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August 26, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Aug 20, 2009

Mr. Kim's legacy lives on

South Korea has lost a great political leader. Former President Kim Dae Jung died Tuesday of multiple organ failure in a Seoul hospital at the age of 85. The 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who tirelessly promoted the cause of reconciliation and cooperation between the North and South and played a critical...

EDITORIALS

Aug 19, 2009

Relief measure falls short

On Aug. 6, the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Prime Minister Taro Aso signed an agreement with representatives of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic-bombing survivors who had filed lawsuits seeking recognition as sufferers of radiation-related illnesses. Under the agreement, plaintiffs...

EDITORIALS

Aug 19, 2009

Lower House races begin

The campaign for the Aug. 30 Lower House election officially kicked off Tuesday. The election results will have a great impact on the course of Japan's future because there is a chance that the Liberal Democratic Party's domination of Japanese politics may end. The election represents a chance for voters...

EDITORIALS

Aug 18, 2009

Another Afghan milestone

On Thursday, Afghanistan will hold the second presidential election in the country's history. While every election in Afghanistan is a reason to celebrate, the mood surrounding this vote will not match that of the country's first ballot, held five years ago.

EDITORIALS

Aug 16, 2009

Lonely shoplifters

The rapid rise in theft by elderly people has caught the police and Justice Ministry off guard. A Justice Ministry report revealed that over 30,000 people over 65 were convicted of theft in 2007, with crimes by the elderly in 2008 rising to the highest level ever.

EDITORIALS

Aug 16, 2009

The rich go to college

In Japan, the more parents earn, the higher their children's academic test scores, a new survey has revealed. Commissioned by the Education, Science and Technology Ministry, the survey results released last month show a clear link between parental income and test results.

EDITORIALS

Aug 15, 2009

Keep company sports teams

As the economic downturn drags on, sports teams set up within business enterprises are disappearing one after another as companies strive to cut costs. Rather than only focus on short-term results, however, businesses should pay attention to the long-term benefits their sports teams bring to both their...

EDITORIALS

Aug 15, 2009

Dangerous revisionist sentiment

This year Japan appears to be greeting the 64th anniversary of the end of World War II without much political commotion. But a speech nine days earlier should not be dismissed as an insignificant event.

EDITORIALS

Aug 14, 2009

Smooth start to new trials

The first criminal trial under the lay judge system ended in Tokyo District Court last week, and a second such trial wrapped up in Saitama District Court on Wednesday.

EDITORIALS

Aug 14, 2009

Party leaders out of the gate

Prime Minister Taro Aso and Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama held their first election debate Wednesday. Mr. Aso strove to paint the DPJ as a party with no governing ability, and tried to sell his Liberal Democratic Party as the "responsible" one that implements policy based on a solid...

EDITORIALS

Aug 13, 2009

A mockery in Myanmar

To the surprise of very few, a court in Myanmar has found Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of violating internal security laws and given a three-year prison term. As a theatrical coda to the ruling, the military regime immediately cut the sentence to 18 months of house arrest — to...

EDITORIALS

Aug 12, 2009

The crisis in Nigeria

Little noticed in much of the world, the government of Nigeria is battling insurgents on two fronts. In the south, militants fight extraction of the region's mineral wealth for which they receive little in return; in the north, Islamic radicals are becoming increasingly violent as they try to impose...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.

From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past

By Alex K.T. Martin

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