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November 28, 2024

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EDITORIALS

Sep 15, 2002

Make way for manga

A merican popular culture: We hear that phrase and immediately think of a juggernaut, a one-way tide rolling round the globe bearing its fatally attractive, tradition-squelching icons. It used to be John Wayne and jazz and Audrey Hepburn and Mickey Mouse. Then came McDonald's and Snoopy. More recently...

COMMENTARY

Sep 15, 2002

Weaning Afghanistan off militarization

By Farhan Bokhari

ISLAMABAD -- The U.N. secretary general's special representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, could not have chosen a more precise way to underline Afghanistan's predicament. During his latest trip to the central Asian country, he favored spending more on reconstruction and development work to rebuild...

EDITORIALS

Sep 14, 2002

China's about-face on AIDS

After denying for years that it had a problem, China last week acknowledged the HIV-AIDS epidemic that is sweeping that country. But the relief that greeted this long-overdue candor was tempered by Beijing's admission that it has also detained the country's most outspoken AIDS advocate -- for exposing...

COMMENTARY

Sep 14, 2002

It's folly for U.S. to go it alone

By David Howell

LONDON -- "Go it alone" is clearly the prevailing mood in Washington. Officials and commentators alike argue that with the United States' overwhelming military might and Europe's alleged weakness, the world must be set right by unilateral American action, and the international community can either like...

EDITORIALS

Sep 13, 2002

Loophole or slipknot?

I f Mr. Supachai had any idea of easing into his new job, that fantasy was recently put to rest. On Aug. 30, the WTO ruled that tax breaks offered U.S. export companies violate international trade rules. In response, the European Union can impose billions of dollars in sanctions against the United States....

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 13, 2002

Handshakes may not soften U.S. line

By Victor D. Cha

WASHINGTON -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's trip to North Korea next Tuesday is, in many ways, a double-edged sword. At first glance, the trip appears to be a positive development. In what has become the norm in Asian diplomacy of late, the surprise announcement reflects positively on Japan's...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 13, 2002

Malaysia's security law loses some of its Draconian bite

By David Chew

KUALA LUMPUR -- The focus of attention surrounding a controversial Malaysian security law has shifted to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi after the country's highest court allowed an appeal of five opposition detainees in a dramatic decision last Friday. The legislation allows detention of suspects,...

COMMENTARY

Sep 13, 2002

Koizumi gambles for results

By Ralph Cossa

I'm not sure whether to be cautiously optimistic or pessimistic about Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to North Korea next Tuesday, but either way, "caution" is the watchword.

EDITORIALS

Sep 13, 2002

Mr. Supachai to the rescue

The World Trade Organization has a new director general. Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former Thai trade minister, recently took the helm of the trade body at a critical juncture. The global economy is experiencing one of its slowest periods of growth in decades. A new trade round is essential to rejuvenating...

EDITORIALS

Sep 12, 2002

The limits of military power

What a difference a year can make. Although the fear of terrorism continues to stalk the world, the popular perception of it has changed significantly over the past year. Following the atrocity of Sept. 11, 2001 -- an attack on freedom, as U.S. President George W. Bush put it -- the international community...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 12, 2002

Kashmir polls could be step to dialogue

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

Elections to the Kashmir Assembly will be held from Sept. 16 to Oct. 8. The million-dollar question is, will they be meaningful and bring about peace in a state that has been a bone of contention since 1947, when the British colonial masters divided the subcontinent into India and Pakistan before leaving?...

COMMENTARY

Sep 12, 2002

Brave trip to settle the past

By Keizo Nabeshima

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's one-day visit to North Korea on Sept. 17 is likely to have a profound effect on the security situation in Northeast Asia. The two nations started normalization talks in 1991, but thus far no substantial progress has been made because of the alleged abduction of Japanese...

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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