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November 23, 2024
 

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EDITORIALS
Sep 30, 2000

Denmark says 'No, thank you'

The Danish people voted this week against adopting the euro. With nearly 90 percent of eligible voters going to the polls, Denmark rejected the European Union's single currency by a narrow 53-47 margin. The result is a bitter disappointment for the country's political and business establishment, which...
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2000

Hazards of electoral reform

The tripartite ruling coalition is moving to submit to the Diet a bill for a new Upper House proportional-representation voting system that would allow voters to choose either individual candidates or political parties when casting ballots. The Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and the New Conservative...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 10, 2000

U.S. forces remain critical to Northeast Asian security

WASHINGTON -- There has been a sea change in the political landscape in Northeast Asia, particularly on the Korean Peninsula. In South Korea, the success of multiparty democracy is changing how the United States interacts with its ally. President Kim Dae Jung must deal with voters who increasingly question...
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2000

BOJ under pressure on zero interest rate

The Bank of Japan on Tuesday came under heavy political pressure to keep its "zero-interest-rate" policy during a meeting with the government's most influential politicians on economic matters.
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2000

Updating the nuclear debate

LONDON -- Appearing before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary William Cohen has confirmed that he and his colleagues see the threat to the United States of long-range missile attack as growing. The intention to develop a national missile defense system against is therefore still...
COMMENTARY
Jul 31, 2000

United States puts junk science on trial

There are few more potent combinations than lawyers and journalists in the United States today. Together they can demonize, loot and even bankrupt the largest industry. And do so based on the flimsiest evidence. But the tide is turning, as evidenced by the decision of U.S. District Court Judge Louis...
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Rain-aided coalition cruises toward victory

Amid lower-than-expected voter turnout, the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling triumvirate appeared to have secured at least a simple majority in the Lower House in the general election held Sunday, exit polls show.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2000

Education groups rail against December exams

Two organizations representing university presidents and high school principals have submitted opinion papers to the Education Ministry expressing their opposition to a plan to hold college entrance examinations in December, in addition to the current tests held in January, group sources said Saturday....
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2000

Mr. Jospin's star rises

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin celebrated three years in office this week. It was a satisfying moment. The economy is rebounding, France's international status is growing and the prime minister can entertain ambitions for the presidency. But much can change between now and the vote scheduled for...
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2000

Official or not, English a must for Japan leaders: symposium

The proposal to make English Japan's official second language has been hotly debated over the past few months, but panelists at a recent symposium say it is Japan's leaders — not necessarily the general public — who need to master the language.
JAPAN
May 25, 2000

Just 29.6% back Mori's Cabinet

A mere 29.6 percent of voters support Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet, according to a Kyodo News public opinion poll released Wednesday, the second worst initial support rate for a Cabinet since 1974.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2000

Japan's national security policy ignores public sentiment

The impression that one gets when looking at the evolution of Japan's security policy in recent years is that the Japanese public has consented to steps taken by Tokyo. After all, that is the fundamental expectation that democracies nurture. Following this reasoning, Tokyo should be developing a security...
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2000

Tough challenges for the LDP

The death of former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, coming in the wake of the retirement of his mentor, former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, marks the end of the "Takeshita politics" that wielded considerable clout within the Liberal Democratic Party.
EDITORIALS
May 10, 2000

The IRA cuts the knot

The Irish Republican Army has broken the logjam in the Northern Irish peace process. Last weekend, the group offered to put its vast stockpiles of weapons "completely and verifiably beyond use." That gesture will allow the suspended power-sharing agreement in the province to go forward. The implicit...
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2000

Will Clinton crumble again?

If Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's overseas foreign-policy tour this week has a theme, it is "coverup" and "damage control." Mori, known as a colorless political fixer, has been tasked with assuring foreign leaders that the July G8 summit will go forward successfully no matter what happens on the Japanese...
COMMUNITY
Apr 30, 2000

'English Patience' thickens plots

I found Yukichi Arai eating fruit sherbet in the lobby of the Tokyo Station Hotel. It was hot, I agreed, whereupon he ordered another. After four days sitting in a booth at the Tokyo Book Fair at Tokyo Big Site, promoting his book (titled in "katakana" as "English Patience"), he felt the world deserving...
MORE SPORTS
Apr 18, 2000

