Tag - thailand

 
 

THAILAND

COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2014
Thailand must stop preferring bullets over votes
There is no military solution to Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Every time soldiers step up to restore order in the short run, they set back Thai democracy in the long run.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2014
No end in sight to Thailand’s political unrest
The crux of the now six-month-long Thai campaign of protests is not just the widespread corruption supposedly committed by the Yingluck government. It’s also the seemingly intimate ties between the king’s heir apparent and Thaksin Shinawatra, which worry the conservative royalists of the ‘network monarchy.’
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 5, 2014
Phuket puts Peranakan heritage back on map
As evidenced by all the Chinatowns dotted around the globe, over the centuries China has seen many of its people seek new lives in other parts of the world. And from about 1400, Southeast Asia was especially popular for Chinese emigrants who had a yearning for foreign shores.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2014
Protests in Ukraine, Thailand likely to backfire
The specter of secession suddenly haunts Ukraine and Thailand, two countries where demonstrators have uncompromisingly battled corrupt or unresponsive rulers. Are modern states in general strong enough to survive today’s explosions of popular will?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 15, 2014
‘The Fed’ closing an end of an era
Of the many Western-style hotels that mushroomed across Bangkok in the 1960s, principally to accommodate large numbers of U.S. servicemen on leave from the Vietnam War (which was raging about 1,000 km to the east), the Federal Hotel was considered the granddaddy of them all.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 8, 2014
Railroading debt into Laos
The first time I decided to fly to Vientiane, I was faced with a tossup between a Lao Airlines twin-prop or Aeroflot Soviet Airlines.
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2014
Asia’s dangerous nostalgia
What gives with the nostaglia in some Asian countries for strongmen of the past? The yearning for yesteryear speaks to our disorienting times and a dearth of visionary leadership when it’s most needed.
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2014
Same old Thai stalemate
The political crisis in Thailand appears set to drag on as vote disruptions in Sunday’s general election threaten to push back by several months the establishment of a new parliament.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Jan 20, 2014
My niece, the drug smuggler
Imagine two New York Jewish women groomed among the stylish and well-educated on opposite shores of Long Island. They meet up in Tokyo for the first time. In a strange twist of fate, they are not sipping tea from fine bone china, as they might have back home. Instead they find themselves seated on opposite...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2014
Time to speak up in defense of Thai democracy
Thailand, Southeast Asia’s most developed and sophisticated economy, is teetering on the edge of the political abyss. Yet most of the rest of Asia appears to be averting its eyes from its anarchic unrest.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2013
Thai opposition prepares a silent coup d’état
The sense that Thailand has seen extreme partisan politics played out in the streets before would be mildly reassuring were it not for a nagging fear that this decent and prosperous society may be set to destroy its democracy.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2013
The tragedy of Thailand’s politics
For America, the proper question is what, if any, is its role as thousands of angry protesters in Bangkok march not for democracy but, in effect, for an end to it?
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2013
46 Thais deported aboard one plane
Japan deported 46 illegal Thai immigrants Sunday in the second round of a new mass deportation program that makes use of a government-chartered plane, the Immigration Bureau said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2013
Right renews its war on democracy in Thailand
In most democracies, government spending on free health care and anti-poverty programs would be seen as part of the normal political process, but in Thailand, it is regarded by many rich opponents of the current ‘Thaksin’ administration as a form of bribery.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2013
Thai angst and the battle for royal intervention
The battle in Thailand has been redrawn into one between ethical rule centered on the monarchy as the face of moral authority against the supposedly corrupt Yingluck Shinawatra regime.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 18, 2013
Thai amnesty bill stirs a new round of unrest
The possibility of political violence will compel the Thai government to shelve an amnesty bill that would allow former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return home.
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2013
Thailand opts for stability
Thailand’s Senate has rejected an amnesty bill that threatened the country’s hard-won stability.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 24, 2013
Southern Thai separatists touch trust milestone
Peace talks between the Thai government and Muslim separatist groups have reached a milestone as both sides discussed ways to rebuild mutual trust.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2013
MUFG seeks Ayudhya deal in July
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is seeking to strike a deal for control of Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya Pcl as soon as this month, two sources said.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 5, 2013
Yingluck seeks constitutional change amid court challenge
Thai lawmakers moved to change parts of the country’s military-backed constitution after its highest court agreed to hear a case that may block them from doing so, signaling a renewed round of political tension.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival