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August 27, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Oct 15, 2006

Not all voters are equal

The Supreme Court ruled Oct. 5 that the 2004 Upper House election was carried out in a constitutional way, despite a 5.13-fold disparity in the weight of one vote between the most populated electoral district and the least populated one.

EDITORIALS

Oct 15, 2006

Backing off the merge lane

Talks between General Motors Corp., on one hand, and Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA, on the other, concerning a three-way alliance have collapsed, as the U.S. automaker couldn't find a good enough reason to form such an alliance. The unanimous decision by GM's board to reject the alliance appears to...

EDITORIALS

Oct 14, 2006

The darkness in Russia

Three recent killings in Russia raise troubling questions about the rule of law in that country. The three incidents are not linked but that is not to say they are random killings: Investigations of the murders will probe the same murky corners where political and economic influence intersect. The realization...

EDITORIALS

Oct 13, 2006

Mr. Hu is in charge

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held its annual plenum this week. The four-day gathering of top party officials was part pep rally and part policy incubator: It laid the groundwork for next year's Party Congress, which is held every five years. This week's meeting served another...

EDITORIALS

Oct 12, 2006

A step up toward better ties

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken a successful first step toward more constructive relations between Japan, on the one hand, and China and South Korea, on the other, by visiting the capitals of both countries and holding summits with their leaders less than two weeks after he took office. By making...

EDITORIALS

Oct 11, 2006

Fear of another arms race

North Korea's announcement that it went ahead with a nuclear-weapons test Monday appeared timed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's summit with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun -- a day after his summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

EDITORIALS

Oct 9, 2006

Compensation from the accused

By May 2009, Japan will introduce a lay-judge system in which randomly chosen citizens will sit with professional judges to decide guilt or innocence in criminal trials involving charges such as murder, rape and arson, and then hand down sentences if the accused are found guilty. The aim is to insert...

EDITORIALS

Oct 8, 2006

Mr. Bush, a period and a comma

Copy editors and others who are persnickety about the English language probably know the witty American usage guide "Lapsing Into a Comma." The book is all about grammar and style and is well worth reading. But it's the title that's truly memorable -- and it has been in the air again recently thanks...

EDITORIALS

Oct 7, 2006

Higher calling for top diplomat

South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon is a shoo-in for becoming the next secretary general of the United Nations. Succeeding Mr. Kofi Annan, Mr. Ban will take up his new job Jan. 1. His election as secretary general later this month by the 192-member General Assembly became certain...

EDITORIALS

Oct 7, 2006

Consequence of skating on thin ice

Mr. Katsuichiro Hisanaga, former head of the Japan Skating Federation, and two others have been arrested on suspicion of embezzling 5.8 million yen from the organization in 2002. The arrests are regrettable especially since Japan has produced world-class figure skaters in the past decade. This year Ms....

EDITORIALS

Oct 6, 2006

Crying for attention, again

North Korea has announced it will conduct a nuclear-weapons test, without saying when. In February 2005, the North announced it possessed nuclear weapons, but this is the first time the country has publicized its intent to carry out a test.

EDITORIALS

Oct 6, 2006

Encouragement for reporters

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by a U.S. health-food maker against a high court decision that upheld a reporter's right to keep a news source secret. The decision concerns an NHK report that the Japanese subsidiary of the company had underreported its revenues to reduce tax bills.

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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