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May 18, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Nov 24, 2010
Scrutiny of dam projects
Examining the worthiness of dam projects is an important promise of the Democratic Party of Japan. The party's manifesto for the 2009 Lower House election called for halting the construction of the Yanba dam in Gunma Prefecture and the Kawabegawa dam in Kumamoto Prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 2010
Uncovering government waste
In a Nov. 5 report to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the Board of Audit said that in fiscal 2009, ministries and agencies as well as other government entities wasted public money in 979 cases. The total reached a record ¥1.79 trillion — some 7.5 times the fiscal 2008 figure.
EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 2010
Another setback for Mr. Kan
Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida resigned Monday over his frank but offensive statement about his Cabinet job. His careless words not only cost him his position but have damaged the credibility of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who appointed him to the Cabinet post.
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 22, 2010
Vote disparity condemned
In a lawsuit filed by a group of lawyers, the Tokyo High Court on Nov. 17 ruled that the Upper House election held in July — in which the vote-value disparity between constituencies reached a maximum 5.00 to 1 — was unconstitutional.
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2010
Year One for e-books
The Japanese media is calling this year Year One for e-book publishing in Japan, although only half a year has passed since the arrival of the iPad in May. Perhaps it would be better to call it the Age of Warring States or the Wild West as manufacturers rush to put out e-book reading devices; major bookstores...
EDITORIALS
Nov 21, 2010
Particles from an asteroid
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Nov. 16 that it has determined that most of some 1,500 particles contained in the unmanned space probe Hayabusa (peregrine falcon), which returned to Earth in June from the asteroid Itokawa, originated from the asteroid orbiting Earth and Mars....
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2010
Glimmer of hope for Myanmar
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest. That does not mean she is free. Rather, it means that the military junta that rules Myanmar is stepping up efforts to rehabilitate its international image without really changing its repressive habits. That charade must be exposed and...
EDITORIALS
Nov 20, 2010
Too close to the death penalty
Six lay judges and three professional judges at the Yokohama District Court on Tuesday handed down a death sentence to a 32-year-old man for murdering two men in a Chiba Prefecture hotel in June 2009 — the first death sentence under the lay judge system introduced last year.
EDITORIALS
Nov 19, 2010
Damaged credibility on security
On the night of Oct. 29, an Internet technology firm, after noticing that some 100 documents, most of them apparently made by the security police, had been posted on the Internet, notified a prefectural police headquarters near Tokyo. Alerted by this police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department...
EDITORIALS
Nov 18, 2010
Looking less like a secret
The Metropolitan Police Department and public prosecutors decided Monday not to arrest a Japan Coast Guard member who has allegedly confessed to having leaked video footage onto YouTube of the Sept. 7 collisions between a Chinese trawler and two JCG patrol ships off the Senkaku Islands of Okinawa Prefecture....
EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 2010
Uphill on trade policy, diplomacy
As its relations with China and Russia are deteriorating over territorial issues and its domestic opinion is sharply divided on further opening of its markets, Japan hosted and chaired the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit on Saturday and Sunday in the port city of Yokohama — the first...
Success of Chinese-made fighter jets against India raises alarm in Asia
Chinese J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in November 2015.
Japan to recognize Taiwan as place of origin in family registration system
Masataka Yuhara, secretary-general of the Friends of Lee Teng Hui Association in Japan, which has been calling for "Taiwan" to be permitted as a place of origin in family registers.
Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
Nissan to solicit early retirements while eyeing plant closures in Japan
Nissan's Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, may be closed as part of the struggling carmaker's streamlining efforts.
Closing the gap between what you learn and what you say in Japanese
A few tweaks to the conversations you learn in your Japanese class will help you sound like a native when you step out the door.
In Nintendo’s backyard, foreign indie game devs are thriving
Kyoto's gaming landscape is dominated by Nintendo's headquarters, but a contingent of foreign-born indie developers is also working in the gaming giant's shadow.
Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
Nissan hoping to electrify home crowd as Formula E returns to Tokyo
Nissan's Oliver Rowland drives during qualifying for Miami E-Prix at Homestead Motor Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on April 12.
For his first feature film, director Ryuya Suzuki created a masterpiece
"Jinsei," which follows its protagonist over a century, probes themes of identity and societal issues with a dark comic touch. The director, however, says he created the story without knowing where it would lead.
Historian Rob Fitts discovers earliest ever reference to baseball in Japan
Japan's Shohei Ohtani carries the Japanese flag onto the field before the start of the World Baseball Classic final against the United States in Miami on March 21, 2023.

Podcast

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

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?
By Tomoko Otake

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Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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