations of party politics on an island that has been ruled by the same party for more than half a century....

COMMENTARY

Mar 24, 2000

Police resisting vital reform

By Kiroku Hanai

The Japanese police have long enjoyed a high reputation both at home and abroad, due partly to their efficiency in apprehending criminals. Today, however, the Japanese police system is suffering from a breakdown of ethics, caused in part by its insular nature.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2000

Economic doomsayers are off the mark

By Yasukichi Yasuba

The government's projection for Japanese economic growth is 0.6 percent for fiscal 1999 and 1 percent for fiscal 2000. Both are based on unrealistic assumptions about the present and future state of the economy. The projection appears to have been verified by the negative GDP growth recorded in the last...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2000

No more Indian idealism

By Brahma Chellaney

NEW DELHI -- U.S. President Bill Clinton's weeklong tour of South Asia has caused an outbreak of Clinton-mania in the region, generating bloated expectations. In the Indian cities on his itinerary, streets have been cleaned, signposts washed or repainted, and tree branches cut back. The Great White Messiah...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2000

Beijing all bark and no bite? Think again

By Brad Glosserman

Tensions over the Taiwan Strait are palpable after China did its best to intimidate Taiwanese voters in the runup to last weekend's election. First, the Cabinet released a white paper that drew an unmistakable line -- thickened with a new condition -- regarding the limits of acceptable Taiwanese behavior...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2000

How the IMF got its man

By Philippe Ries

Now that the curtain has finally fallen on the lengthy drama of former IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus' succession, the time has come to distribute grades to the players on stage.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 23, 2000

Breaking down the doors of Japan's discriminatory press clubs

By Eric Johnston

In May 1993, David Butts, then Tokyo bureau chief of Bloomberg Business News, was fed up. After years of unsuccessful efforts to penetrate Japan's press clubs through polite negotiation, the tall Texan chose a more direct approach. On the day annual company reports were released, Butts, with other foreign...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 22, 2000

Clinton's opportunities in South Asia

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- U.S. President Bill Clinton will travel to Pakistan on March 25, on the last leg of his South Asian journey, which began last Sunday. But the few hours he plans to spend in Islamabad may represent more than just a passing phase in Washington's new diplomacy in South Asia.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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

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