Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
July 11, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Commentary stories

COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2000
Pessimists in the mist: Japanese still mired in crisis of confidence
By Brad Glosserman
It’s hard to find a word that has so traumatized a generation as has “globalization.” The term has become a convenient shorthand for all the uncertainties and unknowns of daily life, a catch-all for the problems that tug at economies and threaten to unravel traditional social structures.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2000
Yasser Arafat draws the line
By David Hirst
BEIRUT -- At one fraught moment during Camp David, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reportedly warned Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat: “If we don’t finish the job now, at the next meeting I will no longer be prime minister.” To which the Palestinian leader retorted: “If I give in on Jerusalem, I will...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 27, 2000
A tale of two protests in Bangkok and Beijing
By Philip Cunningham
BANGKOK -- Last week, rural adherents of the Falun Gong movement in China surreptitiously made their way from provincial towns to stage short-lived protests in the heart of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. At the same time in rural Thailand, thousands of Thai peasants boarded trains for Bangkok to take an...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 27, 2000
Wily Putin seduces the world
By Constantine Pleshakov
Josef Stalin hated international travel: He suspected somebody might attempt to kill him. Nikita Khrushchev loved it: He enjoyed shocking foreign hosts with his erratic behavior. Leonid Brezhnev was happy to travel to any country that would give him a new Mercedes as a state gift. Mikhail Gorbachev had...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2000
Russia gets back into the Korean fray
By John Barry Kotch
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union re-established itself as a major player on the Korean Peninsula largely as a result of U.S. initiatives in dividing the country, for administrative convenience, between two zones of military occupation. In doing so, the Americans displayed great ignorance...
COMMENTARY
Jul 26, 2000
Ethics for a turbulent age
By Hugh Cortazzi
There is much justifiable concern in Japan and Britain about rising levels of crime and bad behavior, especially among young people. The responses have been varied, including the usual calls for heavier punishments combined with “zero tolerance” policing. Yet few have much idea how this is to be enforced...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2000
Testing times for Sino-Pakistani friendship
By Farhan Bokhari
ISLAMABAD -- There was a familiar ring to recent allegations in U.S. newspapers, reportedly based on intelligence sources, that China is continuing to aid Pakistan’s plans to build long-range nuclear-capable missiles. It is not the first time such allegations have surfaced in the United States, especially...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2000
Swastikas under the onion domes
By Russell Working
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia It is a muggy Wednesday afternoon in the nation’s largest Pacific seaport, and as people meander home, a handful of men and boys position themselves around the central square, an asphalt plaza decorated with a monument to the communist revolutionaries who conquered the Far East.
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2000
Media credibility is at risk
By Kiroku Hanai
Two recent incidents have revealed the cozy relationship between government and the media in Japan. One is the appointment of a former Yomiuri Shimbun chief editorialist as a member of the National Public Safety Commission. The other is the fact that a member of the Cabinet press club wrote a memo for...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2000
South Korea’s new take on the world
By Brad Glosserman
The emotional pendulum swings in Korea are mesmerizing -- and predictable. First there was the euphoria triggered by last month’s historic summit between the two Korean leaders. Then there was the inevitable reaction as more sober heads pointed out the difficulties that lie ahead: continuing talks to...
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2000
Ethical void damages Japan
By Keizo Nabeshima
The political ethics issue confronts the new administration of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. The question at stake is whether Japan will be able to put an end to the politics of patronage.
COMMENTARY
Jul 24, 2000
Echelon knows what you’re thinking
By Gregory Clark
Echelon is the code name for an exclusive club of Anglo-Saxon nations that long ago set out to spy on all global communications. Only now are some of its activities coming to light. The French are angry and want indignantly to know why Britain, their alleged EU partner, has joined with the United States...
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Trump says ‘Japan’ instead of Iran at meeting in Ankara
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference during a NATO leaders' summit in Ankara on Wednesday.
World’s first fully sealed vertical-farming facility opens in Tokyo
Fully sealed units are stacked on top of each other at Plantx's vertical-farming facility in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Wednesday.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Destination Restaurants 2026 award ceremony report
Destination Restaurants 2026 award ceremony report

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER