By way of wiping off the dust that has collected on this blog I would like to draw attention to a thoughtful piece of analysis by APARC’s Daniel Sneider, published recently by the National Bureau of Asian Research. The thrust of his argument: “In 2009 the DPJ came to power in Japan, ending a half-century […]
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-Sik criticized the Japanese government’s boycott of Korean Air Tuesday, calling it a breach of international rules. Tokyo ordered civil servants not to fly on Korean Air after the private company held a demonstration flight of its new Airbus A380 over the disputed Liancourt Rocks. Kim was quoted by a […]
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled today that both Thailand and Cambodia should pull their troops out from the site of an ancient Hindu temple and establish a demilitarized zone around its ruins in order to facilitate negotiations to finally end the long-standing spat between the two countries. The 11-5 ruling from the judges […]
State minister in charge of handling the nuclear accident, Goshi Hosono, said that the first phase to bring the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant under control was completed as scheduled on Sunday. Hosono said, “We believe Step 1 of stably cooling (the reactors) and eliminating risks of a hydrogen explosion has been achieved.” According […]
Japan and other pro-whaling nations walked out of the International Whaling Commission’s annual talks in Jersey Thursday in protest of a proposal to create a symbolic whale sanctuary in the South Atlantic. Delegates from Japan and Iceland, as well as a number of Caribbean and African nations that totally allegedly receive payoffs to vote in […]
While researching my last post about the record-high poverty rate in Japan, I came across a title for a 2008 BBC documentary entitled Japan: A Story of Love and Hate. The film follows a 58-year-old postal worker living on the poverty line. The film asks how the quality of life could be so miserable in […]
It was news most Indians received with weary resignation – India’s business capital, Mumbai, had once again been targeted by some faceless terrorists. It was happening all over again – multiple attacks, torn limbs, distraught relatives, reporters breathlessly reporting the latest developments, and the inevitable platitudes about Mumbai’s resilience. Yet, incredibly, there was still something […]
Terrorist violence has once more ripped through Mumbai, India’s largest city and its commercial hub. Three bomb blasts, exploding over a span of 30 minutes in central and south Mumbai during the evening rush hour, yesterday killed at least 18 people and injured more than 130. The bombings are the latest in a string of […]
According to numbers released by the Welfare Ministry Tuesday, Japan’s poverty rate hit a record high of 16.0 percent in 2009, up 0.3 percent from 2006. The increase in the number of people over 65 and the number of nonregular employees with less income was cited as the cause of the increase. Relative poverty was […]
The International Whaling Commission began its annual talks Monday in Saint Helier, Jersey. As expected, anti-whaling nations have ganged up on Japan against its so-called “research whaling.” On Monday, Great Britain proposed that governments pay their membership fees to the IWC by bank transfer, rather than by cash or check, in order to trace the […]
Has the war in Afghanistan spread into Pakistan? Yes; the circumstantial evidence certainly points to just that. The argument for, and fact of, war rests partly on the strategy through which combat in Afghanistan and Pakistan is being conducted. That strategy is precisely this-counterterrorism, which relies heavily on night raids and drone attacks;that strategy is […]
The extent of change in a country’s foreign policy during the transition to a new regime can sometimes be striking. It is a proposition which will be played out in Thailand over the coming weeks and months as the new Pheu Thai-led coalition begins to govern following its electoral victory last week. The result of […]
Ahmed Wali Karzai, President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother and, seemingly, sole proprietor of Kandahar-the birth place of the Taliban in Afghanistan–has been assassinated by a close family associate. The reason behind the assassination has not been revealed. This news fundamentally roils politics, strategy and hedging in and for Afghanistan. Ahmed Wali, the most important linchpin of […]
Courtesy: Dawn.com Sixty-eight year old Bob Woodward, an associate editor at the Washington Post, is considered one of America’s most informed investigative journalists. In 1972, his disclosure and consistent reporting with Carl Bernstein of the Watergate Scandal led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Woodward, a Pulitzer Prize winning author of 12 bestselling non-fictions, […]
The Japanese government is sending 96 Japanese English teachers to the U.S. this month to participate in a six-month training program. The teachers will take courses in English education at seven universities. They will stay with American host families and work as interns at American secondary schools. As an American teaching English in Japan, I […]
