More Editorials Articles - The Japan Times

August 27, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Jan 4, 2002

In Argentina's present, Japan's future?

The New Year has been anything but festive in Argentina. Thousands of Argentines have taken to the streets, banging pots and pans, but they are venting frustrations, not celebrating. Their target is the country's political class, which has dithered and postured as Argentina has slid into an economic...

EDITORIALS

Jan 3, 2002

Avoid a financial crisis

There appears to be nothing to cheer about in Japan's economy as it enters 2002. Virtually every economic indicator points to further stagnation. Unemployment is at a record 5.5 percent. Corporate earnings continue to decline. Particularly worrisome is the bad-debt problem in the banking sector, which,...

EDITORIALS

Jan 1, 2002

For a new strategic calculus

One of the lessons of 2001 was that overwhelming military power has its uses. A relentless assault by a global coalition against a primitive country can bring a government to its knees. The chief question for the year ahead is whether we have also learned that the resort to military options reflects...

EDITORIALS

Dec 31, 2001

A year of fear and confusion

The war in Afghanistan is just about over. Contrary to most expectations, the U.S.-led coalition avoided the traps that had ensnared previous enemies of governments in Kabul. Its bombing campaign succeeded in exterminating a loathsome regime and the terrorists it harbored. Yet despite that impressive...

EDITORIALS

Dec 30, 2001

Little bags of luckiness

Just about a month ago, at the start of the holiday shopping season, consumers in Japan and other affluent countries were being urged to sit on their wallets for "Buy Nothing Day," the now annual and global act of homage to self-restraint. Get in the habit of buying only what you need, not what you want,...

EDITORIALS

Dec 29, 2001

Concerns over U.S. unilateralism

The 20th century was described as a century of warfare. But men do not seem to learn much from history. At the start of 2001 the international community pledged to build a new century of peace. As the year comes to a close, however, the world is gripped by fears of war and terrorism.

EDITORIALS

Dec 28, 2001

No public faith in Koizumi reforms

The first year of the 21st century has seen a great change in Japan's political landscape with the appearance of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Mr. Koizumi, who in April won the post of prime minister with an ardent call for "reforms without sacred cows," has been maintaining an unprecedentedly high...

EDITORIALS

Dec 27, 2001

Reduce the vote-value disparity

One long-standing problem in the nation's Lower House electoral system is that the "representative value" of a vote varies considerably between rural and urban districts. In a move to reduce the disparity, a government advisory council last week submitted a report to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi...

EDITORIALS

Dec 26, 2001

Another security reminder for Japan

For the first time in the country's postwar history, there has been an armed clash between Japan Coast Guard patrol boats and an unidentified vessel. The truth of the incident, which took place in the nation's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea over the weekend, is still largely shrouded in...

EDITORIALS

Dec 25, 2001

Beyond the farm-trade row

Japan and China, which had been mired in a drawn-out farm trade dispute since April, managed to reach a last-minute settlement avoiding a head-on confrontation late last week. Tokyo withdrew its threat to slap full-scale import curbs on three Chinese products: leeks, mushrooms and rushes (used in tatami...

EDITORIALS

Dec 24, 2001

Polishing the diamond trade

Money is the fuel of conflict. Without it, there is no way to sustain a military. In many poor countries, the sale of natural resources is the only means of financing an insurgency. In recent years, there has been increasing concern about the sale of illegal stones, "conflict diamonds," which have financed...

EDITORIALS

Dec 23, 2001

Milking maids for all they're worth

Here's a well-timed debate. In the runup to Christmas, the traditional season of generosity and good will to all, the citizens of Hong Kong have been arguing the rights and wrongs of their government's pending proposal to cut the minimum wage of foreign (mostly Filipino) domestic workers for the second...

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

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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