Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
August 25, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Editorials stories

EDITORIALS
Oct 31, 2012
Partisan politics hobble Diet
A 33-day extraordinary Diet session kicked off on Monday under unusual circumstances. The opposition in the Upper House refused to listen to a policy speech by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on the grounds that the chamber in the previous session passed a censure motion against him. Thus Mr. Noda gave...
EDITORIALS
Oct 30, 2012
Eleven long years of war
Eleven years have passed since America and its coalition allies launched Operation Enduring Freedom against the Taliban government in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, a little less than a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States that killed some 3,000 people.
EDITORIALS
Oct 30, 2012
Prenatal test raises ethical concerns
As part of their research, about a dozen medical institutions in Japan plan to start carrying out prenatal detection tests that can predict whether a fetus has Down syndrome or not with an accuracy of more than 99 percent. The method, developed in the United States, consists of testing a blood sample...
EDITORIALS
Oct 29, 2012
Stumbling blocks for devolution
The abolition in principle of regional bureaus of central government ministries is a pillar of the DPJ-led government's policy of pushing devolution. Of some 300,000 national public servants, nearly 200,000 belong to regional bureaus of central government ministries. The first step toward the abolition...
EDITORIALS
Oct 29, 2012
Too little, too late
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Oct. 17 told the Cabinet members to draw up an economic package because the Japanese economy is losing steam. On the surface, his move seems reasonable. Japan's real economic growth plummeted to an annualized 0.7 percent in the April-June period from the annualized 5.3...
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2012
Mr. Ishihara goes national
Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced Thursday that he will resign and return to national politics by launching a new political party and becoming its leader. He is stepping down as governor nearly two and half years before his term expires. Given his popularity and personality, and voters' frustration...
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2012
A mother's message
Twenty years after Mieko Hattori's 16-year-old son, Yoshihiro, was fatally shot while studying in America, the outspoken mother has once again called for tighter gun control laws in the United States and around the world. Her latest speech was delivered in Baton Rouge, the town where 20 years ago her...
EDITORIALS
Oct 27, 2012
A chance to pay pension arrears
At the beginning of October, a system started to allow people who are up to 10 years in arrears on premium payments for the kokumin nenkin pension to pay the unpaid premiums. Kokumin nenkin mainly covers self-employed or jobless people, but also serves as the basic pension for corporate workers. The...
EDITORIALS
Oct 27, 2012
Treat Okinawans with respect
The alleged rape on Oct. 16 of an Okinawan woman by two U.S. servicemen outside her apartment building in the city of Okinawa has stoked great anger among the prefecture's residents. Adding insult to injury, Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto and Vice Foreign Minister Shuji Kira made insensitive remarks...
EDITORIALS
Oct 26, 2012
A travesty of justice
The police have apologized to four people for mistakenly arresting them over threats posted on the Internet. The police admitted their error after it became evident that the threats had been made by a still unknown person who hacked their computers — but not before the police had extracted confessions...
EDITORIALS
Oct 26, 2012
Nation honors an athlete
The government will bestow the People's Honor Award on Ms. Saori Yoshida — a wrestler who has won three Olympic gold medals and 10 world championships — "for bringing hope and courage to society." As Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said in announcing the government's decision to give her the...
EDITORIALS
Oct 25, 2012
Monitoring sex offenders
A by-law went into force in Osaka Prefecture on Oct. 1 that requires people who have completed their sentences for sex crimes targeting children to report their addresses and other information to the prefectural governor for five years. Violators will face a fine of up to ¥50,000. The Osaka prefectural...
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.
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
At meeting rich in symbolism, Ishiba and South Korea's Lee agree to steadily build ties
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shake hands at joint press announcement after summit talks in Tokyo on Saturday.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Japan to boost support for joint ride-hailing services
Tatsuaki Igarashi, mayor of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, exits a ride-sharing vehicle at Tsukuba Station in January.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
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.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER