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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2008

Why do displays of compassion differ between East and West?

NEW YORK — Why are French, British and American warships, but not Chinese or Malaysian warships, sitting near the Burmese coast loaded with food and other necessities for the victims of Cyclone Nargis?
COMMENTARY
May 10, 2008

Britain's next government must beat mood of retreat

LONDON — Has the political tide in Britain now turned? And is the Labour Party under Prime Minister Gordon Brown now heading for defeat?
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2008

Preserving the Constitution

Signs of shakiness have begun to appear in the alliance between Japan and the United States, which seemed to get increasingly strong under the coalition government of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, especially after the enactment of two laws that removed some of the obstacles to actions to...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2008

No easy answers for the United States before or after the presidential election

The United States will likely see a "fertile period of policy experimentation" under the new administration that takes office after the November presidential election, says Thomas E. Mann, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution who is an expert on U.S. election campaigns.
COMMENTARY
Dec 24, 2007

Article 9 fan club quickens

Momentum for constitutional amendments, which grew under the administrations of former Prime Ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe, has diminished following the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's drubbing in the July 29 Upper House election and pro-amendment Abe's surprise resignation in September....
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2007

Bali inspired hope in coping

LONDON — Do not be downhearted about the outcome of the Bali talks. They did not deliver the binding commitments to cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that are desperately needed, and as a result millions may die who might have lived. But they did show us something remarkable. They showed us the human...
COMMENTARY
Sep 6, 2007

China's image sinking fast

HONG KONG — Public opinion surveys taken in the United States and other countries around the world show that China's image has been badly dented in the wake of widespread reports of unsafe food, toxic toothpaste, dangerous toys and poisonous drugs.
COMMENTARY
Sep 5, 2007

What's wrong with talking to save lives?

LOS ANGELES — How much might a human life be worth these days?
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2007

Nuclear deal fueling opposition to Singh

NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's political future has come under a cloud over a controversial civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States that has helped isolate his party in Parliament.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 5, 2007

Japan's war memories, so often misrepresented

JAPAN'S CONTESTED WAR MEMORIES: The "Memory Rifts" in Historical Consciousness of WWII, by Philip A. Seaton. Routledge, 2007, 258 pp., £75 (cloth) Stereotypical images of Japanese collectively in denial about the atrocities committed by the Imperial armed forces are grossly misleading and overlook...
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2007

An arsonist is sentenced

The Yamagata District Court has sentenced a 66-year-old man to eight years in prison for setting the house of Liberal Democratic lawmaker Koichi Kato on fire in August 2006. Circumstances show that it was a clear attempt to suppress opinion by means of violence.
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2007

Knocked back in Beijing

Tokyo tries to keep a brave face on the agreements reached at last week's six-nation talks in Beijing aimed at putting an end to North Korea's nuclear development plans. But no amount of strong talk about refusing any direct participation in aid or other concessions to North Korea unless Pyongyang accepts...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 8, 2006

Royal challenge to the French rightwing

PARIS -- Segolene Royal has surged to the front of the pack of Socialists who aim to succeed Jacques Chirac as president of France. Nobody would have bet a single euro on such a prospect a few months ago.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 1, 2006

Hisashi Inoue: Crusader with a pen

So wide-ranging are 71-year-old Hisashi Inoue's talents and activities that it is difficult to know which to focus on at the expense of others.
COMMENTARY
Jul 9, 2006

'Sayonara Summit' saw the best of ties

HONOLULU -- The "Sayonara Summit" went well -- as expected. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's last visit to the United States as prime minister -- a "summit-cum-road trip," with a 19-gun salute and visit to Graceland -- set a new standard for intimacy on the diplomatic circuit. It was a fitting farewell...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 22, 2006

Public uncertainty, wobbly provocations

'I feel I have lost the ability to have a definite opinion, in terms of people, and about myself," says the Japanese installation artist Tabaimo. It is a surprising admission from someone who first received international acclaim for what were seen as perceptive and cutting social commentaries on modern...
COMMENTARY
May 1, 2006

From reforms to deadlock

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi greeted the fifth anniversary of his rule, becoming Japan's third-longest serving postwar leader after Eisaku Sato and Shigeru Yoshida.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 2, 2006

Accepting apologies is not so easy

JAPANESE APOLOGIES FOR WORLD WAR II: A Rhetorical Study, by Jane W. Yamazaki. London: Routledge, 2005, 256 pp., £65 (cloth). POLITICS, MEMORY AND PUBLIC OPINION: The History Textbook Controversy and Japanese Society, by Sven Saaler, Munich: Deutsches Institut fur Japanstudien, 2005, 202 pp., 28 euro...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 19, 2006

Prefecture opts for foster-care plan to combat declining birthrate

A recent Associated Press poll found that Americans' views about abortion aren't very clear-cut. Only a small percentage of the respondents were in favor of either legalizing abortion completely or banning it outright. About 60 percent were somewhere in the middle. The AP took these results to mean that...
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2006

Obstinacy vs. national interest

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's statement at his New Year news conference has added stress to Japan's already strained relations with China and South Korea. He defiantly criticized the two neighboring countries for refusing summit talks with Japan because of his repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine....
Japan Times
Features
Nov 6, 2005

Surveying a state of change

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi led his Liberal Democratic Party to a landslide victory in the Sept. 11 general election he called as a de facto referendum on his drive to privatize postal services.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2005

Ministry to boost second opinions

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is reportedly considering offering remuneration to doctors under the medical insurance system for providing data to another doctor on patients seeking a second opinion.
COMMENTARY
Jun 26, 2005

The beginning of empathy?

HONOLULU -- The strains in the Japan-South Korea relationship are far too deep-rooted for any single summit meeting to assuage. Rather, the objective of any summit should be setting the proper tone for bilateral relations. By this yardstick, the meeting Monday between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi...
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2004

The year of the blog

Whether you're sick to death of the word "blog" or have no idea what it means, you are equally abreast of the times, linguistically speaking. Merriam-Webster, the U.S. dictionary publisher, recently declared it the most looked-up term on its Internet site this year, not counting profanities and perennial...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Nov 1, 2004

Japan now must ponder extending SDF mission

The tragic end to the Shosei Koda hostage crisis may influence Japan's policy of deploying its ground troops in Iraq, especially as their one-year mission will soon expire, officials and analysts say.
COMMENTARY
Jun 24, 2004

Constitution faces hard sell

LONDON -- So the great battle of the new European Constitution is over -- at least for the moment. The leaders of 25 member-states of the European Union have agreed and signed up to a massive document, entitled a Constitution, which for the first time gives the EU a legal personality and an authority...
COMMENTARY
Apr 29, 2004

British fault line with Bush

LONDON -- Commentators on both sides of the Atlantic have been raising the possibility of a split between Britain and America on the handling of Middle Eastern affairs.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 14, 2004

Further thoughts on Yasukuni

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- Although I am among those who wish that the Yasukuni Shrine controversy be put to rest quick- ly, I realize that the solution must come from inside Japan when conditions mature. Those with some distance from the emotional core of the issue may wish to ponder the new dynamic that...

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan