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January 17, 2025

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COMMENTARY

Oct 28, 2000

Luck gets Clinton out of a Balkan jam

By Doug Bandow

Seldom have events more dramatically demonstrated that it is better to be lucky than smart. The popular uprising that ousted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic happened despite, not because, of Clinton administration policy. A U.S. foreign policy based on humility, as suggested by Republican presidential...

COMMENTARY

Oct 27, 2000

The coalition loads the dice

By Minoru Tada

A few months ago, leaders of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party were concerned that the party could suffer a shocking setback in the Upper House election next year if Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori remained in power then. There were also widespread fears that the ruling coalition of the LDP, New Komeito...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 26, 2000

ASEM fails to live up to hype

By John Barry Kotch

The third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) held in Seoul last weekend was long on ceremony and performance, but short on substance. While impeccably hosted by South Korea and held in a glittering new conference center in southern Seoul, the conference lacked "soul." For all the talk of Partnership for Shared...

COMMENTARY

Oct 25, 2000

When leaders fail to lead

By David Howell

LONDON -- Countries and peoples that make peace after years or even generations of enmity require very strong leaders. Just as it needed a Charles de Gaulle to tell the French to stop fighting the Algerians, a Konrad Adenauer to tell the Germans to love the French, a Harry Truman or a Douglas MacArthur...

COMMENTARY

Oct 25, 2000

Western policies ignore Serbia's history

By Gregory Clark

Japan can be criticized for its simplistic, one-track mind at times. But over problems like Yugoslavia, the one-tracked Western mind, hardened by ideology and moralistic bias, can do far more harm.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 24, 2000

Asia getting mixed messages from U.S.

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The issue is not new, but it has recently resurfaced: How is U.S. foreign policy coordinated and articulated, particularly when it affects Asia?

COMMENTARY

Oct 24, 2000

Executives must obey the law

By Kiroku Hanai

In a recent major shareholder suit, the Osaka District Court ordered 11 former Daiwa Bank executives to pay a total of $775 million (about 83 billion yen) in compensation for the $1.1-billion loss the bank suffered from illegal bond trading by a former employee of its New York branch. The ruling has...

COMMENTARY

Oct 23, 2000

LDP is up to its old tricks

By Morihiro Hosokawa

The current 150th Diet session is in unprecedented chaos over an electoral reform bill to revise the Upper House voting system. The bill would change the roster system for candidates nominated in the proportional-representation segment of the Upper House polls. Currently, parties predetermine the ranks...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 22, 2000

Bidding goodbye to the monoculture myth

By Roger Pulvers

Some years ago I was sitting at the counter of a rather exclusive sushi restaurant in the Roppongi district of Tokyo when I noticed that a middle-age man a few stools along was making monosyllabic comments each time I ordered a morsel of sushi or slipped one into my mouth.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 21, 2000

More symbol than substance?

By Robert A. Manning

With U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gearing up to visit North Korea, it is a good time to take a deep breath and assess where this political roller coaster is headed. We have barely digested the last photo opportunity: the remarkable image of North Korea's top general, Vice Marshal Cho Myong...

COMMENTARY

Oct 20, 2000

Still no respite from turmoil

By Kenzo Uchida

The world is reeling from severe turmoil. The Middle East situation remains volatile after an emergency summit in Egypt ended with a shaky pact to halt violence between Israelis and Palestinians, skyrocketing crude-oil prices are threatening a new oil crisis and the U.S. economy is showing signs of trouble...

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 20, 2000

Peace far away under fragile coalition

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

NEW DELHI -- Peace seems to be eluding Sri Lanka. The latest parliamentary elections there has caused disquiet and confusion after the electorate failed to give a clear mandate to either Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance (PA) or Ranil Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP).

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

It's back to the classroom for some residents as municipal governments across the country conduct lessons to learn how to use new technologies.

Can aging Japan go digital without leaving anyone behind?

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers

mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers

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