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August 25, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Oct 17, 2010

Economic package on deck

The Kan Cabinet has adopted a ¥5.05 trillion spending package to help the economy overcome persistent deflation and the yen's recent rise in value against the U.S. dollar. It will submit a supplementary budget consisting of the package to the Diet by the end of this month, with the hope of getting it...

EDITORIALS

Oct 17, 2010

Bicycles and traffic safety

Although first-time visitors to Tokyo are impressed by the convenient subway system and the eco-friendly bicycles, longer-term residents have experienced fighting their way through carelessly parked bicycles or nearly being knocked over by a bicycle suddenly coming up behind them on the sidewalk.

EDITORIALS

Oct 16, 2010

NHK reporter crosses the line

Public broadcaster NHK announced Oct. 8 that a reporter in its news department's sports section warned a Japan Sumo Association official that the Metropolitan Police Department would conduct raids on sumo stables to search for evidence indicating that sumo wrestlers had gambled on professional baseball...

EDITORIALS

Oct 16, 2010

Triumph of faith and will

By Wednesday night, all 33 Chilean miners trapped 600-plus meters underground since a Aug. 5 mine collapse had been pulled up to safety through a vertical shaft specially constructed to accommodate a rescue capsule.

EDITORIALS

Oct 15, 2010

Managing the world economy

When the Great Depression descended in the 1930s, protectionist trade policies ensured that the downturn was longer and more severe than it might otherwise have been. In the aftermath of the Great Recession that began in 2008, world leaders vowed not to repeat those mistakes. While the protectionist...

EDITORIALS

Oct 14, 2010

An award Beijing doesn't want

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2010 Peace Prize to Mr. Liu Xiaobo for his work promoting human rights in China. Not surprisingly the award comes over the objections of the Chinese government, which considers Mr. Liu a criminal. We applaud the decision and the outstanding work of Mr. Liu,...

EDITORIALS

Oct 13, 2010

More light on the next leader

North Korea is increasing the public exposure of Mr. Kim Jong Un, the third and youngest son of the country's leader Kim Jong Il and his heir apparent, through the mass media. The process represents North Korea's efforts to consolidate Mr. Kim Jong Un's political standing and legitimacy.

EDITORIALS

Oct 13, 2010

Sharper prod to quit smoking

The tobacco tax was raised by ¥3.5 per cigarette on Oct. 1, raising the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes by ¥110-¥140 to ¥410-¥440. This record tobacco price hike means ¥40,000 more spending a year for a person who smokes one pack a day. But this offers a good chance to quit smoking for smokers...

EDITORIALS

Oct 11, 2010

Mr. Chavez meets opposition

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's Socialist Party won a majority of votes and seats in parliamentary elections held Sept. 26. But the margin of that victory was considerably smaller than those of the past, and his opponents are claiming that they are the big winners in the ballot.

EDITORIALS

Oct 10, 2010

Freeze the settlements

Only a month after peace talks resumed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, they face their first crisis. Palestinians are demanding that Israel extend the self-imposed freeze on the construction on settlements in the West Bank; failure to do so would mean Palestinian withdrawal from the talks....

EDITORIALS

Oct 9, 2010

Testing times for Mr. Kan

With the opposition forces controlling the Upper House, the biggest task facing Prime Minister Naoto Kan in the current extraordinary Diet session is securing the passage of a supplementary budget for fiscal 2010 to bolster the flagging economy.

EDITORIALS

Oct 9, 2010

Chemical researchers shine

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Wednesday that the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry will go to three researchers — Mr. Richard Heck of the United States, and Mr. Ei-ichi Negishi and Mr. Akira Suzuki of Japan — for their work in developing the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction,...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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

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