Cowboys star Emmitt Smith running after NFL records

Nobody will argue that Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys is one of the premier running backs in National Football League history.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 4, 2000

A costly dearth of leaders

There is growing opinion at home and abroad that Japan lacks national leadership. When the former ruler of a neighboring country suggested recently that Japan had no true leader, there was no public outrage in Japan.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2000

Factional fighting set to split Liberal Party

The Liberal Party, the smallest member of the ruling coalition, appears to be splitting up.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2000

Beijing all bark and no bite? Think again

Tensions over the Taiwan Strait are palpable after China did its best to intimidate Taiwanese voters in the runup to last weekend's election. First, the Cabinet released a white paper that drew an unmistakable line -- thickened with a new condition -- regarding the limits of acceptable Taiwanese behavior...
CULTURE / Books
Mar 20, 2000

Built on a foundation of fear

THE SHOGUN'S PAINTED CULTURE: Fear and Creativity in the Japanese States -- 1760-1829, by Timon Screech. London: Reaktion Books, 2000, 312 pp., with 33 color plates and 111 b/w photos, 19.95 British pounds. The argument of this prodigiously detailed study is that Japan as we now know it did not exist...
COMMENTARY
Feb 10, 2000

Democracy under attack

When I first read that the Japanese coalition government had decided to force through a bill to reduce the number of seats elected by proportional representation, my first thought was, since they had a majority of votes in both Houses for this measure and as democracy generally implies majority rules,...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2000

The odd debacle in the Diet

In an unprecedented development in Japanese political history, the opposition forces are boycotting all Diet proceedings to protest the ruling coalition's handling of the controversial legislation for reducing the number of Lower House seats. The Democratic Party of Japan, the Japan Communist Party and...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2000

Ruling, opposition blocs duel over 2000 budget

Ruling bloc lawmakers on Thursday praised the expanded, bond-heavy fiscal 2000 budget compiled by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's administration as Lower House Budget Committee deliberations got under way. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force, convened "an alternative...
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2000

Begin the Constitutional debate

The postwar Constitution of Japan, which was put into effect in 1947, will come up for formal and continuous debate for the first time in the ordinary Diet session that opens on Friday. It is unclear, however, whether the Constitutional Review Council -- which was created last year in both houses --...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 16, 2000

The U.N. should have its day in court

A report in the Jan. 10 issue of The Age newspaper stated that the National Post newspaper of Canada had editorialized that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan should resign. The National Post editorial call was made in the light of the alleged inaction of Annan when he was chief of U.N. peacekeeping forces...
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2000

Awaiting Diet dissolution

Despite widespread anxieties about potential Y2K disasters, the world greeted the new millennium without trouble. Volatility in the New York and Tokyo stock markets since the beginning of the year should not cause undue concern about the economic future at home and abroad.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 1999

Victims of money politics

Mr. Helmut Kohl may no longer be Germany's chancellor, a position he held for 16 years, but he continues to be one of the country's most revered statesmen. He presided over the reunification of Germany and in the process helped the country become "a normal nation." While each of his predecessors pushed...
COMMUNITY
Dec 1, 1999

Dreaming of a posh X-mas

How was your Christmas last year? Midnight Mass by candlelight in a 12th-century chapel? Convivial gatherings of friends and family around old oak tables laden with turkeys and rich, dark, steaming puddings? After-dinner strolls through frost-crisp fields and woodlands? Roaring fires?
EDITORIALS
Aug 31, 1999

The DPJ at a crossroads

The Democratic Party of Japan looks set for a three-way race to select its new head next month. The current leader, Mr. Naoto Kan, and the deputy secretary general, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama, have already announced they will run in the Sept. 25 party election. The third man, Mr. Takahiro Yokomichi, chairman...
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Saitama court bans demonstrations over anti-Kurd hate speech
Kurdish people in Japan in 2015. A court injunction has banned acts that defame the Japan Kurdish Cultural Association and are disrespectful, such as putting up banner flags or handing out fliers with hate speech like “Refugees should go back to their home countries.”
China reinstates visa-free travel for Japanese nationals
Beijing Daxing International Airport
U.S. aircraft carrier returns to Japan carrying navy’s ‘most capable fighter’
U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Fred Kacher speaks to reporters shortly after the arrival of aircraft carrier USS George Washington at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

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