Following discussions in the wake of the March 11 quake and tsunami, an experts' panel of the Central Disaster Management Council submitted its final report to post-disaster reconstruction minister Tatsuo Hirano in late September. The report called on the central and local governments to ...

The decision of China's sovereign wealth fund to buy shares of four of the country's biggest banks is a warning signal. The move to prop up the plummeting value of those institutions is intended to boost confidence; instead, it has highlighted the many unknowns ...

The Sept. 18 editorial "Slow transparency of universities" states that Japanese universities should teach students "how to evaluate information and make difficult, reasoned decisions." However, when it comes to nonvocational, nontechnical academic programs — what we call humanities in the West — I don't think ...

Countering attacks on computer networks has become an important security issue for governments. On July 15, the U.S. Defense Department announced a strategy to harden American computer systems against cyberattacks. The Pentagon established U.S. Cyber Command in 2010 for daily operation and defense of its ...

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) has won ratification in the U.S. Senate, passing by a 71-26 vote. Ratification is a victory for President Barack Obama, those who seek a world with fewer nuclear threats as well as proponents of a constructive U.S.-Russia ...

The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), released this month, has received much attention for declaring that the United States will not use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear weapon states. As an NGO representative involved in an ongoing debate between Japan and Australia over this ...

NEW YORK — Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's resignation brings to an end one of the more interesting curiosities of subcontinental politics: For more than four years, Pakistan had a president who was born in India, while India had a Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) who ...

In recent years, issues pertaining to North Korea have been hotly debated by Chinese institute researchers. The publication of conflicting views in authoritative media suggests that these debates are sanctioned by the Chinese leadership. At critical junctures in the six-party negotiations, Chinese leaders may see ...