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August 25, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2012
Mr. Obama's focus on Asia
U.S. President Barack Obama has concluded a three-country Southeast Asia tour designed to punctuate his administration's intention to focus on Asia. The intentions are good and the strategy is correct: Asia deserves a more prominent place in U.S. thinking and planning.
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2012
Pension fund phase-out on the way
The health and welfare ministry has come up with a plan to phase out the type of corporate pension fund known as kosei nenkin kikin over a period of 10 years. The proposal follows AIJ Investment Advisor Co.'s reported loss earlier this year of most of the ¥145.8 billion in pension assets under its management...
EDITORIALS
Nov 22, 2012
Future shape of the Imperial Family
The government in early October, on the basis of hearings from experts, proposed that married female members of the Imperial Family create branch families within the Imperial Family and continue to retain the status of members of the Imperial Family. Under the 1947 Imperial Household Law, female members...
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2012
Driving under medical conditions
The National Police Agency has decided to change the system for issuing driver's licenses to people with such diseases as epilepsy, schizophrenia and cognitive impairment that can cause loss of consciousness while driving. The changes will be made on the basis of proposals made by a panel of experts...
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2012
Scrutinize reconstruction funds
The Board of Audit on Nov. 2 announced that it found 513 cases of wasteful use of public money by government organizations in the settlement of accounts for fiscal 2011, with the value of such wasteful use totaling some ¥529.6 billion — the second highest on record. Because the board was not able...
EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2012
Students staying in Japan
Japanese college students are studying abroad in fewer numbers than ever before. A new report from the nonprofit Institute of International Education in New York announced that a mere 19,900 Japanese students were enrolled in American colleges and universities in 2011-12. That is down 60 percent from...
EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2012
Public libraries are thriving
That Japanese public libraries are thriving may come as no surprise to anyone, but an education ministry report found that the number of books checked out by elementary school children from the 3,274 public libraries nationwide reached an average of 26 per child in fiscal 2010. That is up from 18.8 in...
EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 2012
Meeting Chinese aspirations
The Chinese Communist Party on Thursday selected China's new leadership headed by Mr. Xi Jinping. He will lead not only the party as general secretary of the party's Central Committee but also the military as chairman of the party's Central Military Commission. He is expected to be elected China's president,...
EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 2012
Nip the recession in the bud
The Japanese economy has entered a state of recession. The Cabinet Office on Nov. 12 announced that Japan's gross domestic product in real terms in the July-September period declined 0.9 percent from the April-June period for an annualized decline of 3.5 percent.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2012
Japan's 'third pole'
Various political forces are talking about establishing a "third pole" that will replace the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the No. 1 opposition Liberal Democratic Party. Most of these forces call for revising the war-renouncing Constitution or for exercising the right to collective defense, while...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2012
A politically expedient election
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolves the Lower House today for a Lower House election Dec. 16, which will coincide with a Tokyo gubernatorial election. Regrettably, the Lower House election will be held while the vote value between depopulated rural areas and urban areas is unequal to the point of...
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2012
Closer to Lower House dissolution
The political situation appears to be moving out of deadlock. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reportedly has made up his mind to dissolve the Lower House for a December general election as two of the three conditions that he set for dissolving the Lower House are likely to be met.
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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