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August 23, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2008
Downtrend in business sentiment
Japan's longest postwar economic expansion, which started in February 2002, appears headed toward a critical stage. The Bank of Japan's Tankan survey shows that business sentiment among companies has deteriorated because of the yen's steep rise against the dollar, stock price declines and high oil prices....
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2008
NHK is not a propaganda organ
At a recent meeting of the management committee of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.), committee chairman Shigetaka Komori called on the broadcast network to emphasize Japan's national interests in its international programming when reporting issues that concern the national interests of Japan and another...
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2008
New strategy in Pakistan
The new government in Pakistan could bring about important changes in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban. The Cabinet of new Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, sworn in Monday, will not give the United States the free hand that it has enjoyed in Pakistan since the months after 9/11.
EDITORIALS
Apr 2, 2008
Stay the course, Mr. Lee
It did not take long for North Korea to test South Korea's new president, Mr. Lee Myung Bak. After Mr. Lee warned the Pyongyang government that he would condition economic cooperation on dismantlement of its nuclear-weapons program, North Korea expelled South Korean officials working at a joint industrial...
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2008
The post-Kyoto high ground
The next Group of Eight summit, which Japan will host in Toyako, Hokkaido, is less than four months away. The fight against global warming will be at the top of the agenda. As the host nation responsible for getting participating nations to take concerted action, Japan needs as soon as possible to work...
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2008
Land prices up for a second year
Average residential land prices nationwide increased 1.3 percent for the year as of Jan. 1, up from the 0.1 percent rise a year before, according to the land ministry. Average commercial land prices also gained for the second straight year, rising 3.8 percent, up from the previous year's 2.3 percent...
EDITORIALS
Mar 31, 2008
Bailout of Tokyo's bank
The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on Friday decided to inject an additional ¥40 billion of taxpayer money into the money-losing Shinginko Tokyo. The Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito supported the capital bailout while three groups, including the Democratic Party of Japan and the Japan Communist Party,...
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2008
Improper watch at sea
The Defense Ministry has released an interim fact-finding report on the Feb. 19 collision between an Aegis destroyer of the Maritime Self-Defense Force and a fishing boat that left two fishermen missing. The 7,750-ton Aegis destroyer Atago collided with the 7.3-ton tuna trawler Seitoku Maru around 4:07...
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2008
Taiwan takes a new approach
The election of Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou, the Nationalist (KMT) candidate, in Taiwan's presidential campaign last weekend could herald a diminution of tensions in the Taiwan Strait, one of the remaining legacies of the Cold War and a potential nuclear flash point. Mr. Ma has called for closer relations with...
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2008
Police priorities crossed in stabbings
Eight plainclothes police officers on the lookout for a 24-year-old man were unable to stop him from going on a stabbing spree in and outside JR Arakawaoki Station in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture, on March 23. One man was killed and seven other people were injured, two of them critically.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2008
The considerate thing to do
With the ruling and opposition parties at loggerheads over tax-related bills, the fiscal 2008 tax-code bill will likely fail to be enacted on or before March 31. As a result, temporarily raised gasoline and other road-related tax rates will come down to normal, leading, at least for a while, to lower...
EDITORIALS
Mar 27, 2008
Seeding the nuclear renaissance
The world is on the brink of a second nuclear renaissance. Prodded by rising oil prices and concerns about global warming, nations are reconsidering the nuclear energy option and finding it attractive. A significant increase in the number of nuclear reactors worldwide, however, also increases the risk...
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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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