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May 17, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Feb 1, 2008
Mediation averts confrontation
Thanks to mediation efforts by Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono and Upper House President Satsuki Eda, the ruling and opposition parties have averted a fierce confrontation over the government's tax code bill, which includes maintaining provisionally raised gasoline and road-related taxes for 10 years...
EDITORIALS
Feb 1, 2008
Lackluster speech for the final year
U.S. President George W. Bush failed to put forth bold proposals or ideas in his final State of the Union address. The economy, once a political asset, is now joining the unpopular Iraq war as a liability for Mr. Bush, as he acknowledged when he said, "As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a...
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2008
Gaps amid higher employment
The economic crisis of Japan's "lost decade," in which companies plagued with bad loans went bust, appears to be a thing of the past. The unemployment rate, once above 5 percent, came down to 3.8 percent in December. The employment rate for university graduates has risen for four consecutive years. But...
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2008
Moves toward devolution
This will be an important year for the government's plan to push devolution. A government panel for devolution will start submitting to the government a series of recommendations around June. The first main recommendation will concern the relegation of more powers to local governments in implementing...
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2008
Remembering Mr. Suharto
Former Indonesian President Suharto, who died Sunday, will be remembered as a leader who brought stability to a nation comprising numerous ethnic groups and sparked an economic takeoff. But at the same time, Indonesia's 200 million people and the world will not forget his autocratic rule and its record...
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2008
Big win in Osaka
The election Sunday of Mr. Toru Hashimoto, a lawyer and TV personality, as the new governor of Osaka Prefecture, shows that the low-profile approach in the election campaign taken by the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito worked. The two parties tried to downplay the fact that the 38-year-old man was...
EDITORIALS
Jan 29, 2008
'Tear down this wall'
At the height of the Cold War, then U.S. President Ronald Reagan went to Berlin, where standing next to the landmark of that era, he called on Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." Today, a similar symbol of repression separates the Gaza Strip from the rest of the world.
EDITORIALS
Jan 28, 2008
Thais refuse to be intimidated
Thailand's generals must be wondering what they have to do to cow their countrymen. After they overthrew the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and forced voters to ratify a constitution that institutionalizes the military's influence over Thai politics, national elections still gave a majority...
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2008
The 'keitai' generation
Nearly 100 percent of high school students, 50 percent of junior high, and a third of those in grammar school now own cell phones. Even the word "cell phone" already sounds out of date, replaced even among foreign residents by "keitai," the shortened form of the Japanese word for portable phone.
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2008
Quake lessons after 13 years
Thirteen years have passed since the Great Hanshin Earthquake on Jan. 17, 1995. The magnitude 7.3 quake occurred in the Inland Sea and caused 6,434 deaths. Since then, other deadly quakes and quake studies have shown that Japan needs to improve its earthquake preparedness and to strengthen quake-related...
EDITORIALS
Jan 26, 2008
Guidelines to prevent news bias
The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association has publicized guidelines aimed at stamping out bias in newspaper reports on criminal trials to be presided over by lay judges together with professional judges. The lay judge system will be introduced by May 2009. As the guidelines declare, it is...
EDITORIALS
Jan 25, 2008
A time for calm and patience
The U.S. Federal Reserve has moved quickly to avert a financial crisis. Earlier this week, the Fed slashed its key interest rate to calm international markets. The rush to provide liquidity is intended to head off a panic and the possibility of a global capital crunch. The Fed's action is only a first...
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.
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.
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’

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Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?
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