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May 17, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2008
Effective consumer protection
The 11-member government panel for promoting a consumer administration has begun discussions, apparently prompted by the cases of food poisoning caused by tainted gyoza dumplings imported from China. It is to come up with recommendations by the end of May. The panel will give substance to the policy...
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2008
Education reform in reverse
The education ministry has unveiled drafts of revised courses of study for elementary and middle schools. The new courses of study will become effective in fiscal 2011 for elementary schools and in fiscal 2012 for middle schools. For the first time in 30 years, the drafts call for increasing the number...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2008
Return to the focus on mutual goals
During her visit to Tokyo this week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologized to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura for the alleged rape on Feb. 10 of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine in Chatan, Okinawa Prefecture. Considering the hurt feelings of people, especially...
EDITORIALS
Mar 1, 2008
Reforming the public servant system
The government has drawn up the draft of a bill to reform the national public servant system. While based on a proposal by a private advisory panel for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, it somewhat deviates from the proposal. Instead of creating a Cabinet agency to consolidate government personnel affairs...
EDITORIALS
Feb 29, 2008
Inauspicious success in space
On Feb. 20 the United States destroyed an out-of-control intelligence satellite with a three-stage missile fired from an Aegis cruiser in the Pacific Ocean. For the first time, the U.S. has used a missile from its missile-defense system to destroy a satellite. In January 2007, China destroyed an old...
EDITORIALS
Feb 29, 2008
Hazy plans for new expressways
The Diet is now deliberating the government's tax code bill, which includes maintaining the provisionally raised gasoline and other road-related tax rates for 10 years from fiscal 2008. The bill has become a hot political issue.
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2008
Facing the gantlet again
Saturday's arrest of Mr. Kazuyoshi Miura in Saipan, this time by Los Angeles police, in connection with the 1981 fatal shooting of his wife in the city came as a surprise to the Japanese public. Two decades ago the United States had let Japan arrest and try Mr. Miura, who eventually was acquitted by...
EDITORIALS
Feb 28, 2008
Getting the reports straight
'D isarray" is the only word to accurately describe the Defense Ministry's disclosure of information related to the collision between the 7,700-ton Aegis destroyer Atago and the 7.3-ton fishing boat Seitoku Maru at 4:07 a.m. on Feb. 19. Such confusion could harm the credibility of the ministry. The government...
EDITORIALS
Feb 27, 2008
New occupant in the Blue House
South Korea has a new president. Mr. Lee Myung Bak has vowed to take the same "bulldozing" approach to running his country as he did when he was the head of a construction company and the mayor of Seoul. His first priority is economic revival, but he also hopes to forge new relationships with his neighbors,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2008
Fidel Castro steps down
Fidel Castro, one of the world's longest tenured leaders, resigned this month. His decision to step down, long anticipated, opens a period of uncertainty for Cuba, but hopes for sweeping change are muted. Mr. Castro's brother Raul was picked to succeed him.
EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2008
Down to one DVD format
Toshiba Corp. has decided to exit the HD DVD business, ending its war with a group led by Sony and Matsushita over the next-generation DVD market. The group has been pushing the Blu-ray format. The decision is a bitter one for Toshiba but will benefit consumers, who no longer need worry about which format...
EDITORIALS
Feb 25, 2008
Right to know takes a hit
The Tokyo High Court has rejected a damages suit filed in 2005 by Mr. Takichi Nishiyama, a former Mainichi Shimbun reporter, who alleged he was illegally indicted over his news gathering on the 1972 reversion of Okinawa to Japan. The crux of the trial was whether Japan and the United States had had a...
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.
Rich Japanese still fear yen crash, wealth manager says
The yen slumped more than 2% on Monday alone, nearing ¥150 to the dollar, after the U.S. and China temporarily lowered tariffs, triggering a reversal of bearish dollar bets.
Japan to recognize Taiwan as place of origin in family registration system
Masataka Yuhara, secretary-general of the Friends of Lee Teng Hui Association in Japan, which has been calling for "Taiwan" to be permitted as a place of origin in family registers.
Irresponsible climbing prompts debate over who should pay for Mount Fuji rescues
Mount Fuji fills the skyline above a bridge connecting stores at a popular outlet shopping center in the city of Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in November 2024.
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.
Japanese retailers turn to California rice for cheaper alternative
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass eats California rice at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday along with Mitsuko Tsuchiya, vice president of retailer Aeon.
Harmfully hot days for pregnant women in Japan nearly doubled over past five years
New research by a U.S. climate scientists’ group reveals that extreme heat has increased the risks of preterm births and other pregnancy complications in Japan, nearly doubling the number of days that are harmfully hot for pregnant women over the past five years.
Sumo title contenders already emerging in early stages of Tokyo meet
Onosato (left) battles Abi on Day 3 of the Summer Basho in Tokyo on Tuesday.

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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