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November 26, 2024

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COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Mar 18, 2002

'Gerontocrat' academicians with myopia

By Jean-pierre Lehmann

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- After Harvard Professor Ezra Vogel's famous book "Japan as Number One" appeared in 1979, the West experienced a "learning from Japan" boom. I fully participated in this movement in both of its manifestations: publications, seminars etc., and the establishment of university Japanese...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 18, 2002

Ban pol-bureaucrat contacts

By Takeshi Sasaki

The alleged meddling in Foreign Ministry affairs by Liberal Democratic lawmaker Muneo Suzuki has stirred debate on rules governing relations between politicians and bureaucrats. The problem of "excessive interference" has been widely reported as highly abnormal, but I doubt whether that's so. In present-day...

COMMENTARY

Mar 17, 2002

U.S. embargo helps keep Castro in power

By Doug Bandow

HAVANA -- Roberto Alarcon, well-dressed but of unexceptional appearance, is thought to be the No. 3 man in Cuba, after only Fidel and Raul Castro. He lazily sprawled in his chair before eight American journalists, fondling his cigar.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 16, 2002

L.A. schools reject the trilingual challenge

By Domenico Maceri

SANTA MARIA, California -- Should a Spanish-speaking teenager living in the United States study English or Japanese? At first glance, that looks like a no-brainer. Learning Japanese would be interesting, perhaps even useful, but knowing English is essential.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 16, 2002

Roles of the main Asia-Pacific groups

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- It may be presumptuous to review Asia-Pacific regional organizations in a single column, but there seems to be so much confusion about them that certain points need to be clarified and properly addressed. The main groups are the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC),...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 15, 2002

Political winds still shape Chinese history

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KONG -- Historical revelations are rarely found in China's controlled presses. When they are, they have to be treated with care. Rewriting history remains part and parcel of Chinese politics. Chinese academics still get imprisoned for revealing documents that are in the public domain outside China....

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 14, 2002

Premier raises peace hopes in Sri Lanka

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

There is now hope, however faint, of peace in Sri Lanka after almost two decades of bloody ethnic conflict between the majority Buddhist Sinhalas and the minority Tamils, who are fighting for a separate homeland in the northern and eastern parts of the small island.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 14, 2002

Noam Chomsky: America is a leading terrorist state

By Yosuke Watanabe

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- Noam Chomsky, a linguistics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is world-famous as the originator of the "Transformational Grammar" theory, a framework of principles accounting for all language-specific rules.

COMMENTARY

Mar 14, 2002

A demand-starved economy

By Gregory Clark

What do you do if you are Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the "structural reform" policies you have been advocating with tight lips and a steely gaze are now hit by the deflation you have caused? Simple. You do an about-face and tell the world with tight lips and a steely gaze that you are now absolutely...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 13, 2002

No alternative to Saudi peace 'vision'

By David Hirst

BEIRUT -- There is little new about Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's proposal for full Arab "normalization" with Israel in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and the establishment of a Palestine state. A vision more than a plan, it leaves vague or unmentioned potential stumbling...

COMMENTARY

Mar 12, 2002

Asia changed little by 9-11

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- While the way Americans look at the world may have fundamentally changed since Sept. 11, the basic Asian issues confronting U.S. decision-makers remain largely unchanged. A look at regional concerns shows more similarities than differences to those that existed before Sept. 11.

COMMENTARY

Mar 11, 2002

Reform takes back seat to economic values

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- Despite the hype, Japan's antideflation package has failed once again to impress the critics. This failure is remarkable given the international attention that has focused on the proposal, the vote of no-confidence that had been delivered by the markets and the pressure applied by the U.S....

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.

Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat

By Greg Dvorak

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

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