More Commentary Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Jan 20, 2009

Obama and the alliance

By Kazuo Ogoura

Under the Bush administration, the Japan-U.S. alliance has undergone a quiet but important transformation in the eyes of most Japanese people: It has become a global alliance instead of a regional or bilateral one.

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Jan 19, 2009

Aso getting the brushoff

As the approval rate for the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso plummets, bureaucrats have begun to distance themselves from him in favor of establishing closer ties with the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which they apparently think has at least a fair chance of displacing Aso's ruling...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 19, 2009

In vitro fertilization stands test of 30 years

By Peter Singer

MELBOURNE, Australia — Louise Brown, the first person to be conceived outside a human body, turned 30 last year. The birth of a "test-tube baby," as the headlines described in vitro fertilization, was highly controversial at the time.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 18, 2009

The long-term security threat to Arab states

By Barry Rubin

JERUSALEM — In Iran, elements from within the regime are reportedly offering a $1 million reward for the assassination of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak because of his opposition to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In Lebanon, the leader of Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, merely calls for the Egyptian...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 18, 2009

Obama among the Lilliputians

By Kevin Rafferty

HONG KONG — Tuesday will be an historic day when Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th U.S. president. He is not only the first African-American president to hold the highest office, but his swearing in is also a triumph of the Great American Dream.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Jan 18, 2009

Dialing up the decider one last time before he leaves the Oval Office

By Roger Pulvers

With only days left in office for the 43rd president of the United States of America, George W. Bush, I decided, on a lark — or a duck, if you will — to Skype the soon to be ex-commander in chief to find out what preoccupies his thoughts as he bids us a solemn farewell. I want to share this very...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 17, 2009

Regulations set up crisis

By Christopher Lingle

BALI — Claims that "unbridled capitalism" is behind the current credit crunch and financial turmoil are misleading and remarkably uninformed. This is usually accompanied by suggestions that "blind faith" in market self-regulation was a handmaiden in this mess. We are then told that the future must...

COMMENTARY

Jan 16, 2009

Right place for a command of composure

By Tom Plate

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Dennis Blair, the man who is to become the new U.S. director of national intelligence, distinguished himself as chief of the U.S. military's Pacific Command, an important fact behind his appointment by President-elect Barack Obama. He will oversee all U.S. intelligence organizations....

COMMENTARY

Jan 16, 2009

Enough to put off a multi-tasker

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON — President-elect Barack Obama assumes power (Tuesday) at a time when the United States faces huge problems at home and abroad. Americans and people all around the world are looking to him for leadership and a return to the ideals set out in the U.S. Constitution.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 15, 2009

Bangladeshi voters say no to Islamist politics

By Charles Tannock

DHAKA — As fears about the Islamization of politics in the Muslim world grow, Bangladesh, with the world's fourth-largest Muslim population (126 million), has moved dramatically in the opposite direction. Bangladesh is usually heard about only when cyclones and tsunami ravage its low coastline, but...

COMMENTARY

Jan 15, 2009

China steps up global diplomacy

By Frank Ching

Almost two decades ago, China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping issued a series of instructions regarding the orientation of Chinese foreign policy in which he emphasized the need for Beijing to keep a low profile and never take the lead. Up until a few years ago, China has for the most part maintained...

COMMENTARY

Jan 15, 2009

Antiforeigner discrimination is a right for Japanese people

By Gregory Clark

"Japan girai" — dislike of Japan — is an allergy that seems to afflict many Westerners here. If someone handing out Japanese-language flyers assumes they cannot read Japanese and ignores them, they cry racial discrimination. If they are left sitting alone in a train, they assume that is because the...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.

Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Yamagata’s Zao Onsen Ski Resort is a classic beauty

Yamagata’s Zao Onsen Ski Resort is a classic beauty

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports