Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
August 25, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Editorials stories

EDITORIALS
Oct 25, 2012
Coping with rising grain prices
More than 30 farm ministers and deputy ministers took part in an emergency meeting in Rome on Oct. 16 organized by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to discuss the soaring prices of wheat, corn, soy beans and other grains. It is regrettable that major grain exporters Russia and the Unites States,...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2012
Don't squeeze welfare recipients
The government plans to reduce the spending for livelihood assistance known as seikatsu hogo (literally livelihood protection) in the fiscal 2013 budget and has started a review of the system. Because cases involving the illegal or questionable receipt of welfare benefits have cropped up and benefits...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2012
Mr. Noda suffers another blow
Justice Minister Keishu Tanaka resigned Tuesday citing ill health, but the real motivation for his resignation is a scandal in which he was accused of receiving political donations from a company run by a foreign national and of having personal ties with a gangster. He served as a Cabinet minister for...
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2012
Japan Post aims to boost business
The Japan Post group was reorganized on Oct. 1 under the revised postal privatization law that was enacted in the last Diet session. The main aim of the revision is to boost business by increasing convenience for customers. In a difficult business environment, the Japan Post group must strive to improve...
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2012
Rectify vote disparity
The Supreme Court on Oct. 17 ruled that in the Upper House election held in July 2010, the value of a vote between depopulated rural areas and populated urban areas was extremely unequal to the point of "giving rise to an issue of unconstitutionality." Although the ruling stopped short of declaring the...
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2012
NRA must ensure transparency
More than a month has passed since the Nuclear Regulatory Authority was inaugurated on Sept. 19. The NRA started in a deplorable manner. In a political maneuver, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda used a provision of the relevant law and appointed the five commission members without Diet approval.
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2012
Pass the bond flotation bill
Due to the Diet's state of confusion, there is no predicting when a bill will be enacted to float bonds to cover some 40 percent of the fiscal 2012 budget. If this situation continues, it is inevitable that people's lives will be seriously impacted in a negative manner. The public's trust in the legislature...
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2012
Why the welfare discrimination?
The Japan Pension Service has told municipal governments to end automatic waivers for pension premiums for foreigners on public assistance. The automatic waiver allowed foreigners, like Japanese nationals, to forego the monthly premium on their pension when receiving public assistance. The change in...
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2012
More problems in Okinawa
Another allegation of rape by American servicemen in Okinawa on Tuesday has reignited anti-U.S. protests by Okinawans and resentment throughout Japan. Okinawa Gov. Kazuhiro Nakaima called for more severe measures than in the past. Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto noted the severity of the allegation....
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2012
New North korea approach needed
A decade has passed since five Japanese abducted by North Korean agents were returned to Japan on Oct. 15, 2002. That event took place a month after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il held a summit that culminated in the signing of the Pyongyang Declaration in which...
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2012
Misuse of reconstruction funds
It has surfaced that a special account budget to fund the reconstruction of communities devastated by the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters has been used to pay for unrelated projects. As to be expected, the shortage of funds due to budget mismanagement has angered affected residents. The...
EDITORIALS
Oct 19, 2012
The IMF's new message
Mea culpa. That might be the biggest message from the recent gathering of global financial leaders in Tokyo. The annual IMF/World Bank meeting is an opportunity for finance ministers and central bankers to seek agreement on the state of the global economy and ways to ensure greater or more stable growth....
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