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August 25, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2006
Turning point at Chernobyl
By Mikhail Gorbachev
MOSCOW -- The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month, even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later. Indeed, the Chernobyl catastrophe was an historic turning point: there was the era before the disaster, and there...
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2006
Scandals over political funding
By Hugh Cortazzi
LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has recently been accused of "selling" peerages that give the holder the right to a seat in the House of Lords, Britain's Upper House, which is not elected. The police have reportedly begun investigations into these allegations, which if proven...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2006
Time to consider pumping money into infrastructure
By Kenneth Rogoff
BOSTON -- Any good international investment banker knows that the end of April is a bad time to come peddling his services, for that is when the world's finance ministers return home from the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, chastened that risks to the global economy could spill over...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2006
No wonder Chavez makes Bush uneasy
By TED RALL
NEW YORK -- When the hated despots of nations like Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan loot their countries' treasuries, transfer their oil wealth to personal Swiss bank accounts and use the rest to finance (in the House of Saud's case) terrorist extremists, American politicians praise them as trusted friends...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2006
Dark side of structural reform
By Susumu Nishibe
Most economic pundits still support the idea of free competition in the market as the key principle of the society. As Japanese society becomes increasingly Americanized, however, a number of "fakes" have appeared in the market.
COMMENTARY
Apr 17, 2006
Ozawa confronts the LDP
By Keizo Nabeshima
The Democratic Party of Japan has made a fresh start under new chief Ichiro Ozawa, known for his "iron fist" leadership. His first priority is to revitalize the top opposition party, which has lost public trust following the fiasco over a fake e-mail.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2006
Myths and misconceptions on Chernobyl
By Louisa Vinton and Kalman Mizsei
LONDON -- The 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident of April 26, 1986, is prompting a new wave of alarmist claims about its impact on human health and the environment. As has become a ritual on such commemorative occasions, the death toll is tallied in the hundreds of thousands, and fresh...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 16, 2006
'Conspiracies of silence' feign sympathies largely unfelt
By Roger Pulvers
Japanese people are known for their sense of propriety and decorum. Reserve and self-restraint are fine Japanese virtues, and they have afforded the society an enviable harmony and level of personal safety unparalleled in the developed world. Putting a damper on people's self-assertive instincts, and...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2006
Democracy? Good leaders matter more
By Tom Plate
SINGAPORE -- The notion of multiparty democracy as an ideal one-size-fits-all form of government is, I am sorry to have to report, not exactly bowling people over these days. Take a look at Thailand and the Philippines, which Washington has often enshrined on its ideological placards as a pair of shining...
COMMENTARY
Apr 15, 2006
2006 is all about democracy
By Ralph Cossa
HONOLULU -- The 2006 National Security Strategy (NSS) document has just been released. News coverage has focused on one word: preemption. Largely overlooked has been the much greater emphasis on the promotion of democracy as the primary objective of American foreign policy in the second administration...
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2006
Tattered NPT needs repairs
By David Howell
LONDON -- What has become of the globally agreed regime designed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons -- the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)? The answer these days is that while it has served the world well for many years it is now in tatters.
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2006
Slow courtship for the Vatican and China
By Frank Ching
HONG KONG -- A senior Chinese official has acknowledged that Beijing and the Vatican have been in contact about the normalization of diplomatic relations. This was the first formal confirmation of hints from Vatican officials that negotiations for the restoration of ties, broken since 1951, were going...
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Emperor emeritus and empress emerita visit postwar settlement
Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko strolled through a cabbage field in Ohinata settlement in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, on Saturday.
At meeting rich in symbolism, Ishiba and South Korea's Lee agree to steadily build ties
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shake hands at joint press announcement after summit talks in Tokyo on Saturday.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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