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May 19, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
May 31, 2010
Reining in personnel costs
A bill to revise the National Public Service Law, intended to strengthen Cabinet members' control over national public servants, is before the Diet. The Cabinet decided May 21 to cut by 39 percent the recruitment of national public servants in fiscal 2011, but there appears to be confusion in the Hatoyama...
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2010
Sumo perks to the wrong guys
The image of the Japan Sumo Association has been tarnished again, this time by the discovery that senior members of an organized crime group obtained tickets for special ringside seats at sumo tournaments apparently with the help of two sumo stablemasters. It has also surfaced that ozeki Kotomitsuki...
EDITORIALS
May 30, 2010
Futenma outcome disappoints
In a joint statement Friday, the foreign and defense ministers of Japan and the United States declared that the replacement facility for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, will be relocated to the Henoko area of Camp Schwab and adjacent waters in Nago, the northern part of Okinawa Island....
EDITORIALS
May 29, 2010
Responsibility for asbestos ills
The Osaka District Court on May 19 ordered the government to pay ¥435 million in compensation to 23 people who worked in asbestos-spinning factories in the Sennan area of Osaka Prefecture from 1939 to 2005. It did not offer compensation to three other plaintiffs, including a resident who lived near...
EDITORIALS
May 29, 2010
A good time to quit smoking
Japan Tobacco Inc. plans to raise the prices of tobacco products from Oct. 1 following the government's decision to raise the tobacco tax by ¥3.5 per cigarette or ¥70 per 20-cigarette pack. As a result, prices for cigarette packs, now around ¥300, will top ¥400 in what JT calls an "unprecedented...
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2010
Unprecedented disposal
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Miyazaki Prefecture shows no signs of abating more than a month after it began. The central government's measures include vaccinating cattle and pigs within a radius of 10 km from farms affected by the disease and killing them later.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2010
Protecting dispatched workers
A bill to revise the law governing the dispatch of temporary contract workers is now before the Diet. Although the bill is unlikely to solve all the problems faced by dispatched workers, it represents the government's best attempt so far to protect dispatched workers, departing as it does from past goals...
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2010
Hepatitis B compensation
Ten district courts across the nation are handling lawsuits filed by 420 hepatitis B sufferers and bereaved family members who accuse the state of failing to take necessary steps to avert the risk of hepatitis B virus infection from shared needles during mass vaccinations.
EDITORIALS
May 27, 2010
Akatsuki heads for Venus
An H-2A rocket successfully blasted Japan's new planetary probe Akatsuki (daybreak) into orbit early May 21. Also sent into orbit were four small satellites developed by university students and the "space yacht" Ikaros, which will be propelled by sunlight.
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2010
A better way after a year
May 21 marked the first anniversary of the lay judges law's taking effect. The first trial in which lay judges took part started in August 2009. The system, aimed at increasing public participation in the delivery of criminal justice, is based on a June 2001 proposal by the government panel on reform...
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2010
Back to the starting line
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama essentially told Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima on Sunday that he cannot help asking the Okinawan people to accept the Henoko district, in the city of Nago in the northern part of Okinawa, as the site for relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. In mentioning Henoko,...
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2010
China-Japan frictions at sea
Against a background of increased friction between Japanese and Chinese ships due to the Chinese Navy's expanded activities in international waters near Japan, Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi agreed in a May 15 meeting in South Korea on the need to establish...
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.
Australian firm produces heavy rare earth, in first outside China
The Lynas Rare Earths processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Police arrest Chinese man in Saitama hit-and-run case
Police questioned a man who turned himself in as he closely resembled the driver recorded on the dashcam of another vehicle that happened to pass by the scene of a hit-and-run incident in Saitama Prefecture.
Wholesalers may be behind elevated retail rice prices
Wholesalers added ¥7,593 on average to their selling prices for stockpiled rice, far more than the ¥2,206 to ¥4,689 added for the 2022 rice.
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.
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.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Longform

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