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January 16, 2025

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COMMENTARY / World

Jan 28, 2000

Karmapa's flight spurs intrigue

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

NEW DELHI -- A few weeks after the daring flight from Tibet to India of the 17th Karmapa, Ugyen Trinley Dorje, an air of intrigue has descended on the Buddhist front.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 27, 2000

Bringing an end to South Asia's cycle of violence

By Abul Kalam

South Asia once again is in a cycle of violence. It began with the drama of the seven-day hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814. The ordeal came to a shocking end on the eve of the new millennium as India's external affairs minister, who vowed to not give in to the terrorists' demands, swapped three...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 27, 2000

Restructuring, but with a human touch

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- The most popular "buzzwords" in this time of change must surely be "globalization" and "restructuring." Allow me to indulge in one more reference to the latter with some remarks that may be quickly criticized as an example of "old-school, bureaucratic" thinking.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 27, 2000

Pitting family against freedom

By Doug Bandow

The two grandmothers of Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez made a well-publicized pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. to plead for his return. It was a poignant scene, as Fidel Castro undoubtedly expected. But it does not help resolve the 6-year-old's future.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 27, 2000

In defense of U Thant

By Myint Zan

VICTORIA, Australia -- Much criticism has been written about U Thant, the third secretary general of the United Nations, who died from cancer 25 years ago on Nov. 25, 1974. While some of it may be just, much of it is not.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 26, 2000

Restore time-honored electoral system

There are a number of things wrong with the Japanese political system. One is the combination of the single-seat constituency and proportional representation systems to elect the members of the House of Representatives. I also believe that the present system of electing the members of the House of Councilors...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 24, 2000

Free trade means lower living standards

By Bharat Jhunjhunwala

NEW DELHI -- The debate in the aftermath of the WTO meeting in Seattle continues with the assumption that globalization fundamentally benefits the world's people. It is forgotten that globalization also implies that wages will become equalized on a global scale. If this occurs, an abundant supply of...

COMMENTARY

Jan 24, 2000

Common sense up in flames

By Kiroku Hanai

Shizuka Kamei, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, recently proposed a raise in the tobacco tax in the fiscal 2000 government budget. The proposal, however, was quickly quashed due to opposition in the LDP and by Japan Tobacco Inc., the nation's only cigarette manufacturer. Smokers and...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 24, 2000

Taiwan turns table on terrible temblor

By Chao Yi

In the early hours of Sept. 21, 1999, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Taiwan. Within 45 seconds, over 2,000 people lost their lives and property damage amounted to billions of dollars. Fortunately, the epicenter was not in a densely populated metropolitan area, for the loss of life and property would...

COMMENTARY

Jan 24, 2000

Homage to a mass murderer

By Hugh Cortazzi

I was shocked to see a photograph in The Japan Times last month of former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka laying a wreath at the statue of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang. They looked rather sheepish. They should, in fact, have looked...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 23, 2000

Japan's 'railway diplomacy' rolls forward

By Edward Neilan

Plans for a Japanese consortium to construct a shinkansen link between Taiwan's two biggest cities will showcase Tokyo's technology and "railway diplomacy." Both have been running virtually nonstop and on schedule since 1872, when the first line connecting Tokyo's Shimbashi station to Yokohama opened....

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 23, 2000

Missile defense opens a Pandora's silo

By Brad Glosserman

Ever since 1983, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan broached the project, the idea of a missile defense program that would protect the United States from nuclear attack has burned bright in the breasts of many Americans. The image of a nation protected from threat and insulated from nuclear blackmail...

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

Challenging spirit and teamwork keep ANA flying high

Challenging spirit and teamwork keep ANA flying high

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