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January 18, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Jan 18, 2001

Bush brings opportunity to bolster Japan-U.S. ties

By Roger J. Baccigaluppi

Now that U.S. President-elect George W. Bush has named his Cabinet and his inauguration is only days away, it might be useful to contemplate how Japan-U.S. relations may be affected and what might be done to strengthen this very important strategic alliance.

COMMENTARY

Jan 18, 2001

Bush faces an expectation gap

By Glen S. Fukushima

The emergence of George W. Bush as winner in the 2000 U.S. presidential election is creating an "expectation gap" between Japan and the United States.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 17, 2001

Arafat and the art of missing opportunities

By Yoel Marcus

If we Israelis had had a leader like the Palestinian Authority's Yasser Arafat, the state of Israel would never have come into being. Why? Because the test of a leader does not lie in his being swept up in his people's dreams; it lies in his pragmatic ability to accept what can be achieved. It is better...

COMMENTARY

Jan 16, 2001

Best politics money can buy

By Hugh Cortazzi

Under a new law, which will come into force shortly in Britain, all political donations of more than 5,000 British pounds (some 800,000 yen) will have to be reported and foreign donations will be disallowed. The rules have been brought in to deal with suspicions that large donations to party funds may...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 15, 2001

Overseas Indians: Use them or lose them

By Ramesh Thakur

Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural convention of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin in New Delhi on Jan. 6, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee called for "a partnership among all children of Mother India so that our country can emerge as a major global player." Noting the...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 15, 2001

No wonder Seoul's politicos get no respect

By Ronald Meinardus

SEOUL -- Some days ago I received a telephone call from the Office of the Chief Spokesman of the National Assembly. A friendly public-relations officer invited me to write an article for the National Assembly Review with personal observations regarding the challenges for parliamentary politics in South...

COMMENTARY

Jan 15, 2001

Calling off all bets on Japan

By Gregory Clark

Predictions can be dangerous when Japan is involved.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 15, 2001

Italian lessons for Japan

By Taro Yayama

Japan's political landscape could change dramatically, depending on the outcome of July's Upper House elections. Mikio Aoki, a Liberal Democratic leader in the Upper House, says the three ruling coalition parties -- the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative Party -- must win...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 15, 2001

Tory grip on rural areas must be broken

By Glyn Ford

With a British general election schedded for May 3 or earlier, the party machine is geared to turn out again those who gave us victory in 1997 -- traditional Labor voters and those who voted Labor for the first time -- to win that elusive second term. Yet this is not enough. We must also win the battle...

COMMENTARY

Jan 14, 2001

New Cabinet does little to boost Mori

By Kenzo Uchida

Japan is enveloped in gloom at the dawn of the 21st century, as is much of the rest of the world. The administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori continues to suffer from dismally low public-approval ratings, despite the major Cabinet reshuffle he carried out last month. The reorganization of the central...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 14, 2001

China tightens grip on the Net

By David Wall

CAMBRIDGE, England -- The Chinese government has been issuing more regulations to control the use of the Internet. As with the earlier ones, there are no surprises. They simply tidy up what was already accepted practice and add nothing new. It is still the slow bureaucratic machine catching up with reality....

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 14, 2001

How Washington turns virtue into vice

By Edward L. Hudgins

WASHINGTON -- Only in the morally sick society of Washington would the charitable actions of Linda Chavez, George Bush's nominee for labor secretary, be condemned as political vices rather than celebrated as civic virtues. Her withdrawal of her candidacy unveils the perverse policies that the new administration...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.

Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go

By Kazuaki Nagata and Richard Meyer

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