JAPAN: Ruling Party Scandal a Blow to Political Reform
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Catherine Makino
TOKYO, Jan 20, 2010 (IPS) – Allegations of money laundering within the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) appear to have dashed hopes that the ruling party would distinguish itself from the scandal-plagued conservative administration that had ruled Japan for almost half a century.
DPJ stalwart Ichiro [...]
ASIA: Civil Society Steps Up Efforts Towards Alternative Economy
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Mutsuko Murakami
TOKYO, Nov 24 (IPS) – Amid worsening poverty, income inequality and a host of environmental hazards that are afflicting many countries, what does the world need today?
An economic model that encourages local initiatives for social entrepreneurship, builds smaller-scale and independent economy, and expands social networks and [...]
Q&A: Wanted: Economy at the Service of Mankind
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Mutsuko Murakami interviews DR JUN NISHIKAWA, Japan’s leading advocate of solidarity economy
TOKYO, Nov 23 (IPS) – The outbreak of the global financial crisis that followed the collapse of the U.S.’s major financial institutions last year sent many economies into a downward spiral. Many were also forced to rethink [...]
U.S.-JAPAN ACCORD: Seeking a Nuke Free World
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IDN
BY ERNEST COREA
IDN-InDepthNews Service
WASHINGTON DC (IDN) – Japan, the only country to be the target of atom bombs, and the U.S., the only country to drop them, firmly committed themselves to working towards a nuclear weapons free world, when President Barack Obama visited Japan during his first [...]
JAPAN: Obama Visit Hailed, But Left Crucial Questions Unanswered
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Analysis by Catherine Makino
TOKYO, Nov 16 (IPS) – Setting foot on the Land of Cherry Blossom over the weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama waxed nostalgic, recalling his first visit to Japan as a young boy, when his mother brought him there.
"I have never forgotten the warmth and [...]
Q&A: It’s Time Students Learned Beyond the Classroom
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Mutsuko Murokami interviews DR CAROL MA HOK KA, a noted advocate of service-learning
TOKYO, Nov 11 (IPS) – An increasing number of universities and colleges across the Asian region today are running a programme called ”service-learning,” a teaching and learning strategy that has become synonymous with precisely what its [...]
JAPAN: Fresh Aid to Mekong Signals Rivalry with China — Experts
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Catherine Makino
TOKYO, Nov 11 (IPS) – There is more to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s pledge last week to extend at least 500 billion yen (5.6 billion U.S. dollars) in fresh assistance to the Mekong region than meets the eye, or so observers think.
Japan’s underlying intentions toward the [...]
JAPAN: Death from Overwork Persists Amid Economic Crunch
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
By Catherine Makino
TOKYO, Oct 29 (IPS) – One morning nine months ago, Kenji Hamada’s colleagues were surprised to find him in their Tokyo office slumped over his desk. They thought he was sleeping, but when he did not wake up after two hours, they realised he was dead. [...]
DISARMAMENT: Closer To Making Utopia Feasible?
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IDN
BY TARO ICHIKAWA
Republished with permission from IDN-InDepthNews Service
HIROSHIMA (IDN) – “What we see here is tragic, but even more tragic is all that was lost without a trace,” said Yoriko Kawaguchi as tears welled up in her eyes. She had just completed a tour of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial [...]
RIGHTS-JAPAN: Get Cracking on Gender Equality
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Catherine Makino
TOKYO, Oct 3 (IPS) – Japan’s new female justice minister has promised to get serious about gender equality.
Minister Keiko Chiba said on Sep. 29, she intends to propose legislation as early as next year to allow women and men to choose to register different surnames at [...]
ASIA THROUGH THE EYES OF MR.CHANGE OF JAPAN
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
Long before President Barack Obama of the US started speaking of the need for a change in outlook, attitudes and policies, a man in Japan, known as Mr.Clean, had been speaking of the need for a change in Japanese outlook, attitudes and policies. In fact, he is reportedly fond of [...]
JAPAN: New Ruling Party Poised to Lift Foreign Press Restrictions
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Catherine Makino
TOKYO, Sep 16 (IPS) – The newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) plans to open government organisations to the foreign press, party member Kuniko Tanioka revealed in an interview with IPS.
”We are going to do away with media restrictions,” Tanioka said. ”It’s important for the [...]
Q&A: ‘We Need Small Government That Can Restore Economic Growth’
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Mutsuko Murakami interviews newly reelected and popular member of the Japanese parliament Taro Kono of the vanquished Liberal Democratic Party.
TOKYO, Sep 6 (IPS) – Many of the old guards of Japan’s longtime ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) were banished from the political landscape in the aftermath of the [...]
POLITICS-JAPAN: Untested New Regime Raises Fresh Hopes
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS
Mutsuko Murakami
TOKYO, Sep 2 (IPS) – The stunning victory of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Sunday’s election has left Yasuyo Takahashi, a Tokyo suburb resident, more upbeat about the prospects for change in her country.
”We feel we now [...]
HATOYAMA AS JAPANESE PM: IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA
Global Geopolitics Net Sites
B.RAMAN
( To be read in continuation of my earlier article of August 18,2009, titled "Maritime Security Concerns of Japan & Prospects of India-Japan Co-Operation" at http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers34/paper3361.html )
Media reports from Japan indicate that as widely forecast by opinion polls, the Democratic Party of Japan ( DPJ) has won the elections [...]
