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June 03, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2010
Iran feels the pressure
While Iran's leaders are generally wary of revolution — having come to power on one — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is pushing his own economic revolution. He rightly notes that extraordinary sums spent on subsidies distort the economy and must end if it is to return to solid footing. The problem...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2010
Tax reform needs vision
The government and the Democratic Party of Japan have started discussions on tax reform for fiscal 2011 and beyond. Both should learn a lesson from their experience just after the DPJ came to power in September 2009. At that time discussions at the government's Tax Commission did not go smoothly. The...
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2010
U.S.-Latin America could prosper
In his Oct. 28 article, "Should the U.S. be worried as Latin America prospers?," Gregory Clark wrote that Mexico is unable to compete with highly mechanized U.S. corn production and that it makes up for that by exporting illegal workers and drugs.
Reader Mail
Nov 11, 2010
Greater form of loving baseball
I was rather bemused to see my dad almost shout and scream, letting rip a torrent of rich swear words, as he watched the decisive seventh game at Nagoya Dome on Sunday night between the Chunichi Dragons and the Chiba Lotte Marines in the pro-baseball Japan Series. He was apparently rooting for the Dragons...
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2010
Gambit to rekindle U.S. economy
One outcome of the U.S. midterm elections is that the results have effectively marginalized the executive branch when it comes to dealing with the economy. The debate over stimulating the economy versus shrinking the deficit has been concluded and the winner is . . . paralysis.
EDITORIALS
Nov 1, 2010
Shoplifters getting older
A sad trend is emerging with the all too common crime of shoplifting. Although the total number of crimes recognized by authorities declined to 1.7 million in 2009 from a peak of 2.85 million in 2002 — with shoplifting leveling off at 140,000 to 150,000 cases yearly — more and more elderly people...
EDITORIALS
Oct 27, 2010
By-election triumph for LDP
Former Chief Cabinet Secretary and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura of the Liberal Democratic Party Sunday defeated a Democratic Party of Japan candidate in a Lower House by-election in Hokkaido's No. 5 constituency. The DPJ's defeat in the first Diet-level election since the inauguration of the Kan...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2010
Still a closed country?
At the end of September a first group of 18 refugees from Myanmar arrived in Japan as part of a commendable government initiative to take in roughly 90 such immigrants over the next three years. These members of the Karen ethnic group have been living for many years in a refugee camp in Thailand after...
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2010
Grassroot eco-consciousness
The COP10 biodiversity conference now being held in Nagoya has called attention to the preservation of plant and animal species worldwide, but closer to home a grassroot eco-consciousness has been quietly growing in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Oct 18, 2010
Measure of a healthy planet
Since their appearance on Earth, humans have developed by using plants and animals for food, clothing, residences, medicines and other purposes. Ecosystems are the basis of human existence. This basic fact does not change no matter how much industrial civilizations may progress. An important measure...
EDITORIALS
Oct 16, 2010
NHK reporter crosses the line
Public broadcaster NHK announced Oct. 8 that a reporter in its news department's sports section warned a Japan Sumo Association official that the Metropolitan Police Department would conduct raids on sumo stables to search for evidence indicating that sumo wrestlers had gambled on professional baseball...
EDITORIALS
Oct 13, 2010
More light on the next leader
North Korea is increasing the public exposure of Mr. Kim Jong Un, the third and youngest son of the country's leader Kim Jong Il and his heir apparent, through the mass media. The process represents North Korea's efforts to consolidate Mr. Kim Jong Un's political standing and legitimacy.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 13, 2010
China's invaluable lesson
Japan has suffered a diplomatic humiliation by succumbing to China's demand for the release of a Chinese fishing boat captain who was arrested for operating in Japanese territorial waters and for ramming his boat into Japanese Coast Guard patrol ships.
Reader Mail
Oct 3, 2010
Silly proposal for Okinawa's future
Regarding Peter Sidell's Sept. 23 letter, "Let Okinawa become independent": I often wonder when reading commentary like this whether the people writing them have actually been to Okinawa, or whether they're just using a chance to take the moral high ground and take an ideological swipe at American "imperialism."...
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2010
Arrest of a public prosecutor
On Sept. 10 the Osaka District Court acquitted Ms. Atsuko Muraki, a former welfare ministry's bureau chief, of instructing her subordinate, Mr. Tsutomu Kamimura, to fabricate and issue a certificate that recognizes an organization as a group for the disabled, thus enabling it to use a postage discount...
EDITORIALS
Sep 22, 2010
Lay judges and the celebrity
The trial of actor Manabu Oshio, charged with aggravated abandonment leading to death in a case in which a 30-year-old woman died after taking the illegal drug MDMA or Ecstasy, was the first trial involving a celebrity under the 1-year-old lay judge system.
OLYMPICS
Sep 12, 2010
English, Japanese and translation
The recent decision by two Japanese companies to make English their language of business has unleashed a complicated mix of emotions. It is undeniable, though, that English has become the world language and that being able to communicate through English is increasingly important in an age of globalization....
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2010
Definitions of fatherhood
Fathers and mothers starving their infants, grown children hiding the deaths of parents and living off their pensions, the elderly dying of heat stroke alone in their rooms — recently Japan has seen a wave of incidents casting doubt on the strength of family and community ties.
Reader Mail
Aug 19, 2010
Don't blame Chinese for invasions
Regarding Richard DiPeppe's Aug. 15 letter, "No limit to apologies": The need for apologies varies according to the case. Britain is quite rightly still waiting for an apology from France for the War of the Spanish Succession, and the United States should apologize for its abortive invasion of Canada...
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2010
Rakuten may be asking for trouble
Some praise Rakuten for displaying ambitions in expanding globally and others criticize the move to English as ineffective from a human resource perspective, but no one seems to have considered its plan from a socio-cultural perspective.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Western businesses will not return to Russia
A McDonald's restaurant sits shuttered in Moscow in May 2022 as a result of Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
China is challenging Japan's LNG dominance. What does that mean for Japanese buyers?
Tugboats assist a liquified natural gas tanker as it docks at a port in Yantai, China, in February. In 2021, China became the largest importer of LNG, and as of this year, China now has the most long-term LNG contracts.
Ukraine drone strikes hit nuclear bombers deep inside Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and head of the country's Security Service, Vasyl Maliuk, attend a meeting in Kyiv in this image released Sunday.
Lessons from India-Pakistan war: Were China's arms overrated?
A Chinese J-10B fighter jet is put on display at the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, in October 2016. The short May conflict between India and Pakistan became a live trial for Chinese arms, exposing vulnerabilities in its fighter aircraft and air defense systems.
‘A garden is a grand teacher’: The Kamakura Gardener nurtures and soothes via YouTube
American Robert Jefferson runs a YouTube channel called The Kamakura Gardener that invites viewers to enjoy the pleasures of gardening, cooking and slow living.
Waves of umami: Awaji Island's culinary trove
Silversea Cruises' culinary program takes guests on a rich gourmet experience at wellness retreat Zenbo Seinei, where the local produce is presented in an eight-course meal.
Hegseth to prioritize China and more allied spending in Asia — but questions remain
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for a trilateral meeting between Japan, the U.S. and Australia at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Saturday.
'Godzilla The Art Exhibition' reimagines film icon as monstrous muse for modern art
Artists offer their own interpretations of Japan's most famous monster at "Godzilla The Art Exhibition."
Atsuko Okatsuka brings big 'dad' energy to new special
Atsuko Okatsuka tries out some of the jokes from her new special, “Father,” at the Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya in January.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy
Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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