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December 22, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Apr 1, 1999

Pinochet advances human rights after all

By Myint Zan

Both the anti-Pinochet crowd that had gathered outside the House of Lords in London and the Pinochet supporters at the Pinochet Foundation in Santiago, Chile, cheered and celebrated soon after the seven Law Lords gave the gist of their judgments live on radio and television. Both pro-Pinochet and anti-Pinochet...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 24, 1999

Chinese cronyism hinders reform efforts

By Shoichi Kobayashi

The People's Republic of China will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding Oct. 1, and major national events are scheduled to take place at that time. President Jiang Zemin has been promoting the slogan of "stability first" -- a reflection of his desire to complete the ceremonies successfully...

COMMENTARY

Mar 24, 1999

A testing summit for the EU

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- In many respects, the main body of the European Union is the European Commission, the mass resignation of which was announced last week. The commission's president and its 19 other members are appointed for five years by the European Council, which consists of the heads of state or of government...

COMMENTARY

Mar 23, 1999

Strategies for a secure Japan

By Keizo Nabeshima

Diet has finally begun debating the enabling bills for the Japan-U.S. defense cooperation guidelines, almost a year after the government sent them to the legislature last April. How the debate will develop in the weeks ahead has an important bearing on the security environment of Asia, including the...

COMMENTARY

Mar 21, 1999

Consensus or confrontation?

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The popular image in Japan is that Britain is a society governed by confrontation and that this has been the source of British failures. Japan, on the other hand, is a society where consensus prevails, and this has led to harmony and to economic success. The popular image is at best a caricature...

COMMENTARY

Mar 20, 1999

A cloudy outlook for spring

By Kenzo Uchida

The Dow-Jones industrial average on the New York Stock Exchange broke through the barrier of 10,000 March 16. Following the overnight rally, the benchmark Nikkei average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange regained the 16,000 level for the first time in seven and a half months. The advances appear to signal...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 20, 1999

Learning on the job can be a good idea

By Bharat Jhunjhunwala

The value of education has become a cliche. But few people seem to realize that school-based education can often prove a liability. Consider the views of Ram Mohan, a young farmer from the Indian state of Rajasthan, who refused to go to school. "My father wanted me to go," he said, "but I didn't. My...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Mar 20, 1999

The squirrel or the eagle?

By Constantine Pleshakov

Thirty-five years ago, during the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," China's Chairman Mao Zedong announced the coming of an uncompromising global struggle between the City and the Village. China, in Mao's eyes the best country in the world, symbolized the sturdy and righteous Village. Haughty and...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 20, 1999

U.S. apologists for China disregard reality

By Edward Neilan

"China apologists," mainly representing newspapers and academic haunts in Los Angeles, New York and Boston, claim that the rest of us are beating up on China merely because Beijing is into heavy-duty spying on the United States, stealing high-tech secrets and deploying enough missiles opposite Taiwan...

COMMENTARY

Mar 19, 1999

A battle that earned a place in history

By Ryuichiro Hosokawa

I listen to NHK radio every morning. In one program, titled "What happened on this date," the announcer introduces notable events that occurred on that day in Japanese history.

COMMENTARY

Mar 17, 1999

What real bank reform means

By Gregory Clark

Japan seems to like the new and shiny. Tack the word "shin" (new) onto the name of a product -- anything from a detergent to a political party -- and automatically you gain an edge over the opposition.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 17, 1999

Exxon Valdez damage lingers, 10 years on

By David Waddell

Ten years ago, March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef south of Valdez, Alaska, precipitating the largest oil spill in North American history and forever altering the image of Prince William Sound as a largely untouched ecosystem.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.

The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition

By Alex K.T. Martin

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