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May 19, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2009
Temp worker casualties
A new report by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry revealed that 5,631 dispatch workers were injured or killed in work-related accidents in 2008. Most of these were injured after being sent to temporary jobs in the manufacturing industry, which accounted for two-thirds of the accidents. The transportation...
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2009
Expanded relief inadequate
The Diet on July 8 enacted a special law offering financial relief to more sufferers of Minamata disease, with the support of the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito as well as the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. Under the law, anyone showing one or more of the following...
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2009
Come clean on secret agreement
In 1967, then Prime Minister Eisaku Sato declared Japan's three-point nonnuclear principle of not "producing," not "possessing" and not allowing the "bringing in" of nuclear weapons. The third point has been interpreted to mean that Japan will not allow either the stationing or transiting of nuclear...
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2009
The LDP in disarray
The ruling and opposition blocs are heading for a showdown in the general election as the opposition bloc in the Upper House on Tuesday passed a censure motion against Prime Minister Aso Taro and started boycotting all Diet proceedings. Separately, in the Lower House, the ruling bloc earlier in the day...
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2009
Gloomy employment prospects
Somewhat bright reports on the Japanese economy have been issued by the government and the Bank of Japan. But other data show that the economy is still in difficult straits. Careful attention should be paid especially to the gloomy prospects for employment.
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2009
Universal organ donorship
The Upper House on Monday enacted a bill to revise the Organ Transplant Law. Current law does not recognize brain death as actual death and allows, with family approval, organs to be taken only from people aged 15 or over who not only had accepted brain-death as actual death but indicated in writing...
EDITORIALS
Jul 15, 2009
A last gasp for the G8?
The rationale for the Group of Eight, composed of leading industrialized nations, has been thinning for years. Not only has the group produced little of substance at its annual leaders' summit, but its members are unable to deliver on whatever pledges are produced. Moreover, the political heft of the...
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2009
Tokyo's voters have spoken
The results of Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly elections have dealt a severe blow to Prime Minister Taro Aso, leader of the ruling coalition composed of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2009
The right to know about Okinawa
In March 2009, a group of citizens filed a lawsuit demanding that the state disclose three diplomatic documents related to the 1972 reversion of Okinawa from U.S. to Japanese rule. The government had turned down a September 2008 request based on the Freedom Information Law to disclose the documents saying...
EDITORIALS
Jul 13, 2009
More bricks in the wall
Facing opposition from Chinese citizens and foreign governments, Beijing has postponed a plan to reinforce the "Great Firewall of China." These efforts, ostensibly to protect against pornography, look more like a new campaign to crack down on dissent. One way to protest them is to demand that China respect...
EDITORIALS
Jul 12, 2009
Indictment of JR West chief
The Kobe District Public Prosecutors Office on Wednesday indicted Mr. Masao Yamazaki, president of West Japan Railway Co., on a charge of professional negligence leading to death and injury in connection with the April 2005 train crash that killed 106 passengers plus the driver and injured 562 passengers....
EDITORIALS
Jul 11, 2009
Resetting U.S. ties with Russia
Repairing his country's tattered relationship with Russia has been a priority for U.S. President Barack Obama. That process got a symbolic start in March when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented her counterpart, Mr. Sergei Lavrov, with a "reset" button in Geneva. (The moment was embarrassing...
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.
Australian firm produces heavy rare earth, in first outside China
The Lynas Rare Earths processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Police arrest Chinese man in Saitama hit-and-run case
Police questioned a man who turned himself in as he closely resembled the driver recorded on the dashcam of another vehicle that happened to pass by the scene of a hit-and-run incident in Saitama Prefecture.
Wholesalers may be behind elevated retail rice prices
Wholesalers added ¥7,593 on average to their selling prices for stockpiled rice, far more than the ¥2,206 to ¥4,689 added for the 2022 rice.
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.
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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