More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

November 25, 2024

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY

Sep 16, 2000

Public TV in the digital era

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- The British Broadcasting Corporation was a pioneer of public-service broadcasting when it was established in the 1920s. It built up a strong reputation in its early years under its first director, General Lord Reith, although it also earned the nick-name of "Auntie" because it was regarded...

EDITORIALS

Sep 15, 2000

The Olympic love-hate affair

The quadrennial soap opera that is the Summer Olympics gets under way again today in Sydney, inspiring the usual mixed response of blahs and hurrahs. Nobody disputes that the Summer Games have become the world's biggest recurrent spectacle, costing more than some countries' GDP and cornier than Kansas....

COMMENTARY

Sep 15, 2000

Looking for Mori's successor

By Minoru Tada

A couple of weeks ago, Koichi Kato, former secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, appeared at a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. Kato is receiving growing public attention as a potential contender for the post of prime minister to replace unpopular Yoshiro...

EDITORIALS

Sep 14, 2000

What did Russia want?

The arrest last Friday of a Maritime Self-Defense Force officer on suspicion of spying for Russia raises the puzzling question: How is it that Moscow needed, or seemed to need, military secrets from Japan in the post-Cold War period, particularly at a time when relations between the two nations are improving?...

COMMENTARY

Sep 14, 2000

Paving the road to failure

By David Howell

LONDON -- If good intentions could guarantee good results, the recently concluded Millennium Summit at the United Nations in New York would merit nothing but unreserved praise.

EDITORIALS

Sep 13, 2000

Copyright law for a new age

The rapid spread of computer networks is creating a flood of digitalized information in a broad range of fields, including publishing, music, broadcast, movies and plays. This is leading to the rampant piracy of writers' copyrights and musicians' performing rights. Legal action is urgently needed to...

COMMENTARY

Sep 13, 2000

Religion's small role in the public realm

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- The American left has always had a simple view of religious people and politics. If they are liberal, welcome. If they aren't, be gone. So it seems to be with Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Lieberman.

COMMENTARY

Sep 13, 2000

Fragile foundations for the nation's youth

By Ryuichiro Hosokawa

Although the whole nation has been dismayed by the recent wave of reports of serious crimes committed by 17-year-olds, everyone must have been excited and impressed by the teenagers playing in the high-school baseball championship tournament held at Koshien Stadium, regardless of who won and who lost....

EDITORIALS

Sep 12, 2000

Third oil shock still on the horizon

Oil prices have been climbing inexorably. Last week, a barrel of crude fetched $34.90, a level not seen since the Persian Gulf War. Consumer outrage has been growing. Something had to be done, and on Sunday the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries responded, agreeing to raise oil production...

EDITORIALS

Sep 12, 2000

'A hazardous occupation'

During his visit to the United States last week for the United Nations Millennium Summit, Chinese President Jiang Zemin met with media leaders and reportedly asked them to help soften his country's image. There is an easy way to do that. The Chinese government can stop harassing, arresting and imprisoning...

COMMENTARY

Sep 12, 2000

Japan needs a Third Way

By Takamitsu Sawa

Through the last decade of the 20th century, the Japanese economy has been in a state of confusion. After the bubble peaked in 1987-90, the economy went into a tailspin. The economy hit bottom in October 1993, according to official statistics, but since then it has shown few tangible signs of robust...

EDITORIALS

Sep 10, 2000

Old friends are the best

Reports from the United States tell us that some Americans are having their faith restored in a popular postwar Japanese export. The subject of their revived affection is not a car or a motorcycle, not a camera or an audiovisual device, not a laptop personal computer or other advanced information-technology...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.

A boom for business tourism in Japan?

By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports