More Commentary Articles - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 12, 2005

Again, a war that affects few Americans

By Richard Halloran

HONOLULU -- In the four years since the terrorist assaults on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, at least two distinct changes in the realm of security have taken place: One seems to have escaped notice; the other is all too evident.

COMMENTARY

Sep 12, 2005

Learning Katrina's lessons

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The sufferings of the people of Louisiana and Mississippi as a result of Hurricane Katrina have attracted great sympathy and concern. The initial response of the U.S. government to this catastrophe was widely seen as slow and inadequate, and it seems that lives might have been saved by a quicker...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 11, 2005

Pyongyang palliative is Bush's bitter pill

By Eugene B. Kogan

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- Although buried by headlines from Iraq and Hurricane Katrina-devastated U.S. Gulf Coast region, the fourth round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, about to resume in Beijing, presents the best chance yet to resolve diplomatically the simmering crisis on the...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Sep 11, 2005

What price social equality since the ventriloquists' putsch?

By Roger Pulvers

On the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 atrocity, is it too early to talk of a Bush legacy? What vision has the administration of President George W. Bush bestowed on the United States as a result of the terrorist attacks that day?

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 11, 2005

Aussies adjust the moorings

By Ramesh Thakur

BRISBANE, Australia -- While the historical origins and cultural roots of Australia lie in Europe, its primary strategic alliance is with the United States, its pri- mary security focus is on Southeast Asia, and its major trading partners are in Northeast Asia.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 11, 2005

Has risk of nuclear proliferation risen?

By Michael Krepon

HONOLULU -- The nuclear cooperation agreement announced between U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on July 18 marked a major shift in U.S. policies aimed at stopping and reversing proliferation. If implemented, it would result in new rules of global nuclear commerce...

COMMENTARY

Sep 10, 2005

From Kyoto to New Orleans

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES -- Beneath the endlessly horrific details surrounding the hurricane that swamped parts of New Orleans and the southeast United States lurks a monster question. Just how angry -- really -- is Mother Nature over the irreverent, careless way we humans and our energy-hungry machines have been...

COMMENTARY

Sep 9, 2005

Give Lebanon space to heal

By David Howell

BEIRUT -- The tragic assassination of Rafik Hariri, both former and prospective Lebanon Prime Minister, on St. Valentine's Day (Feb. 14) set in motion a chain of events that gave the world hope in Lebanon's future.

COMMENTARY

Sep 8, 2005

Bush's response to disaster all too typical

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Is George W. Bush a serious person? It's not a question to ask lightly of a decent man who holds the U.S. presidency, an office worthy of respect. But it must be asked.

COMMENTARY

Sep 8, 2005

'Third World' chaos hits home

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in the United States is proving difficult for Americans to comprehend. Casualties currently number in the scores, but the body count is expected to swell in the days and weeks ahead -- when the survivors can stop merely trying to survive and can...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 7, 2005

Koizumi's bare-knuckle power play may soon haunt him

By Rei Shiratori

Sunday's election for the Lower House stands out as abnormal, but not because of its abruptness. Many surprise elections have been held before. On March 14, 1953, for instance, then Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who was president of the Liberal Party, dissolved the Lower House following the passage...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 6, 2005

The Japan-China-U.S. club

By Ling Xing-Guang

Since the beginning of the year, relations between the United States and China have become sharply strained while those between Japan and China have markedly deteriorated -- as if East Asia were headed for a new Cold War. In these circumstances it seems fitting to discuss how to build security mechanisms...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.

Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports