Search - special-issue

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2008

Hot air over global warming

HONG KONG — Fresh reports every day tell of glaciers melting, thinning polar ice triggering prospects of a scramble for the riches under the Arctic ice cap, worries about rising water levels inundating low-lying countries, and soaring oil prices.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Apr 22, 2008

Do you expect the Nagano leg of the Olympic torch relay to go smoothly?

EDITORIALS
Apr 8, 2008

The man who came to dinner

Russia is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Mr. Vladimir Putin is a lame duck president, but he and his country threw a long shadow over the just-completed NATO summit that convened last week in Bucharest, Romania. Not only did Mr. Putin show up uninvited at the NATO heads dinner...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 1, 2008

BOJ finds itself in 'unpresidented' state

The divided Diet has left the Bank of Japan with a vacant seat at the top for the first time since the war. This came about after Toshihiko Fukui's five-year term ended in mid-March and the government's nominees to succeed him were vetoed.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 18, 2008

Figuring out 'cleaning fees'

Years ago, when a friend of mine was preparing to move back home to Los Angeles, I helped her clean her rented studio apartment in Tokyo. Shoving aside a pile of books, clothes and various other kinds of clutter, we wiped the wood floor, scrubbed the bathtub and polished the kitchen sink. We spent almost...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2008

Australia's historic apology

SYDNEY — "Sorry," the hardest word in the English language to say, has been said by Australia to its Aborigines — officially, by Parliament in Canberra, in a ceremony screened in every city and set on the record to right the wrongs inflicted on them since white settlement began in 1788.
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2008

Refueling law enacted with regrets

By using a special provision in the Constitution, the ruling parties have voted into law a bill that enables the resumption of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean for antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan. The mission is expected to resume in mid-February....
JAPAN
Jan 5, 2008

Fukuda: No midmonth reshuffling of Cabinet

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda dismissed speculation Friday that he would reshuffle his Cabinet before the Diet opens later this month to shore up his poor public approval ratings.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2008

Japan stumbles its way toward a two-party system

2007 was a politically significant year. It is stirring to see how much the political terrain has changed from the beginning of the year to now.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 13, 2007

'Gaijin card' checks spread as police deputize the nation

In the good old days, very few Japanese knew about Alien Registration Cards — you know, those wallet-size documents all non-Japanese residents must carry 24/7 or face arrest and incarceration.
COMMENTARY
Oct 26, 2007

Limits of EU centralization

LONDON — In Lisbon, yet another European Union Treaty has been signed, this one purporting to replace all previous treaties and to give Europe the pattern of governance it needs to meet the future.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2007

Little change expected in Japan-U.S. relationship

OSAKA — Those who keep close watch on Japan's political and defense ties with the U.S. expect no major changes in the fundamental security relationship under Yasuo Fukuda.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2007

Abe & Co. stumbling toward a Diet showdown

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's political future hinges on how he manages the extraordinary Diet session that starts Monday.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Sep 3, 2007

Merkel to Japan: Leading G8 not only about environment

Last week's visit to Japan by German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a sobering lesson in G8 politics. Germany currently holds the G8 presidency but will pass the baton to Japan in January.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2007

Hong Kong media thrive under China

LOS ANGELES — Not every place in the world takes its news media seriously, to say the least. Some governments view it as a nuisance, if not a menace; others as an arm of public instruction, if not propaganda. But this is not the view taken here in what (since the 1997 handover from Britain) is officially...
COMMENTARY
Jun 18, 2007

The first to save the planet

HONG KONG — Focusing on climate change, the most recent Group of Eight meeting, chaired by Germany and attended by five of the world's biggest developing countries, marked a significant step forward in a battle for nothing less than the survival of humanity on this planet.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2007

Nakayama considers Upper House

Kyoko Nakayama, a special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the abduction issue, said Tuesday she is considering running for a seat in the House of Councilors on the ruling Liberal Democratic Party ticket.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2007

And now to trilateralism

NANJING, China — How good are China-Japan relations today? So good that the museum here to commemorate the 1937 massacre by Japanese Imperial Army soldiers is closed for renovation. That's remarkable since this is the 70th anniversary of the massacre and criticism of historical revisionism of Japan...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 22, 2007

Who dares take the 'Q' out of Japan's 5-star kyushoku?

Is one of the great institutions of Japanese cul- ture succumbing to a slow, gnawing attack? It may be. I tell you, if this icon is lost, all we'll have left of the culture will be a few cartoons and some rusting karaoke machines.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 20, 2007

Demise of crime magazine historic

Making headlines worldwide last month was the publication of a magazine entitled "Kyogaku no Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu ("Shocking Foreigner crime: the Underground File"). On sale at major Japanese bookstores and convenience stores nationwide, Gaijin Hanzai (GH) attributed criminality to nationality, and...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 29, 2007

Same hot buttons a hundred years later

NEW YORK -- What was the world like 100 years ago? That was not the question I had in mind when I idly wondered if I could find exactly how French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) had described British playwright/novelist Oscar Wilde on one special occasion. As this is the age of the Internet, I quickly...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2007

Abe has high hopes for Diet session

The Diet convened Thursday, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party aiming to get key bills passed, including one to set up a referendum on amending the Constitution and several more aimed at education reform.
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2007

Unshackling Japan's defense

On Jan. 9 the Defense Agency was upgraded to full ministry status. At a ceremony marking the change, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said it was a major step from the "postwar regime" toward a foundation for national rebuilding.
COMMENTARY
Jan 18, 2007

Unhappy state of education

LONDON -- Very few parents in Britain or Japan are happy about the state of education available to their children. The response of politicians in both countries to these concerns is inadequate and sometimes dangerous.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.