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August 25, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Oct 25, 2010
Haneda airport goes international
A new, five-story international terminal building and a fourth (2,500-meter) runway opened Oct. 21 at Tokyo's Haneda airport. On Oct. 31, regular international flights will resume there for the first time since 2002.
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2010
Hard times for bookstores
Will traditional bookstores be able to survive in an age of e-publishing and book distribution, when young people are increasingly turning away from books in favor of other forms of information and entertainment? The Japanese e-book market is expected to grow dramatically in the next few years. In distribution,...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2010
Still a closed country?
At the end of September a first group of 18 refugees from Myanmar arrived in Japan as part of a commendable government initiative to take in roughly 90 such immigrants over the next three years. These members of the Karen ethnic group have been living for many years in a refugee camp in Thailand after...
EDITORIALS / GENERATIONAL CHANGE
Oct 23, 2010
Examine prosecution process
Following the Oct. 11 indictment of Mr. Tsunehiko Maeda, a former prosecutor with the Osaka District Public Prosecutors' special investigation squad, on a charge of tampering with data on a floppy disk confiscated in a case of alleged abuse of the postage discount system for the disabled, the Supreme...
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2010
Grassroot eco-consciousness
The COP10 biodiversity conference now being held in Nagoya has called attention to the preservation of plant and animal species worldwide, but closer to home a grassroot eco-consciousness has been quietly growing in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2010
Reaction to a delayed recovery
Clearly Japan's economic conditions give little cause for optimism. A steep rise in the value of the yen against the dollar, stagnation in the U.S. and European economies and the end to subsidies for purchasing eco-friendly cars are negatively affecting the economy.
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2010
On track to succeed Mr. Hu Jintao
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was appointed vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission during the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17th CCP's Central Committee — a four-day event which ended on Monday. The appointment set the 57-year-old Mr. Xi, who now holds the No....
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2010
More nuclear power snags
In an attempt to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel, Japan is pushing a nuclear fuel cycle that will take spent nuclear fuel and reprocess it into new fuel for nuclear power plants. But the project is making poor progress. One problem is a hitch in the construction of a plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture,...
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2010
Japan's poverty problem
Poverty in Japan is deepening. The welfare ministry announced last month that as of June, 1,907,176 people in 1,377,930 households were on welfare, receiving livelihood assistance (seikatsu hogo). This is the first time that the number of people on welfare has topped 1.9 million since fiscal 1955, when...
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2010
Former prosecutor indicted
The Supreme Public Prosecutors Office on Oct. 11 indicted Mr. Tsunehiko Maeda, a prosecutor with the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad, on suspicion of tampering with data on a floppy disk seized from a suspect in a case involving alleged abuse of the postage discount...
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2010
Standing against the ebb tide
As newspapers promote themselves during Newspaper Week (Oct. 15 to 21), they face a shrinking readership. They must make strenuous efforts to make their pages attractive to people while faithfully carrying out their duty of digging for the truth and contributing to people's right to know.
EDITORIALS
Oct 18, 2010
Measure of a healthy planet
Since their appearance on Earth, humans have developed by using plants and animals for food, clothing, residences, medicines and other purposes. Ecosystems are the basis of human existence. This basic fact does not change no matter how much industrial civilizations may progress. An important measure...
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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