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May 19, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Mar 26, 2010
Budget passed, but battles ahead
The fiscal 2010 budget and related bills were enacted Wednesday with their passage through the Upper House. The budget is the fifth-most quickly enacted in postwar history. Still, the Hatoyama administration has many problems left to solve.
EDITORIALS
Mar 26, 2010
Early peek at postal plan
Postal reform minister Shizuka Kamei on Wednesday unveiled, rather prematurely, an outline of a bill meant to change the postal privatization plan. The proposed bill would increase the government's control of Japan Post group — a distinct departure from the full-privatization policy pushed by previous...
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2010
Speaking truth to power
In a last-minute move, the Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday abandoned a plan to remove Mr. Yukio Ubukata, a vice secretary general of the party, from his post. The removal of Mr. Ubukata, a Lower House member, had been planned as punishment for his public criticism of DPJ Secretary General Ichiro...
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2010
The seed of secret deals
Japan paid the United States $320 million in costs for the 1972 reversion of Okinawa, according to the government's long-held official position. But on March 12, following an internal probe, Finance Minister Naoto Kan said that he believes the actual amount paid was much greater.
EDITORIALS
Mar 24, 2010
Scars of the sarin attack
Fifteen years after the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by AUM Shinrikyo cult members, the effects of the crime continue to be felt. The March 20, 1995, attack killed 13 people. It was recently confirmed that at least 6,252 people suffered injuries, a number that may increase as the victim-certification...
EDITORIALS
Mar 24, 2010
Japan must change tune on tuna
Proposals to prohibit international trade in bluefin tuna caught in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea were voted down March 18 at a U.N.-sponsored meeting in Doha, Qatar, attended by representatives of signatory states to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild...
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2010
New foundations for contract law
A panel of the Justice Ministry's Legislative Council has begun discussing revisions to the law of obligations, which sets down rules related to personal liability for sales and other commercial contracts. The discussions come at the request of Justice Minister Keiko Chiba.
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2010
When airports eat each other
Japan has 98 airports. The transport ministry's recent survey of 72 of them indicates that the economic viability of many airports is low. Unless local governments and concerned businesses make serious efforts to attract more passengers, some airports may be forced to close.
EDITORIALS
Mar 22, 2010
Those aging overpasses
In making recommendations to the infrastructure and farm ministries concerning the maintenance of the nation's road overpasses, the internal affairs ministry has said that the number of overpasses at least 50 years old will rapidly increase and that serious damage frequently happens already.
EDITORIALS
Mar 22, 2010
Pledge torments Mr. Hatoyama
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama faces a high hurdle in finding a substitute site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa. His statements so far have helped create high expectations among Okinawans that the Futenma function will be moved outside their prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2010
Trouble in the workers' paradise
The reported execution of a ranking North Korean economic official is a reminder of the high personal price that can be paid for policy failures in that country. The official may be a scapegoat, but the sentence is a sign of the Pyongyang leadership's concern about the toll that a botched currency reform...
EDITORIALS
Mar 20, 2010
New leader for bar federation
Mr. Kenji Utsunomiya, a lawyer known for his expertise in the area of multiple debt, has been elected the new president of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, winning out over Mr. Takeji Yamamoto, a mainstream faction candidate. The contest was decided in a runoff — the first held since the current...
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

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What comes after 100?
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