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August 23, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Aug 29, 2008
North Korea backtracks
North Korea has said it stopped disabling its 5,000 kilowatt graphite-moderated reactor and two other nuclear facilities in Yongbyon on Aug. 14 and will consider restoring the facilities for plutonium production. The North justifies the move as a response to Washington's decision to put off removing...
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2008
Opportunities for air service
Major airlines plan to withdraw from local air services or reduce the number of local flights. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, facing high fuel cost in recent years, have tried to make up for the rising costs by raising air fares on both domestic and international routes, but this has led to a...
EDITORIALS
Aug 28, 2008
Kids caught in the Web
The National Police Agency has reported that the number of youths who fell victim to sex and other crimes after accessing Web dating (deai-kei) sites has drastically decreased in the first half of this year. This is welcome news, but since minors are still being lured into child prostitution and other...
EDITORIALS
Aug 27, 2008
Watching the clouds
Sudden cloudbursts have taken at least 10 people's lives this summer. On July 28, two adults and three children died after they were washed away in the Toga River in Kobe. That day, rain fell in the city at the rate of 31.5 mm per hour — a record amount in the past 10 years.
EDITORIALS
Aug 27, 2008
Sumo career goes up in smoke
It appears that the Japan Sumo Association lacks the ability and determination to rid itself of scandals. Wakanoho has become not only the first active sekitori wrestler to be arrested, but also the first active wrestler to be dismissed in sumo history. His arrest on suspicion of possession of marijuana...
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2008
Mr. Biden makes the ticket
After a two-month search, Sen. Barack Obama has picked Mr. Joseph Biden, a senator from Delaware, as his running mate. The selection of Mr. Biden balances a ticket that was short on foreign-policy experience and lacked experience in Washington. On the downside, it undermines Mr. Obama's claim to be a...
EDITORIALS
Aug 26, 2008
Olympics not all gold
The Beijing Olympic Games, viewed by both the Chinese government and the Chinese people as a tremendous opportunity to showcase the economic development and modernization of the world's most populous country, have drawn to a close.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2008
Alarming AIDS statistics
The 17th International AIDS Conference, Aug. 3-8, in Mexico City serves as a reminder that the world cannot afford to lower its guard against this deadly disease. This applies especially to Japan where, according to the health ministry's AIDS committee, a record number of new HIV infections were reported...
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2008
Diet session in September
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has announced that an extraordinary Diet session will convene in mid-September. Mr. Fukuda wanted to call the Diet session in late August, but Komeito, a junior partner in the ruling coalition, insisted on late September. Mr. Fukuda's compromise shows that his leadership is...
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2008
Epidemic of anxiety
Japanese are more worried than ever, according to a Cabinet Office survey released recently. More than 70 percent of Japanese — the highest percentage ever — say they are worried about their everyday lives and the future. Nearly two-thirds of people said their standard of living went unchanged in...
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2008
Boosting the faltering economy
The government is now working on measures to bolster the nation's slowing economy. Japan's gross domestic product in the March-June quarter shrank by an annualized 2.4 percent from the previous quarter.
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2008
Autonomy, Kansai style
Prefectural governments and economic organizations in the Kansai region have reached a broad agreement to set up a wide-area administrative association as early as next summer on the basis of the Local Autonomy Law. In various parts of Japan, similar associations have been established. But one being...
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.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
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.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan

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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