More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

November 29, 2024

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY / World

May 2, 2003

Hong Kong's blurred sense of identity had a role in SARS fiasco

By Harvey Stockwin

HONG KNG -- In the end, it took the Chinese Communist Party's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) 5 1/2 months to take a public stand on handling the current atypical pneumonia crisis with much greater openness. Guangdong Province experienced the first outbreak of the previously unknown disease...

EDITORIALS

May 2, 2003

Reviewing Mr. Koizumi's record

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, now just one week into his third year in office, sounds as upbeat as he did when he took office two years ago, even as the gulf between his words and deeds continues to widen. He says he is still firmly committed to his banner slogan: "structural reform with no sacred...

COMMENTARY / World

May 2, 2003

U.S. sets the bar high in N. Korea talks

By John Barry Kotch

SEOUL -- The United States and North Korea finally have begun talking again. Or have they? Are they talking to each other, at each other or past each other? Although the two sides agreed to keep the diplomatic channels open, it's going to take a lot more meetings to get out of this crisis in one piece....

COMMENTARY / World

May 1, 2003

Reform is key to keeping Asia on top

By Ifzal Ali

MANILA -- Asia's future is bright, but it is not preordained. Policy reforms that augment investment, lead to the adoption of new technologies and enhance productivity must be pursued to increase the growth potential of developing economies in Asia. The urgency of these reforms is accentuated by the...

COMMENTARY / World

May 1, 2003

Kelly's 'fairies' threaten peace

By David Wall

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Last October, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly set off an international crisis by claiming that North Korean officials had told him that Pyongyang was developing nuclear weapons. The officials denied saying that.

EDITORIALS

May 1, 2003

Privacy bills still have faults

The Diet debate on the government-proposed privacy legislation cleared a major hurdle last week as a Lower House special committee approved it with the support of the ruling parties. The controversial package, designed to protect personal information held by government offices and private companies,...

EDITORIALS

Apr 30, 2003

Uncertainties in the global economy

The global economy is on shaky grounds, reports the World Trade Organization in its most recent assessment of the international outlook. Uncertainty created by geopolitics and the effects of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, has reinforced vulnerabilities that result from imbalances in the...

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW

Apr 30, 2003

Pyongyang's actions shock few observers

By Constantine Pleshakov

MOSCOW -- When you are told that a person whom you don't know has won the lottery or lost a job, your feelings are pretty predictable and simple: Envy in the first case and empathy in the second. Yet if the person in question is somebody you know, your reactions get more complicated. You immediately...

COMMENTARY / World

Apr 30, 2003

For Japan, being America's ally is no longer so easy

By Robyn Lim

The number of North Korean Nodong missiles capable of targeting Japan is now thought to be some 175 to 200, rather than 100 as previously believed. Moreover, at the China-U.S.-North Korea talks in Beijing last week, North Korea taunted the United States by saying that it had developed nuclear weapons....

COMMENTARY

Apr 29, 2003

Will Chirac's luck run out?

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- When he had to appoint a general, Napoleon Bonaparte would ask if the candidate possessed the main quality for the job: luck. No politician in French contemporary history meets that condition more than President Jacques Chirac.

EDITORIALS

Apr 29, 2003

A crucial contingency package

How should Japan deal with a military attack from abroad? This question has acquired greater urgency amid heightened regional security concerns. However, military contingency legislation now before the Diet should be debated from a long-term perspective. At stake is the fundamental question of how to...

EDITORIALS

Apr 28, 2003

Pyongyang's self-destructive strategy

North Korea has played another nuclear card, giving a more dangerous twist to its game of brinkmanship. Pyongyang claims that it already has nuclear weapons and has reprocessed thousands of spent nuclear fuel rods in its possession -- a step that could lead to the production of more atomic bombs. Given...

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

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports