Toru Hashimoto, ultranationalist mayor of Osaka, was right when he said last week Japan was not alone in using what are euphemistically called comfort women as sex slaves for soldiers. He said soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam, which was provided by the comfort women system.

A fairly detailed article in a local English newspaper this week on the subject of teenagers seeking cosmetic surgery lies behind my words today. The article had to have caught the attention of many, and for more than one reason.

Pakistan's National Assembly elections on May 11 provided a significant victory to Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-N. Despite violence, turnout was approximately 60 percent. A peaceful power transition to this opposition party means progress from the nation's history of military coups.

Decrying a rising death toll and an escalation of violence, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly called yet again for progress towards a political transition to defuse Syria's civil war, now in its third year. Though the resolution strongly condemns the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad for its increased use of heavy weapons, it equally condemns “widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” on all sides.

During the four years I spent in the Philippines in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I developed a healthy distaste for the ruling elite, exemplified by the inept leadership of President Corazon Aquino, who dragged her feet on key reforms and left us without power for 10 hours a day.

The suggestion of compulsory mediation for warring neighbors unable to resolve their differences signals the difficulty faced by community peacemakers caught between a rock and a hard place.

Japan's rightwing political leaders, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have raised the ire of neighboring countries with acts and remarks denying Tokyo's pre-1945 wartime atrocities.

The 9-3 result of last Monday's Senate elections proclaims a no-change outcome. It locks the country into the iron grip of a status quo — continuity of political sterility in the second half of President Benigno Aquino III's administration, which has been hamstrung from delivering economic benefits to the Filipino masses by slogans on good governance.

A string of serious cyberattacks and cyberterrorism incidents have occurred around the world. The government should promote extensive cooperation with the United States and reinforce its countermeasures against such attacks.

The questioning of Japanese sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, by Chinese scholars appears to reflect a new Beijing approach towards antagonistic foreign governments.