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Friday, August 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
WTO-SPECIAL: Japan’s Rice Farmers, a Dying Breed
For rice farmer Yuji Koshino, next week’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Hong Kong can turn out to be a make or break affair, especially in the light of recent concessions made by the Japanese government to the country’s long-controlled agricultural sector.HEALTH-JAPAN: HIV Breeds on Complacent Attitudes Among Youth
Eri Iwase, 19, a pretty first year university student, says she is not worried about being infected with HIV virus that causes Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), even though she is sexually active.POLITICS: New Japan-US Ties Set to Make or Mar Asian Affairs
Japan-U.S. relations, following President George W. Bush’s whirlwind Asian tour, earlier this month, are set to play a strong role in political manoeuverings in the region, say analysts, many of whom express misgivings over the strengthened bilateral alliance.TSUNAMI IMPACT: Disasters Give New Image to Voluntarism
Catastrophes, such as October’s South Asian earthquake and last December’s Indian Ocean tsunami, have given voluntarism a new role and respectability.POLITICS: North Korea Threat Props Up Japan-US Alliance
By pledging U.S. support for efforts to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, visiting President George W. Bush, on Wednesday, hinted at the importance of the alliance in countering Japan’s biggest security threat and also in tackling troubles elsewhere in the world.JAPAN: Neo-Nationalism Endangers Gender Equality
When her husband committed suicide five years ago, Mariko, 56, was left alone to fend for herself in a society that not only offered few opportunities to start life again but also blamed the desperate widow for the tragedy.ENVIRONMENT: Japan Justifies Dolphin Slaughter
Japanese authorities are refusing to bow to pressure from animal rights activists and conservationists who say that dolphins are being slaughtered wholesale, and often cruelly, in the name of traditional food and 'scientific' purposes.POLITICS: Japan Mulls Aloud Cuts in UN Budget
Thwarted in its bid to sit at the high table of the United Nations Security Council, Japan is now talking loudly, even childishly some say, about cuts to its sizeable contribution the world body.JAPAN: Invoking Warlike Spirits to Push Reforms
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's surprise visit to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine, this week, is aimed at boosting national pride and support for his sweeping reform programme after his landslide victory in September, say analysts.JAPAN: Rising Juvenile Violence Linked to Internet Games
A recent spate of horrifying murders, committed by youngsters who killed their friends or parents, has shaken Japan's pride in its supposedly disciplined and harmonious society and prompted calls to examine underlying causes.MILLENNIUM GOALS: US-Japan Aid Tie-up to Push Private Role
Japan and the United States have begun discussions to collaborate on their aid budgets and make international assistance more effective, said officials here.ECONOMY: Globalisation Threatens Japanese Middle-Class
Masaru Nishimura, 57, head waiter of a thriving restaurant in this metropolis says he was forced to borrow more than 30,000 US dollars, to pay for his youngest daughter's university tuition this academic year.POLITICS: Japan Wary of North Korean Nuclear Deal
A day-old nuclear disarmament deal with North Korea already threatens to come unstuck, with Japan joining other negotiating countries in disagreeing with a demand by Pyongyang for a light-water nuclear reactor for its civilian programme.DEVELOPMENT: Japan Urged to Improve Quality of Foreign Aid
While poverty reduction remains a key focus in Japan's foreign aid budget, the second largest in the world, analysts contend the government needs to take many more steps to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.DEVELOPMENT: Japan Urged to Improve Quality of Foreign Aid
While poverty reduction remains a key focus in Japan's foreign aid budget analysts contend the government needs to take many more steps to meet the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.JAPAN: Koizumi’s Snap Poll Risky Gamble Say Analysts
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's decision to call a snap election on Sep.11 is a risky gamble not only for the controversial leader but also for his ambitious plans to reform the economy and turn Japan into an active player in international politics, say analysts.POLITICS: Japan to Hike Foreign Aid in Image Makeover
In a bid to meet international expectations and boost its image as a generous donor, Japan is taking steps to shore-up its falling Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget in fiscal 2005, raising mixed expectations.RIGHTS-JAPAN: Comfort Women May Forgive but Not Forget
For a decade now, Song Shin Do, 84, the only Korean former comfort woman who lives in Japan, has refused monetary compensation but fought bitterly for an apology from the Japanese government. But today, Song says she is ready to call it quits.RIGHTS-JAPAN: Comfort Women May Forgive but Not Forget
For a decade now , Song Shin Do, 84, the only Korean former comfort woman who lives in Japan, has refused monetary compensation but fought bitterly for an apology from the Japanese government, taking every defeat handed down at the courts with a poignant stoicism that has won her grudging admiration.POLITICS: Japan Seeks Larger Military Role
Given a rapidly changing Asian security scenario wherein China and India loom large as future military powers, Japan has seen fit to take the first steps to carve out for itself a more active role in international defence, according to experts here.JAPAN: Graves Speak of Peace to the Living
Isamu Endo, 65, has built a cemetery for Chinese foster parents who took care of hundreds of Japanese abandoned as children in northern China as their settler parents fled before advancing Soviet and Chinese troops at the end of the Second World War.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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