After her son was born, Terue Suzuki moved back to her childhood home on weekdays so she could work while her sister cared for the baby, leaving her husband alone in the house they shared. “It was like a weekend marriage,” Suzuki says of the arrangement 14 years ago. “I had a satisfying job and […]
As in the Cold War, so in the current power play between the United States and China, the rest of Asia will simply not submit itself to the discipline of a bipolar framework. Asia will actively shape and be shaped by the emerging strategic dynamic between Washington and Beijing. Asia is home to many large […]
When I was in Seoul a few weeks ago, the English-language news program Korea Today broadcast a strangely fascinating story about an “I Love Dokdo” contest at Taegu University. The idea was to see who could come up with the most inspiring tribute to the patch of microislands that has been the focus of a recurring and bitter […]
Officials in Tokyo have known for some time that Japan’s regional foreign policy needs to be revamped. The economic crisis has brought Japan’s export giants to their knees and forced the country’s economy to look at different ways of conducting business. Moreover, the nuclear crisis in Fukushima last spring further intensified Japan’s already acute energy […]
Big fishing concerns are engaged in “ocean-grabbing,” plundering the seas while scoffing at the environment and local interests, the UN’s food watchdog said on Tuesday. In exceptionally sharp words, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on food, Olivier de Schutter, said the interests of smaller fishermen, local communities and sustainable fishing were threatened by long-distance, industrial-scale […]
Hurricane Sandy’s pummeling of the eastern United States has already thrown the presidential campaign off course and disrupted early voting in several states, but could she be the deciding factor in this election? Political scientists have found that bad weather on Election Day typically benefits Republicans, but how much Sandy will affect voter turnout on November 6 remains a mystery. […]
Predictions of the date may differ, but the general consensus on Japan remains the same. In a matter of just three to 10 years, the world’s third-biggest economy may start running out of the savings needed to fund its massive public debt. Is it time to start selling yen, or are the doomsayers off target […]
October is a scary month. And it’s not just Halloween. October also happens to be the anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. And if the ghosts and goblins don’t make you wet your pants, the thought of Khrushchev, Kennedy, and Castro dancing on the edge of nuclear war should. During the Cold War, the United […]
The Middle East is undergoing a historic transformation. Parts of the region are up in flames, and Asia’s primary powers either have no role or a destructive one. Pakistan, Indonesia and other Asian Muslim countries, as well as India, with the world’s second-largest Muslim population, are largely uninvolved, as if events in the region have no […]
Australia must find new trade opportunities and strengthen its education system to take advantage of Asia’s economic boom, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said, outlining goals for the country to meet by 2025. “As the global center of gravity shifts to our region, the tyranny of distance is being replaced by the prospects of proximity,” Gillard […]
looking beyond borders 