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November 28, 2024

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EDITORIALS

Sep 23, 2002

The great fire wall of China

Google was gagged. The Chinese government recently blocked access to the popular Internet search engine for several days -- before suddenly reversing course for reasons still unclear -- in an attempt to promote a "healthy atmosphere" in the runup to the November meeting of the Chinese leadership. While...

COMMENTARY

Sep 23, 2002

EU immigration issue heats up

By David Howell

LONDON -- The enlargement of the European Union, with the addition of up to 10 more states and dozens of new local cultures and minorities, is approaching.

EDITORIALS

Sep 22, 2002

You won't have learned it in English class, but if you have chatted with an English-speaking teenage girl lately, or, better yet, overheard her talking on the phone, you're sure to have encountered it. We're referring to that innocuous little word "like." Not the way the grammar books use it ("I like...

COMMENTARY

Sep 22, 2002

Label that foils compromise

By Gregory Clark

Sept. 11, 2002, brought us no closer to sensible thinking about the causes of events a year earlier. The United States concentrated on its own sufferings, and plans for revenge against "terrorists." In Japan, a high-level NHK roundtable dragged out that favorite of aid agencies seeking bigger budgets,...

COMMENTARY

Sep 22, 2002

Al Gore's amnesia on abuse of liberties

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is apparently on the hunt for votes in the 2004 presidential race. He criticized the Bush administration on just about every ground at a recent dinner hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus. The greatest moment of unintended hilarity came when he said...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 22, 2002

France losing steam for radical reform

By Jonathan Fenby

PARIS -- Three months ago, the French center-right scored two stunning electoral victories. As a result of miscalculations and voter apathy, the Socialists who had formed the government since 1997 crashed to defeat, and President Jacques Chirac was re-elected with 82 percent of the vote in a runoff ballot...

COMMENTARY

Sep 21, 2002

Underestimating the players

By Ralph Cossa

SEOUL -- The success of Tuesday's Japan-North Korea summit in Pyongyang shows just how much critics underestimated both Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Both demonstrated a considerable amount of diplomatic skill, and courage, during this historic one-day...

EDITORIALS

Sep 21, 2002

An inventor's rights to rewards

An invention is the product of inspiration, endeavor and innovation on the part of one or more researchers. Breakthrough inventions may enrich human life and enliven economic activity. One such example in Japan is a semiconductor diode that transmits blue light when electricity is passed through it....

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 21, 2002

Myanmar's SPDC must honor its word

By Nyunt Shwe

Visits to Myanmar by United Nations Special Envoy Ismail Razali and Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi ended in hopes that change would take place. Unfortunately, however, Myanmar's generals have shown no sign of turning their words into action, and the country's situation continues to deteriorate. If...

COMMENTARY

Sep 21, 2002

Past returns to haunt Taiwan's Kuomintang

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- The Kuomintang's chickens have come home to roost. The KMT, which was swept off the China mainland in 1949 by Communist forces, ruled Taiwan from then until two years ago, when it was defeated in the presidential elections by Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 21, 2002

Testing times for the U.N.

By Ramesh Thakur

In finally taking the vexed issue of war with Iraq to the United Nations, U.S. President George W. Bush has presented the organization with a double-edged test of credibility. Will it lift its performance and remain relevant to U.S. foreign policy on Washington's terms, or in doing so will it be seen...

EDITORIALS

Sep 20, 2002

Following up the Pyongyang summit

North Korea's acknowledgment of its involvement in the kidnappings of Japanese nationals marks a major milestone in the off-and-on normalization talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang that began in 1991. With the negotiations resuming next month, following Tuesday's summit agreement between Prime Minister...

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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