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May 18, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2010
Bid to boot a unilateralist mayor
Citizens of the city of Akune, Kagoshima Prefecture, have started collecting signatures in an effort to initiate a referendum to recall Mayor Shinichi Takehara, who repeatedly made unilateral decisions on matters that in principal require approval of the assembly. His decisions include those on a budget...
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2010
Dealing with disaster
Every day another deluge. Pakistan is battling what the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs calls "the worst monsoon-related floods in living memory." Rains have triggered landslides in China that have claimed more than 1,000 lives. In Russia, rain would be welcome: Wild fires have...
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2010
Corporate social responsibility
On Aug. 4, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the second and third richest men in the world, announced that 40 American billionaires had followed their lead in pledging to give half of their fortunes to charity. They plan to turn their efforts next to China and India.
EDITORIALS
Aug 19, 2010
Withdrawal from society
The Cabinet Office in February surveyed 3,287 people aged 15 to 39 and decided that 1.79 percent of them are living in seclusion at home and have withdrawn from society. On the basis of this survey, the government estimates that 696,000 people across the nation are socially withdrawn. Surprisingly, 3.99...
EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2010
Fear of another recession
Japan's economy appears to be at turning point. Real gross domestic product for the April-June quarter grew an annualized 0.4 percent from the previous quarter — much lower than the 4.4 percent for January-March and the 4.1 percent for the October-December quarter. The value of the yen to the U.S....
EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2010
High hopes for new sumo chief
The Japan Sumo Association, which has been rocked by gambling and other scandals suggesting the existence of ties with organized crime, elected stablemaster Hanaregoma, the former ozeki Kaiketsu, as its new chairman in an emergency board meeting late Aug. 12. It is hoped that under his leadership, the...
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2010
Redressing rights violations
In mid-June, Justice Minister Keiko Chiba and two lieutenants at her ministry — both Diet members — disclosed in an interim report the idea of creating a new commission to redress human rights violations. The report calls for setting up a new human rights protection commission as an extra-ministerial...
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2010
Salaries of public servants
The National Personnel Authority on Aug. 10 recommended cutting the salaries of national public servants by an average 1.5 percent, or ¥94,000 yearly, and reducing their annual bonuses to 3.95 months worth of salary from the current 4.15 months.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2010
A mixed verdict in Rwanda
Rwanda's Paul Kagame has won a second term as president. Having ruled the war-torn country since 1994, and claiming — quite rightfully — to have ushered in a period of peace after civil war and genocide, he had been expected to win another election. But beneath the calm that prevails in Rwanda is...
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2010
Relief for air-raid survivors?
In the middle of 1944, the United States started large-scale air raids, mostly by B-29 strategic bombers, on Japan. These air raids continued till the end of World War II on Aug. 15, 1945, including the atomic-bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Almost all major cities across Japan were targeted....
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2010
Promoting 'Cool Japan'
Eight years have passed since American journalist Douglas McGray first coined the phrase, but now the Japanese government is getting behind "Cool Japan" in a big way. A new Creative Industries Promotion Office was established in June within the Manufacturing Industries Bureau of the Ministry of Economy,...
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2010
Increasing airline safety
Thursday marked the 25th anniversary of the world's worst single-aircraft accident. Japan Airlines' Flight 123 from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Osaka lost control when its rear bulkhead broke at 6:24 p.m. on Aug. 12, 1985. The Boeing 747 jumbo jet crashed on a ridge of Mount Osutaka in Gunma Prefecture...
Success of Chinese-made fighter jets against India raises alarm in Asia
Chinese J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in November 2015.
Japan to recognize Taiwan as place of origin in family registration system
Masataka Yuhara, secretary-general of the Friends of Lee Teng Hui Association in Japan, which has been calling for "Taiwan" to be permitted as a place of origin in family registers.
Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
Nissan to solicit early retirements while eyeing plant closures in Japan
Nissan's Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, may be closed as part of the struggling carmaker's streamlining efforts.
Closing the gap between what you learn and what you say in Japanese
A few tweaks to the conversations you learn in your Japanese class will help you sound like a native when you step out the door.
In Nintendo’s backyard, foreign indie game devs are thriving
Kyoto's gaming landscape is dominated by Nintendo's headquarters, but a contingent of foreign-born indie developers is also working in the gaming giant's shadow.
Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
Nissan hoping to electrify home crowd as Formula E returns to Tokyo
Nissan's Oliver Rowland drives during qualifying for Miami E-Prix at Homestead Motor Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on April 12.
For his first feature film, director Ryuya Suzuki created a masterpiece
"Jinsei," which follows its protagonist over a century, probes themes of identity and societal issues with a dark comic touch. The director, however, says he created the story without knowing where it would lead.
Historian Rob Fitts discovers earliest ever reference to baseball in Japan
Japan's Shohei Ohtani carries the Japanese flag onto the field before the start of the World Baseball Classic final against the United States in Miami on March 21, 2023.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?
By Tomoko Otake

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

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