Japan: "For and Against" Op-ed Pieces

[Mulboyne]

Two opinion pieces on Japan in today's IHT.
IHT: Again a land of the rising sun
Japan is once more going from strength to strength, and this time not just on the economic front. Militarily, diplomatically and in terms of cultural influence and general global activism, Japan is transforming itself, and at speed - not merely into a "normal" country, but into a formidable player across a wide front...more...

IHT: Don't bring your huddled masses here
In November, headlines touted a free-trade deal that would allow Filipino nurses to work in Japan as a move toward an enlightened policy on foreign workers. On closer inspection, however, it is clear that Japan continues to hold the rest of the world at bay, even as a looming population crisis threatens to send its economy - the world's second-largest - plummeting down the league tables...more...

[GuyJean]

IHT: Again a land of the rising sun
Japan is once more going from strength to strength, and this time not just on the economic front. Militarily, diplomatically and in terms of cultural influence and general global activism, Japan is transforming itself, and at speed - not merely into a "normal" country, but into a formidable player across a wide front...more...

This is going hand in hand with the procurement of a mass of new sophisticated weaponry and an extensive command-and-control make-over, adding up to a force structure second only to that of the Americans, and in some areas equal to it in quality and certainly well ahead of most other military establishments around the world.

Rearry? So Japan has had a successful test of Carlyle defense system? And don't their 'weather' satellite launchings tend to become hanabi festivals?.. But the dancing robots are impressive.

GJ