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May 19, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2009
Dancing around delicate issues
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama met with U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday for the first time amid concerns that the new Japanes government's policy could harm the two nations' long-standing alliance centered on the bilateral security treaty. Mr. Hatoyama apparently avoided friction by skirting touchy...
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2009
Mr. Hatoyama's world debut
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made a strong diplomatic debut on the international stage Tuesday, pledging that Japan will reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The pledge was made in a speech delivered in English at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change, held...
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2009
Muzzling the top bureaucrats
The Hatoyama administration has told government ministries and agencies to stop, in principle, the holding of news conferences by administrative vice ministers, the top-ranking bureaucrats of government ministries. The thinking behind the decision is that Cabinet ministers are the top leaders of government...
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2009
Chance to rebuild in opposition
Campaigning for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party is now in full swing. The party is struggling to recover from the fallout of the Aug. 30 Lower House electoral battle against the Democratic Party of Japan, when defeat forced the LDP out of power after more than 50 years of rule. It is hoped...
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2009
Rethinking missile defense
U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to abandon plans to deploy a missile defense system in Europe to counter an Iranian missile threat. The way it was carried out raises questions about U.S. commitments to its allies. The missile defense program is a partnership between Washington and its allies....
EDITORIALS
Sep 22, 2009
Less than sterling democracy
A month after the ballot was held, preliminary results for the Afghan presidential election are in. According to that tally — and to the surprise of no one — incumbent President Hamid Karzai has won. With more than 50 percent of the votes counted, his margin of victory allows him to skip a runoff...
EDITORIALS
Sep 21, 2009
Lessons of Lehman Brothers
On Sept. 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers, a venerable international financial firm, went bankrupt. Its collapse set off a chain of events that triggered a global financial crisis that is estimated to have caused more than $1.6 trillion in losses and cost millions of jobs. A year later, we are still assessing...
EDITORIALS
Sep 20, 2009
Japan's health care as a model
The health care debate in America has had an interesting item mentioned again and again in recent weeks — the Japanese health care system! Editorials and news reports have held up Japan as an example of good-quality health care.
EDITORIALS
Sep 20, 2009
More foreign students than ever
The Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education recently convened over a government proposal to increase the number of foreign students in Japan to 300,000 by 2020. That plan is positive not only for students, schools and teachers, but also for Japan as a whole. This increased opening...
EDITORIALS
Sep 19, 2009
Mystery of the missing freighter
It still isn't clear exactly what happened to the Russian-crewed freighter Arctic Sea, which mysteriously disappeared in European waters last month. Inconsistencies and the implausibility of the official story — it was a hijacking — have prompted considerable speculation.
EDITORIALS
Sep 18, 2009
Pardon Mr. Chen to help Taiwan
The conviction and sentencing of former Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian is a troubling development. The life sentence handed down to Mr. Chen is certain to deepen the fissures in an already deeply divided and volatile society. He has appealed the sentence.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2009
New government out of the blocks
Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama became Japan's new prime minister Wednesday as the Diet voted him in to the post, ending the long rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power almost continously since late 1955. In an interesting historical twist, the new prime minister's...
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

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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