Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
May 19, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Editorials stories

EDITORIALS
Feb 24, 2010
GSDF officer out of line
In a Feb. 10 ceremony held at the start of a nine-day joint combat drill in Miyagi Prefecture between the Ground Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Army, Col. Takeshi Nakazawa, commander of the 44th Infantry Regiment of the GSDF's Sixth Division, said, "(The Japan-U.S.) alliance cannot be maintained by...
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2010
National vision for child-rearing
The Hatoyama administration adopted in late January a "children and child-rearing vision" designed to help raise the nation's birthrate. The program involves a variety of initiatives and some 40 numerically defined goals. An obvious problem is where the necessary funds will be found.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2010
Citizens bring indictment
A law revision that took effect in May 2009 gave citizen committees, which are composed of 11 randomly-selected people, the power to override prosecutors' decision not to file an indictment in a criminal case. If a prosecution inquest committee votes (with at least an 8-3 majority) on two occasions to...
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2010
New chairman of business lobby
The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) has picked Mr. Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Sumitomo Chemical Co., as its next leader. He will begin serving as chairman of Japan's most powerful business lobby in late May. His appointment comes at a difficult time as the Japanese economy is suffering...
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2010
Call for debate on smoking
Recently Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) and the state were successful in their defense against a damages suit in which three people had sought ¥10 million each for health problems — cancer and pulmonary emphysema — allegedly caused by smoking. Still, the Jan. 20 Yokohama District Court ruling, which the...
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2010
Financial squeeze for students
The most recent evidence of the terrible effects of Japan's economic slowdown comes from the National Federation of University Co-operative Associations. This consumer cooperative, which researches and supports university life, reported last October that more university students than ever are having...
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2010
The last newspaper train
Japan's last "newspaper train" will make its final run in March, ending a long history of Japanese trains serving readers as well as passengers. The JR Sobu Line has carried evening papers from Ryogoku Station to areas in the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture for many years. The March 12 train, however,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2010
The battle to save the euro
The European Union is facing one of the worst economic crises of its life. The immediate trigger is Greece, which has been living well beyond its means. As the prospect of a default looms, the Athens government has pledged to embrace austerity measures, but public resistance is high. The Greek government...
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2010
Give hospital doctors a raise
In a report for fiscal 2010 submitted Feb. 12 to health minister Akira Nagatsuma, the Central Social Insurance Medical Council (Chuikyo) calls for greater remuneration for hospitals. This would be a step forward in the government's effort to stem the stream of resignations by hospital doctors and thus...
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2010
Debates miss big picture
Liberal Democratic Party leader Sadakazu Tanigaki and Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi had separate one-on-one debates with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in the Diet Wednesday, although the debates were a long time coming. Five months have already passed since the Hatoyama administration began. Such debates...
EDITORIALS
Feb 18, 2010
Justice finally served
The Yokohama District Court on Feb. 4 ruled that five now-deceased men, three of them journalists, were falsely charged in a case known as the Yokohama Incident, which is regarded as the worst example of wartime free-speech suppression, and ordered the government to pay compensation to six relatives...
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2010
Space program: Hopes and fears
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying Japanese Astronaut Soichi Noguchi was launched Dec. 21. He is now in the International Space Station some 400 km above Earth working in Japan's space lab "Kibo" (Hope), which is attached to the ISS. He will stay in space for five months, the longest stretch yet for...
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.
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

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones
Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER