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November 29, 2024

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EDITORIALS

Mar 8, 2003

Alarm bells ring in Iran

Conservatives claimed victory in local elections held throughout Iran last week. Hardliners are rejoicing over the results -- not only did they win the ballots, but the turnout also suggests that reformers have lost heart. Warnings of a backlash are not without foundation, but the hardliners' control...

COMMENTARY

Mar 8, 2003

Japan's oil diplomacy is dead

By Ronald Morse

LOS ANGELES -- Since September 2001, Tokyo has come a long way toward redefining its international security interests. One significant result of this is that should any American hostages be taken in the war with Iraq or anywhere else in the Middle East, the Japanese are not likely to be indifferent to...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 8, 2003

Paving the way for Northeast Asian peace

By Tsuneo Akaha

MONTEREY, Calif. -- The Japan Times on March 1 reported that Tokyo is reviewing its participation in the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, or KEDO, program. If the Japanese government is giving serious thought to withdrawing from the program, it will not only exacerbate an already serious...

EDITORIALS

Mar 7, 2003

WHO clears the air

There are more than 1 billion smokers worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that the number of people dying each year from cancer, cardiovascular disease and other smoking-related conditions has reached 4.9 million a year -- up from 4 million deaths a year when negotiations began on a treaty...

EDITORIALS

Mar 7, 2003

Hunger in a world of plenty

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the number of chronically malnourished people in the world will fall from 776 million to 440 million in 2030. Good news -- except when compared with targets agreed at the 1996 World Food Summit.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 7, 2003

Roh Moo Hyun steps forward

By John Barry Kotch

SEOUL -- In his inaugural speech to the South Korean people in Seoul last week, President Roh Moo Hyun gave us a window on his world. At the top of his policy agenda is greater independence on the Korean Peninsula and deeper integration in the region. Roh sees the way forward to peace on the peninsula...

EDITORIALS

Mar 6, 2003

Recruit trial ends in anticlimax

The guilty verdict handed down by the Tokyo District Court to Hiromasa Ezoe, the central figure in the Recruit scandal, is a reminder that money holds potent power in politics. The scandal, which came to light in 1988, exposed a series of lucrative but shady stock deals involving influential politicians,...

COMMENTARY

Mar 6, 2003

Time to face North Korea

By Ralph Cossa

HONOLULU -- While the Bush administration is to be commended for not overreacting to North Korea's saber-rattling and for its continuing assertion that it seeks a diplomatic solution to the current nuclear standoff, Washington needs to stop pretending that there is no "crisis" or that there is no difference...

EDITORIALS

Mar 5, 2003

Turkey says no to Washington

Washington's plans to attack Iraq have been dealt a blow by the Turkish Parliament's refusal to allow U.S. soldiers to deploy in Turkey. The vote surprised both Ankara and Washington, and has officials in both capitals scrambling to arrange another vote. The outcome is the result of confusion in Ankara,...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 5, 2003

Silent diplomacy serves Japan poorly

By Makiko Tanaka

A recent opinion poll in Japan shows that 68 percent of Japanese believe that the United States and Britain should not attack Iraq. Yet, in debates in the Diet, neither Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi nor Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi utter anything more than tepid responses such as: "Japan cannot...

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 5, 2003

Sri Lankan president must grasp the olive branch

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India -- The five rounds of talks in as many months between the Sri Lanka government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, are perhaps the most significant development in South Asia in almost two decades. The discussions began after the two sides called a truce.

EDITORIALS

Mar 4, 2003

AIDS vaccine disappoints

To practically no one's surprise, the first test of an AIDS vaccine has failed. That the outcome was widely predicted -- and even anticipated -- must not deter future efforts to develop a vaccine. AIDS is one of the worst scourges humanity has suffered to date, and a combination of economics and demographics...

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

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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