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 […]
President Bush and Prime Minister Singh celebrate the U.S.-India nuclear deal Was the U.S.-India agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation worth all the trouble? How have the expansive promises touted by its champions and dire warnings issued by its critics panned out? With the approach of the six-year anniversary of the landmark July 2005 summit between […]
The Japan blog had been offline for several days last week due to updates to the Foreign Policy Association’s blog site. We’re up and running now. Thank you for your patience! Please take time to check out the new features, including Facebook content! Ryu Matsumoto stepped down last week from his post as reconstruction minister, […]
Recent events in Pakistan continue to roil the dysfunctional machinery of that country’s convoluted and stably corruptible domestic and international politics. U.S. leaders have indicated that there exists conclusive proof that the ISI, Pakistan’s vaunted, though suspiciously-embarrasingly- incompetent spy service was complicit in the murder of respected investigative journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad. Recent reporting by […]
Amidst a backdrop of popular discontent and social strife, Yingluck Shinawatra, sister to ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was swept into office Sunday on a tidal wave of support from the poor, rural Thai majority. Ms. Yingluck will become Thailand’s first female prime minister in August when she will be all but certainly be given the […]
President Obama’s announcement of far larger and more accelerated withdrawals of U.S. forces from Afghanistan than many had expected affects Indian security interests and the U.S.-India relationship in significant ways.
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