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November 23, 2024
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2000
Free trade means lower living standards
By Bharat Jhunjhunwala
NEW DELHI -- The debate in the aftermath of the WTO meeting in Seattle continues with the assumption that globalization fundamentally benefits the world's people. It is forgotten that globalization also implies that wages will become equalized on a global scale. If this occurs, an abundant supply of...
COMMENTARY
Jan 24, 2000
Common sense up in flames
By Kiroku Hanai
Shizuka Kamei, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, recently proposed a raise in the tobacco tax in the fiscal 2000 government budget. The proposal, however, was quickly quashed due to opposition in the LDP and by Japan Tobacco Inc., the nation's only cigarette manufacturer. Smokers and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 24, 2000
Taiwan turns table on terrible temblor
By Chao Yi
In the early hours of Sept. 21, 1999, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Taiwan. Within 45 seconds, over 2,000 people lost their lives and property damage amounted to billions of dollars. Fortunately, the epicenter was not in a densely populated metropolitan area, for the loss of life and property would...
COMMENTARY
Jan 24, 2000
Homage to a mass murderer
By Hugh Cortazzi
I was shocked to see a photograph in The Japan Times last month of former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka laying a wreath at the statue of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang. They looked rather sheepish. They should, in fact, have looked...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2000
Japan's 'railway diplomacy' rolls forward
By Edward Neilan
Plans for a Japanese consortium to construct a shinkansen link between Taiwan's two biggest cities will showcase Tokyo's technology and "railway diplomacy." Both have been running virtually nonstop and on schedule since 1872, when the first line connecting Tokyo's Shimbashi station to Yokohama opened....
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2000
Missile defense opens a Pandora's silo
By Brad Glosserman
Ever since 1983, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan broached the project, the idea of a missile defense program that would protect the United States from nuclear attack has burned bright in the breasts of many Americans. The image of a nation protected from threat and insulated from nuclear blackmail...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 23, 2000
Enhancing global security
By Steve Lee and Ramesh Thakur
The business of the world has changed almost beyond recognition over the course of the last 100 years. At the turn of the last century, Japan was the first country outside Europe to break into the ranks of the great powers. Yet even until World War II, international affairs were largely Eurocentric in...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2000
Vision, not structure, is key to recovery
By Garry Jacobs
This is a time of unprecedented opportunity for Japan. It may seem strange to speak of opportunity when the country's political and economic experts are struggling with the challenges of structural change. However, I believe the current pessimism in the country is the result of two misconceptions.
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2000
Close the bases, start again
By Minoru Tada
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's Cabinet deserves praise for changing Japan's policy stance regarding the Japan-U.S. security system. First, the Cabinet recently proposed a 15-year time limit on U.S. use of the facility that would take over operations of the U.S. Futenma Marine Air Station in Okinawa, which...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 20, 2000
Punishing compassion and medical advice
By Doug Bandow
It's hard to think of much positive to say about U.S. presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush. The best case for the latter is that he isn't the former. The best case for the former is that he isn't Bill Clinton.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2000
Here comes Japan's e-boom
By Iwao Nakatani
Let me make some predictions about Japan's economic performance in and after 2000. I believe that recovery in the next 12 to 18 months will be slow but robust expansion will take place after that. The boom will not benefit everyone, as did the past expansion, however. It will be accompanied by the polarization...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2000
Information the key to Japan's revival
By Alex Stewart
What would most strike a foreign visitor returning to Japan after a gap of several years? Most likely it would be the gloom surrounding the future of Japan, and at street level, finding how many people from a distance look Western -- because their hair is dyed brown, blond or every other color you can...
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
China reinstates visa-free travel for Japanese nationals
Beijing Daxing International Airport
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

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