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November 28, 2024

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COMMENTARY / World

Sep 12, 2002

For Arabs, a year of growing darkness

By David Hirst

CAIRO -- There is no better place to take the pulse of Arab and Muslim sentiment than Cairo, pioneer or hub of the two great movements that have swept the region in recent times: the pan-Arab secular nationalism of which President Gamal Nasser was the champion and the "political Islam" that came into...

EDITORIALS

Sep 11, 2002

Each generation has a defining moment, one that prompts individuals to ask, "Where were you when . . .?" Usually such moments are national; rarely does a single event touch lives across the world. Sept. 11 was one of those international tragedies. A year ago today, the world watched transfixed as hijacked...

COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA

Sep 11, 2002

Japan and Asia: facing the troubled past is a prerequisite to forging a better future

By Jean-pierre Lehmann

In two previous columns I quoted from one of the writers whom I most greatly admired, referring to him as the "late Shigeto Tsuru." It has been drawn to my attention that I was misinformed, as Mr. Tsuru, I am embarassed but really delighted to report, is alive and well. I offer my most sincere apologies...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 11, 2002

Once again at ground zero

By Ronald A. Morse

LOS ANGELES -- Japan is once again at a historical tipping point, what could be called a political ground zero. Japan has been at ground zero two other times in its modern history and both times the outcome was not pretty.

EDITORIALS

Sep 10, 2002

The return of al-Qaeda

Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped yet another assassination attempt last week. Other Afghans were not as lucky: They were killed when bombs exploded in the capital city of Kabul. The attacks are another reminder of the fragility of the peace in that country. Although the military is "mopping up"...

COMMENTARY

Sep 10, 2002

Making Japan's voice heard

By Yukio Suzuki

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi is doing a good job -- much better than expected. She has made few blunders since she assumed the post Feb. 1, aside from the trouble over the inept bureaucratic handling of the Shenyang Japanese Consulate incident involving North Korean asylum seekers.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 8, 2002

Let time bridge the China-Taiwan gap

By George Sioris

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Recent complications with regard to visits, or planned visits, by Taiwanese politicians to Indonesia and Thailand serve as new reminders of a most sensitive lingering East Asian issue. The purpose of this article is not to deal with the pluses and minuses of the visits but to...

EDITORIALS

Sep 8, 2002

Bye-bye, Betamax

A t the tail end of August, a brief obituary ran in business pages around the world: The Betamax VCR format was dead. Sony had just announced that it would stop manufacturing its Betamax video-recording machines by year's end and concentrate instead on DVD and other new technologies.

COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK

Sep 8, 2002

Judicial biases shape the American way

By Hiroaki Sato

NEW YORK -- The first time I knew that Japan's Supreme Court was not really supreme but just another political arm of the state was when it ruled on the Sunagawa Incident. In December 1959, it reversed the Tokyo District Court's ruling that the Japan-U.S. Mutual Security Treaty was unconstitutional....

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 8, 2002

Ethical dilemma in war of 'self-defense'

By Cesar Chelala

NEW YORK -- The recent unjustified killings of Palestinian civilians -- several children among them -- have not only raised the anger of the Palestinian population but also some of Israeli civilians. More importantly, those brutal killings endanger the withdrawal negotiations and threaten to condemn...

COMMENTARY

Sep 8, 2002

Flawed jamboree had value

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The vast jamboree at the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg involved a huge amount of partying and junketing. The costs of travel and accommodations for delegations of ministers and officials were huge. Was it worthwhile?

COMMENTARY

Sep 7, 2002

Moral obligation to war victims remains

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG -- More than half a century after World War II ended, relations between China and Japan are still marred by wartime events.

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

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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