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March 17, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2009
Pakistan key to Afghan war
By Brahma Chellaney
U.S. President Barack Obama is right to talk about "the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan" and the need to evolve an integrated U.S. strategy toward these two closely tied countries. But even as he has embarked on some major steps, his evolving strategy does not suggest a meaningful...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2009
Fight prostitution by punishing the solicitors
By Heleen Mees
AMSTERDAM — Prostitution is virtually the only part of the personal services industry in the Netherlands that works. One can't get a manicure in Amsterdam without booking an appointment two weeks in advance, but men can buy sex anytime — and at an attractive price. The legalization of prostitution...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 28, 2009
China's clout grows as U.S. economy weakens
By John F. Copper
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After 9/11 when China sided with the United States in the war on terrorism, Chinese leaders expected a quid pro quo: Perhaps Washington might make some concessions on the "Taiwan issue." But then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell emphatically dismissed this idea.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 28, 2009
Can Japan afford the DPJ?
With the Aso administration's approval rating continuing to plunge, there appears to be a growing likelihood that the No. 1 opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, will defeat the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the next general election and take the reins of government under the leadership...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2009
North Korean crisis heating up
By Michael Richardson
SINGAPORE — Will North Korea be the Obama administration's first Asian crisis? Pyongyang has recently been cranking up its bellicose rhetoric, declaring that it would maintain its "status as a nuclear weapons state" and "smash" South Korea's government in an "all-out confrontation" for tying aid to...
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2009
A return to common sense
By Kiroku Hanai
Attention from all corners of the world is focused on Barack Obama, who was inaugurated as the first African- American president of the United States. As the sole superpower since the Cold War ended in 1989, America has often irritated other countries for choosing to pursue the path of a unilateralist...
COMMENTARY
Jan 26, 2009
Recalling the one who mixed politics, poetry
By Cesar Chelala
NEW YORK — At a time when we plainly see the negative effects of politics and greed in the life of nations, it is important to remember Pablo Neruda, a Chilean writer whom Gabriel Garcia Marquez called "the greatest poet of the 20th century — in any language." He was an artist who knew very well...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2009
Sarkozy's Western banner
By Dominique Moisi
PARIS — From the Caucasus in August 2008 to the Middle East in January 2009, is France under President Nicolas Sarkozy attempting to incarnate what might be called "the West by default," making maximum use of the window of opportunity opened by America's presidential transition?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2009
Thai pendulum swings to the Establishment
By Thitinan Pongsudhirak
BANGKOK — Thailand's political pendulum has now swung all the way back to an era that existed before the rise of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2001. What transpired under Thaksin during 2001-2005 is being undone and redone. Whether the new Democrat Party-led government of Prime Minister...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 25, 2009
Her poems speak sublimely of Akiko Yosano's life of many passions
By Roger Pulvers
Her hair at twenty Flowing long and black Through the teeth of her comb Oh beautiful spring Extravagant spring! My skin is so soft Fresh from my bath It pains me to see it covered By the fabric Of an everyday world
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 25, 2009
Repercussions of war gone bad
By Hiroaki Sato
NEW YORK — A young friend of mine, Rie Nakano, who did some archival research for a university professor, has given me a small batch of documents prepared by the Special Higher Police, known by the Japanese acronym Tokko. (I had told Rie that my father was an officer of the dreaded "thought police.")...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2009
Can Hamas leaders win the peace?
By Mohammad Yaghi
WASHINGTON — For generations to come, the Palestinians will remember the horrific war in Gaza with pain and bitterness. But what cannot yet be seen is how Palestinians will view Hamas. Whether Hamas can claim a victory — and whether Palestinians will believe them will be determined by the type of...
U.S. designated South Korea a 'sensitive' country amid talk of nuclear weapons
Then-U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol attend an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework event at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November 2023.
Canada has a new prime minister with a very hard first assignment
Mark Carney, Canada's incoming prime minister (center), during a swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday. Carney has been sworn in as Canada's 24th prime minister, bringing the former central banker to power in the middle of an explosive trade war with the U.S.
Unification Church faces dissolution in Japan
The logo of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, better known as the Unification Church, is seen at the entrance of its Japan branch headquarters in Tokyo in October 2023.
Tigers shut out the Cubs as Seiya Suzuki receives warm welcome in Tokyo
Tigers players walk off the field while carrying Cubs caps during a rare exhibition game between NPB and MLB clubs.
As it turns 70, LDP struggles to find its fountain of youth
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from left) cheers along with other members of the Liberal Democratic Party during the party's annual convention in Tokyo on March 9.
Japan’s youth climate activists still searching for a breakthrough
While climate demonstrations around the world often draw thousands of participants, in Japan such demonstrations rarely break the 100-person barrier.
Bank of Japan unlikely to raise rates this week as trade war intensifies
Bank of Japan headquarters building in February. In January, the BOJ voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25%, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
As it turns 70, LDP struggles to find its fountain of youth
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (second from left) cheers along with other members of the Liberal Democratic Party during the party's annual convention in Tokyo on March 9.
As pollen season peaks, Japan's allergy struggle emerges from hibernation
Urbanization is amplifying pollen-related allergies as grasslands and soft soil give way to concrete and asphalt.
Japan to get tough on businesses not taking heatstroke countermeasures
A construction site in Tokyo in July 2018. Businesses failing to take measures to prevent severe heatstroke among employees will be subjected to criminal punishment from June.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Passengers that were on a morning train attacked by members of the Aum Shinrikyo group wait for medical assistance outside Kasumigaseki Station on March 20,1995.
The day a religious cult brought terror to Tokyo
By Alex K.T. Martin

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