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November 29, 2024

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COMMENTARY

Mar 21, 2003

Perhaps society is the problem

By Yukio Suzuki

Like a parrot, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been repeating the same phrase: "There will be no economic growth without structural reform." At last he is being forced to make a policy turnaround to implement a package of antideflation measures to stimulate domestic demand. The reversal has been...

EDITORIALS

Mar 21, 2003

War against Iraq, again

The bombs have started falling and the world is once again at war. While the adversary is the same -- the regime in Baghdad -- and the terrain familiar, this conflict is much different from the first clash between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the international coalition led by the United States...

EDITORIALS

Mar 20, 2003

China's smooth change of power

The People's Republic of China has completed its first smooth transition of power since its founding more than half a century ago. The National People's Congress, the Parliament, ended its two-week session on Tuesday after electing Mr. Hu Jintao as president and Mr. Wen Jiabao as premier. The two men...

EDITORIALS

Mar 19, 2003

Mr. Koizumi's course is clear

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has faced the wrenching task of spelling out his foreign policy on Iraq. Until Monday he remained noncommittal on how Japan would respond if the United States goes to war without explicit U.N. backing. Now, with the U.S. having issued an ultimatum to Iraq and an invasion...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 19, 2003

Market intervention not the right solution

By Christopher Lingle

GUATEMALA CITY -- Japan's Nikkei average is below 8,000 for the first time in 20 years, putting it 80 percent below its 1989 high. A fall in the Nikkei below 7,500 could mean that some Japanese banks would not meet their international capital adequacy requirements.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 19, 2003

International system teeters on the cusp of tectonic change

By Robyn Lim

As war looms in Iraq, the international system is on the cusp of tectonic change. Both the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are in crisis. So is the U.S. alliance with South Korea. What might all this mean for Japan?

EDITORIALS

Mar 18, 2003

Declaration of war against Belgrade

The assassination of Serbia's prime minister is a declaration of war against the forces of law, order and democracy in Yugoslavia. Police have blamed organized crime for the killing and begun a crackdown, but the entire picture is a bit murkier. The slaying is a reminder of the unfinished business in...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 18, 2003

Energy deal will fuel East Timor's growth

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY -- Southeast Asia's newest and poorest nation has done an oil deal that should bankroll its way to real independence.

EDITORIALS

Mar 17, 2003

Human rights abuses behind bars

Human rights violations in prisons are nothing new. But what happened last year at Nagoya Prison is alarming. Six prison guards, including a deputy warden, stand accused of physical abuses that resulted in the death of an inmate and caused severe injury to another. On the first day of their trial earlier...

COMMENTARY

Mar 17, 2003

Pyongyang is playing for the long term

By Brad Glosserman

HONOLULU -- Throughout the unfolding "noncrisis" on the Korean Peninsula, Pyongyang has stayed a step ahead of the rest of the world and appears to be dictating the pace of events. Avoiding a real crisis requires figuring out what North Korea wants and then devising a solution that meets those needs,...

COMMENTARY

Mar 17, 2003

U.N. still a valuable forum

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- Can the United Nations continue to be a credible force for world peace?

COMMENTARY

Mar 17, 2003

China shows little worry of U.S. squeeze

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- One figure that emerged from the current session of the National People's Congress in Beijing has intrigued China-watchers -- the 9.6 percent scheduled growth in defense spending this year, far less than the 17.6 percent increase of last year.

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’

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