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May 19, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Nov 17, 2009
Strengthen budget scrutiny
The Board of Audit has found that government offices and central government-funded corporations improperly spent or handled ¥236.45 billion in public money in 717 cases in fiscal 2008 — a record amount and nearly double the ¥125.36 billion in fiscal 2007. Some ¥12.3 billion in 593 cases was spent...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2009
Transparent universities
All Japanese universities may soon be required to provide students with key statistics about their employment and dropout rates and other quantifiable facts, if a new proposal is accepted by the Central Council for Education. The list of items to publicly divulge is divided into five areas the education...
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2009
Teens get funny
Teenagers always think their jokes are funny, but are they? Apparently, at least one is — from a first-year high school student of Hyogo Prefecture, Yugo Sagawa, who won the first-ever comedy contest for high school students. A panel of judges from the Kansai Comic Scriptwriter Association chose Sagawa's...
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2009
Knitting the alliance
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama held a summit and a joint news conference Friday in Tokyo, their second meeting following their first in September on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. They reaffirmed that the Japan-U.S. alliance is the basis for...
EDITORIALS
Nov 14, 2009
When the wall came down
It is rare that a historical era can be defined with precision, but the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago this week is just such a rarity. The breaching of that monstrosity marked the end of the Soviet empire and ushered in a era of both hope and considerable confusion. There is no mistaking the extraordinary...
EDITORIALS
Nov 13, 2009
The end of a long manhunt
The arrest of Tatsuya Ichihashi, 30, on suspicion of abandoning the body of Ms. Lindsay Ann Hawker, a 22-year-old Briton who taught English, brought immense relief to the Hawker family, who fought relentlessly for justice in the murder case for more than 2 1/2 years. As the father, Mr. Bill Hawker, put...
EDITORIALS
Nov 13, 2009
Turbulent climate talks
Clouds are hanging over current negotiations leading up to the 15th, 192-nation U.N. Climate Change Conference scheduled to be held in Copenhagen Dec. 7-18 for the purpose of adopting a global framework for curbing greenhouse gas emissions from 2013. The Kyoto Protocol now in effect will expire in 2012....
EDITORIALS
Nov 12, 2009
20 years on the Imperial throne
The government-sponsored ceremony on Thursday (Nov. 12) to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Emperor's enthronement serves as an occasion to express people's respect and affection not only for the Emperor but also for the Imperial couple and the rest of the Imperial family.
EDITORIALS
Nov 12, 2009
Decision time on devolution
The government devolution panel handed Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama its fourth and final set of recommendations Monday, calling for an increased allocation of tax money to local governments. Regrettably, the central government has been slow to respond to the third set of recommendations, which called...
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2009
Japan and the Mekong region
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his counterparts from five Mekong region countries held their first summit on Friday and Saturday in Tokyo, hammering out Japan's support measures to combat climate change and narrow economic gaps within the region. The summit was held at a time when China's influence...
EDITORIALS
Nov 11, 2009
Problematic 'pluthermal' era
The 1.18 million-kW No. 3 reactor at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Genkai nuclear power plant in Saga Prefecture, which is Japan's first reactor using plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) as fuel, attained nuclear criticality last Thursday and started trial operations Monday (commerical operations are to...
EDITORIALS
Nov 10, 2009
Top-down approach won't work
The Hatoyama administration has made one decision after another with direct effects on local governments. Among them is the move to scrap projects worth nearly ¥3 trillion included in the fiscal 2009 supplementary budget, and the decision to halt the Yanba dam project in Gunma Prefecture. As part of...
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.
Agnes b. Japan CEO hopes to evolve the brand with focus on sustainability
Laurent Patouillet, the CEO and president of Agnes b. Japan, says the focus of its business is to remain independent, and evolve and adapt.
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.
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

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

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