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May 18, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2009
'New' ASEAN, old problems
Last weekend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held its first summit since its new charter went into effect. The charter has been heralded as inaugurating a new era for the organization, which formed in the 1960s to fend off the threat of communism but has since evolved into an all-inclusive...
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2009
Middle course to stronger ties
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone visited China last week and met with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, and other Chinese leaders, including Premier Wen Jiabao and State Councilor Dai Bingguo. The meetings did not any produce major agreements, but Mr. Nakasone and Mr. Yang managed to agree in general...
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2009
Hope for ending the Iraq War
By declaring that "By Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end," U.S. President Barack Obama has set in motion his strategy to end the Iraq war, which was started by the Bush administration on March 20, 2003. Of the more than 140,000 troops in Iraq, about 100,000 will be withdrawn by that date....
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2009
Mexico's war on drug cartels
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has his hands full. The fight against powerful drug cartels has become increasingly bloody and exposed the weaknesses of his government. A turf struggle among rival gangs has escalated into a frontal assault on the government. In a subtle twist, gangs are now enlisting...
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2009
Growing threat of space debris
The Feb. 10 collision of a defunct Russian military satellite and a commercial American satellite in the skies approximately 800 km above Siberia — one of the most popular altitudes in low Earth orbit — is worrisome for a world that has grown to rely on satellites for everything from communications...
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2009
Unconvincing pension forecast
The welfare ministry has made public the results of a once-every-five-year review of the financial status of the nation's pension system. Under the basic scenario, the ratio of corporate employees' pension benefits to their after-tax salary is forecast to drop from 62.3 percent in fiscal 2009 to 50.1...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2009
Dressing for the recession
As the global economic crisis hits more and more people, even the richest of the rich are feeling the pinch. Forbes Magazine's annual list of the wealthiest people in the world, released last month, noted losses even at the highest incomes. In Japan, the top 40 richest Japanese saw their combined wealth...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2009
Nuclear tragedy in the Pacific
Along with Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945 — the dates of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings — March 1, 1954, is an important date. Fifty-five years ago, residents of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean and the 23 crew members of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon No. 5), a 140-ton tuna fishing...
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2009
Mr. Obama's vision
Technically speaking, U.S. President Barack Obama's address to a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday was not a state of the union speech. The president has been in office a little more than a month and he felt that was not enough time to render a judgment on the state of the nation. In fact, the speech...
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 2009
Mr. Aso goes to Washington
Prime Minister Taro Aso met with U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday in Washington, just a week after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, during her visit to Tokyo, invited him to meet with the president as the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House since Mr. Obama came to...
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2009
Students and cell phones
The education ministry has told the nation's prefectural boards of education to instruct primary and middle school authorities to ban students from bringing cell phones to school. It also has called for improvement in the education of morals related to communications.
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2009
Kudos to Japan's Oscar winners
"Okuribito" ("Departures"), a film directed by Mr. Yojiro Takita, has won the Oscar for best foreign-language film, and "Tsumiki no Ie (The House of Small Cubes)," directed by Mr. Kunio Kato, has won the Oscar for best animated short film at the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony, marking 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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