2.28.2001 the japanese economy is at it again, it seems. pundits claim it is "mori-bund." ugh.

2.26.2001 should something as basic as the right to meet with your own relatives be under the jurisdiction of the government? the tragedy of north and south korea.

2.23.2001 although most westerners will probably never quite get the gist of it, indians by and large love their bollywood!

2.20.2001 japanese media sensitivity.

2.16.2001 hong kong mogul li ka-shing always had a thing for bold business moves and william shatner's lovely spandex leisure suits.

2.15.2001 we will probably have to wait a few years before we get a feel for hu china's heir apparent leader is and what he is made of.

2.14.2001 this boring little tiff does not bode well for the future of japanese/korean...or is that korean/japanese...relations.

2.12.2001 now here is a leader who has his priorities straight.

rumour has it that the real reason chinese authorities busted this chap for his subversive website was his alleged total disdain for the 216 web-safe color palette.

2.9.2001 separatist movements, a flagging economy, and scandal at the top are behind the chaotic conditions in indonesia at present.

2.8.2001 it had to happen at some point. signs of frustration with its decade-long economic slump and its paralyzed political system are starting to lead Japan to vent on its neighbors.

2.7.2001 the last bastion of japanese economic might is apparently going the way of the stock market.

2.4.2001 a nice overview of what the bush presidency will mean for u.s. policy toward asia.

2.2.2001 here is a new twist on the workings of japanese monetary policy. a quick question: why would the government's borrowing from financial intermediaries like banks be any different from issuing bonds to the public in an economic sense? is this truly "credit creation"? not unless this is adding to the monetary base, of course. which then leads to the dark implication that the japanese government is becoming an ever larger distributor of excess savings into the economy, as opposed to the theoretically more efficient private sector (but then again, this is japan).