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January 29, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Sep 26, 2005

Finessing a tougher Taiwanese defense

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- The new commander of American forces in Asia and the Pacific, Adm. William J. Fallon, has begun making subtle but distinctive changes in his command's endeavor to keep the peace between Taiwan and China, widely considered to be potentially the most explosive conflict in Asia.

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Sep 25, 2005

Storm surge of deficit spending forecast

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- When things go wrong, they all go wrong for U.S. President George W. Bush. We have watched his approval ratings sag through the summer as his policies in Iraq and elsewhere have begun to unravel. Then came Hurricane Katrina nearly four weeks ago, and it appears that the bottom has fallen...

COMMENTARY

Sep 24, 2005

Global help in Afghanistan remains vital

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- Uncertainty over Afghanistan's political future has finally begun to recede with the successful conclusion of the country's first parliamentary elections in years. Although violence continues to plague Afghanistan, its political progress is impressive. In the long run, however, its stability...

COMMENTARY

Sep 23, 2005

Chinese show commendable patience

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- In very important negotiations, the Chinese tend to work things in a manner different from the West. Their diplomats generally dislike framing positions in an edgy, confrontational, take-it-or-leave-it style. That approach strikes them as too risky. They tend to process an initial rebuff...

COMMENTARY

Sep 23, 2005

Small but vital step for man

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- The agreement on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula reached Monday in Beijing was "one small step for man." It is, however, premature to call it a "giant leap for mankind." The agreement provides a template for working toward a solution to the denuclearization problem; it is not yet a road...

COMMENTARY

Sep 22, 2005

Japan's 'Thatcher' moment?

By David Howell

LONDON -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koziumi's smashing election victory could give him the same kind of political power as that which fell into the hands of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Should he therefore follow the Thatcher recipes and methods for structural economic reform,...

COMMENTARY

Sep 21, 2005

System's flaws help keep Koizumi on top

By Gregory Clark

From the start of the recent Lower House election campaign it was predictable that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's theatrics -- his constant references to magic "kaikaku" (reform) and the alleged benefits from postal-service privatization -- would have its inevitable mesmerizing effect on Japan's...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 19, 2005

Junichiro Koizumi's great leap forward

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- The stunning electoral victory engineered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan last week ought to make leaders in Washington, Beijing, Pyongyang, Seoul, and at the United Nations sit up and take note because it marks a great leap forward in Japan's emergence from the passive and pacifist...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 19, 2005

Tax cuts key to sustained economic growth

By Christopher Lingle

NEW DELHI -- Political officials around the world, even in European welfare states, have discovered that offering tax cuts are not just a vote winner that can swing the outcome of an election. They are also a good way to spark sustained economic growth. So it is not surprising that President Susilo Bambang...

COMMENTARY

Sep 19, 2005

A mandate to finish the job

By Keizo Nabeshima

The Sept. 11 general election produced stunning results unprecedented in Japanese political history. Unaffiliated voters gave overwhelming support to the governing Liberal Democratic Party, handing the LDP-New Komeito coalition more than two-thirds of the 480-seat Lower House. Paradoxically, conservative...

COMMENTARY

Sep 18, 2005

Japan to go boldly backward for a while

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- No one predicted the size of Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro's election victory last weekend. The landslide win has transformed the landscape of Japanese politics.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Sep 18, 2005

Japan in the doldrums needs a lot more than hot air

By Roger Pulvers

It is not every election in Japan that raises questions about the direction of the nation and the identity of its people. It was natural that last week's poll was a polemical one. After a "lost decade" now well on the way to becoming a "lost double-decade," Japanese people have been asking themselves:...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.

Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick

By Alex K.T. Martin

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