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August 25, 2025
 

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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...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2010
Federation furthers devolution
The assemblies of seven prefectures in and around the Kinki region have approved a plan to form a federation for the purpose of cooperating on certain administrative matters. Home affairs minister Yoshihiro Katayama is expected to approve the establishment of the federation in about a month in accordance...
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...
EDITORIALS
Nov 14, 2010
Dilemma for the G20
The promise of the Group of 20 was a new system of global leadership that would be more representative of real economic power and, thus, more effective in decision making. The 2008 economic downturn thrust the G20 into the spotlight. The speed with which its participants found common cause and their...
EDITORIALS
Nov 13, 2010
First step for Myanmar?
There are two ways to look at the parliamentary elections held Nov. 7 in Myanmar, the first such vote in that country in 20 years. The first is that the vote is a cynical exercise designed to provide a veneer of legitimacy to a corrupt and brutal regime. The other sees the ballot as the first step in...
EDITORIALS
Nov 12, 2010
Japan's push for open trade
The 2010 APEC forum meetings started in Yokohama on Monday and an APEC leaders summit will take place on Saturday and Sunday. As host and chair, Japan faces the task of leading the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members to agree on steps to push for further liberalization of trade and investment....
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2010
Cause of a girl's suicide
On Oct. 23, Ms. Akiko Uemura, a sixth-grade girl in Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture, died after hanging herself. On Nov. 8, Kiryu's board of education made public a report saying she had been psychologically bullied. It denied a cause-and-effect relationship between the bullying and her suicide. But on Oct....
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2010
Managing vs. throttling
The police Wednesday identified a Japan Coast Guard member in Kobe as a suspect in the Nov. 4 leak onto YouTube of video footage showing a Sept. 7 collision between a Chinese trawler and two Japan Coast Guard patrol ships off the Senkaku Islands. Earlier, documents apparently linked to the security police's...
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 9, 2010
Making the skies safe for air travel
The First Petit Bench of the Supreme Court in a 4-1 decision on Oct. 26 upheld a Tokyo High Court ruling that had found two air traffic controllers guilty of professional negligence in connection with a near hit in 2001, which injured some 100 passengers and crew members aboard a jetliner. The two were...
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2010
Challenges for Brazil's president
Ms. Dilma Rousseff won a convincing victory in the Oct. 31 runoff vote for Brazil's presidency. While that win — along with being the handpicked successor of outgoing President Luiz Lula da Silva — gives her a mandate, the new president is likely to find governing a challenge. Ms. Rousseff has the...
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.
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.
Japan to boost support for joint ride-hailing services
Tatsuaki Igarashi, mayor of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, exits a ride-sharing vehicle at Tsukuba Station in January.
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.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.

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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