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August 23, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Mar 12, 2008
The race goes on
The fight for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election keeps intensifying. Neither New York Sen. Hillary Clinton nor Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has been able to deliver a knockout blow, and the momentum keeps shifting from primary to primary. Clearly, Democratic voters have not...
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2008
A frozen Garden of Eden
They call it the "doomsday vault," but it is intended to save humankind, not menace it. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which opened Feb. 26 in Norway, will serve as a repository for billions of seeds. It is designed to protect biodiversity and the people and cultures that depend on it. It is one of...
EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2008
Accelerate antismoking measures
The World Health Organization in early February released a report stating that the global tobacco epidemic is one of the greatest public health threats of modern times. It said that in the 20th century the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide.
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2008
A contest for new leadership
The Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama competition has gripped the attention of the world. And for good reason. The result is likely to affect the future course of global politics. A clear victor is not yet decided, but whoever ultimately wins, the shift in consciousness both candidates embody is important...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2008
Wanted: more volunteer firefighters
Community-based fire brigades called "shobodan," composed of ordinary citizens, play an important role in firefighting and fire prevention. But the number of shobodan members has been declining. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency in January started a three-month campaign to encourage citizens to...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2008
Making FTC policy more transparent
Under current Fair Trade Commission rules, companies that have grievances over FTC decisions must go before the FTC for redress. This system is likely to be abolished in the near future because of strong voices within business circles and the Liberal Democratic Party that are calling for abolition of...
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2008
Anti-money laundering law
The law to prevent diversion of criminal proceeds went into full force March 1. Its primary purpose is to prevent money laundering. Last year the law covered mainly financial institutions. It now applies to real estate agents, precious metal dealers and jewelers as well as judicial scriveners, administrative...
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2008
Violence on the high seas
Antiwhaling activists of the Sea Shepherd group hurled more than two dozen bottles containing a liquid and more than 100 envelopes containing a white powder onto the whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru off Antarctica on Monday. A crew member of the ship and two Japan Coast Guard officers suffered eye injuries...
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2008
Bureaucrats resisting devolution
Ministry bureaucrats are resisting the government's effort to push devolution — the move to localize more government decision making and taxing authority. The government's devolution panel sent questionnaires to government ministries last fall to solicit their opinions on abolishing or integrating...
EDITORIALS
Mar 6, 2008
Cloud over key appointment
The steering committees of both Diet chambers have laid down a new rule for Diet approval of the appointment of officials for four important organizations — the governor and two deputy governors of the Bank of Japan, the three top-ranking officials of the Board of Audit and the National Personnel Authority,...
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2008
More of the same in Russia?
The overwhelming victory of Mr. Dmitri Medvedev in Russia's presidential election shows that the Russian people want the continuation of the basic policy line of President Vladimir Putin, who brought Russia stability and economic growth. Mr. Medvedev, a first deputy prime minister, was handpicked by...
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2008
Compromise on tax-code bill
The ruling parties rammed through the Lower House last week the fiscal 2008 budget bill and the tax-code bill, which includes maintaining the provisionally raised gasoline and other road-related tax rates for 10 years. Although the opposition forces controlling the Upper House can kill the tax-code bill,...
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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