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November 29, 2024

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COMMENTARY

Aug 23, 2003

U.S. a misunderstood giant

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- "Once the Bush administration is done attacking North Korea, will Vietnam be next?" This seemed to be the burning question in the back of many people's minds as I visited Vietnam for a series of lectures on U.S. foreign policy.

EDITORIALS

Aug 23, 2003

Falling savings rate is a warning

Until not long ago Japan was criticized -- or praised -- for its extraordinarily high savings rate, depending on how one looked at it. The United States, for one, pointed out that Japan was saving too much and investing too little, and called for steps to stimulate domestic demand and boost consumer...

EDITORIALS

Aug 22, 2003

The U.N. becomes a target

The suicide bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Baghdad has laid plain the dilemmas the world faces in healing Iraq. The hatred and chaos that plagues the country threatens all who aim to help the shattered nation. Indiscriminate violence will continue until the international community musters...

COMMENTARY

Aug 22, 2003

Getting realistic on defense

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government has taken some sensible steps toward a more realistic defense policy. In particular there has been some easing in dealing with emergency situations. Japanese Self-Defense Forces can also now be sent to Iraq to support peacekeeping there, but they...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 21, 2003

Making free trade work for all

By Douglas Brooks

MANILA -- Trade ministers from around the world will meet in Cancun, Mexico, next month to assess progress in making the ongoing series of World Trade Organization negotiations a "development round." Their success in achieving that goal will have a profound effect on the future of hundreds of millions...

EDITORIALS

Aug 21, 2003

Yasukuni issue must be resolved

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine continue to cast a shadow over Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors. In particular, China and South Korea remain critical of a Japanese head of government paying an official visit to the shrine, which is dedicated to millions of Japan's...

COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE

Aug 21, 2003

California's political circus comes to town

By Bob Keefe

WASHINGTON -- California Gov. Gray Davis will need more than a little luck to carry the day in the gubernatorial recall election now set for Oct. 7. As the campaign starts, he needs to gain ground quickly and mightily to remain in office. The voters are prepared to vote to oust him by margins ranging...

EDITORIALS

Aug 20, 2003

Libya accepts responsibility

Libya's decision to accept responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, is a victory for the families of the 270 victims who had demanded accountability from the government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. It is a diplomatic triumph for the United...

COMMENTARY / World

Aug 20, 2003

Seoul should join interdiction group

By Victor Cha

WASHINGTON -- This fall much attention will be focused on the start of six-party multilateral talks in Beijing to stop North Korea's nuclear-weapons program. These talks, should they take place as committed to by Pyongyang last week, are a welcome development. For the first time in more than a decade,...

COMMENTARY

Aug 20, 2003

Washington must live by the limits of its responsibility

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- American troops have arrived in Liberia after Liberian President Charles Taylor fled into exile. Whether these peacekeepers, and the larger African contingents to come, will bring peace in the three-sided civil war is yet uncertain. What is certain, however, is that reconstructing Liberia...

EDITORIALS

Aug 19, 2003

The importance of Hambali's capture

The arrest of Mr. Nurjaman Riduan Isamuddin, better known to the world as Hambali, is an important victory in the war against terrorism. Hambali is allegedly not only a high-ranking terrorist functionary, tied to most of the recent attacks in Southeast Asia and around the globe -- he is also a key link...

COMMENTARY

Aug 19, 2003

The borrowing can't go on

By David Howell

LONDON -- These are difficult and dangerous days for economic forecasters and financial experts. As usual they are deeply divided on the fate of the world economy. On the one hand, the giant American economy is showing faint signs of recovering its nerve as the last wreckage of the dotcom bubble is cleared...

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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