In The News

Time to Lift North Korea’s Quarantine

John Feffer June 8, 2006
North Korea is suspected of a long list of disturbing activities – drug smuggling, counterfeiting, money laundering and, not least, the development of nuclear weapons. The international community must focus on creating a viable state in North Korea, according to Author John Feffer, and yet the current US strategy of sanctions and military containment probably does more harm than good. Sanctioning...

US Congressman Seeks Assurances on Yasukuni

June 7, 2006
A US congressman has urged the Japanese prime minister to swear off future visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is scheduled to address a joint session of US Congress in late June, but Representative Henry Hyde, a veteran of World War II in the Pacific, wrote a letter expressing concern about visits to the site that memorializes Japanese war dead, including some labeled...

Pollution Killing River They Said Was Too Big to Poison

Jonathan Watts June 6, 2006
The Yangtze River cuts a horizontal swath across the middle of China, supporting 400 million people, or one out of every fifteen on earth. Long thought to be immune to acute pollution because of its size, a report by the state-sponsored Xinhua news agency has shown that poisonous water threatens marine life and drinking supplies. Despite regulations, sewage from factories, cities and ships has...

Korean Hospitals Eager to Tap Overseas Patients

Jin Hyun-joo June 2, 2006
With high-quality workers and advanced technology, South Korea has the potential to become a leading medical hub, according to the Korea International Trade Association. The government has initiated measures to promote medical tourism, such as easing the visa process for foreign patients. The Korean government and hospitals also partner in marketing to encourage patients, especially those from...

In China, Globalization Can Be Green

Saleem H. Ali June 1, 2006
China and Taiwan’s economies have benefited immensely from growth in the manufacturing sector and produce all sorts of goods used both domestically and abroad. But the two countries’ have vastly different ranks in an environmental performance index created by Yale University, with Taiwan ranking two places above the US and China ranking 70 places below Taiwan. Before outsourcing work, foreign...

Put Movie Scenes Into Perspective

Rousseau Chen May 26, 2006
Like any other residents whose city is featured in a major film, the people of Shanghai have eagerly awaited the Chinese release of “Mission: Impossible III.” Some of the scenes shot in the metropolis, however, must be cut before the film’s release in China, according to a ruling by humorless censors in the Chinese Film Bureau. Images of drying laundry and criminal activity offended the bureau...

“We the Japanese People” – A Reflection on Public Opinion

Hikari Agakimi May 22, 2006
For more than 60 years following its devastation in World War II, Japan has held onto an intense fear of militarism, renouncing the right to wage war and limiting its self-defense force. A side effect of such pacifist policies, according to scholar Hikari Agakimi, is a carefree people who struggle to find a national identity. In a 2005 survey of high school students, only 13 percent reported...