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August 24, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Dec 5, 2007

A victory for Mr. Putin

In Sunday's election for the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, President Vladimir Putin's party was set to gain more than two thirds of the chamber's 450 seats, enough to revise the Constitution. With Mr. Putin running as the lead candidate of United Russia, the election result represents...

EDITORIALS

Dec 5, 2007

Fruitful talks in Beijing

Japan-China high-level trade and economic talks, which were held in Beijing over the weekend, have helped advance economic ties between the countries and improved overall bilateral relations. The talks did not resolve the issue of China's exploitation of natural gas fields in an area of the East China...

EDITORIALS

Dec 4, 2007

Transparency for political funds

The ruling and opposition camps have reached a long-overdue compromise over a revision of the Political Funds Control Law. It represents improvement on the lukewarm revision, which was made into law earlier this year by the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito ruling coalition. In fleshing out the compromise,...

EDITORIALS

Dec 4, 2007

Pointless nationwide testing

In April 2007, the education ministry conducted a nationwide achievement test for school children — the first such test in 43 years — spending ¥7.7 billion. The results were partially made public in late October. There are plans to hold a similar test in 2008 and 2009. There are many reasons, however,...

EDITORIALS

Dec 3, 2007

Expansion of medical benefits

The health ministry in principle bans the "mixed" use of medical treatment covered by public health insurance and medical treatment not covered by such insurance. If a patient mixes the two types of care in the course of treating a single illness he or she must pay all the costs of medical treatment...

EDITORIALS

Dec 2, 2007

Rising violence on railways

Violent incidents against railway company employees have reached an all-time high this year with almost 800 incidents through October, 250 of which resulted in injuries. That breaks down to nearly three acts of violence against staff per day, every day.

EDITORIALS

Dec 2, 2007

Internationalizing high schools

While the government stumbles around with new educational policies, a quiet revolution in high schools has already happened. The number of foreign students enrolled in Japanese high schools has hit an all-time high of nearly 2,000, with a new peak of over 100 schools nationwide now instructing children...

EDITORIALS

Dec 1, 2007

Opportunity in Annapolis?

There are many reasons to be skeptical about this week's Middle East conference hosted by the United States in Annapolis, Maryland — not least of which is the seven years of utter disinterest shown by the Bush administration. Without active U.S. involvement, the problems that fester in that troubled...

EDITORIALS

Nov 30, 2007

No defense of corruption

The arrest of former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya on suspicion of bribery has greatly damaged people's trust in the Defense Ministry and the Self-Defense Forces, as Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said. The government needs to tighten discipline among bureaucrats. It also needs to overhaul the ministry's...

EDITORIALS

Nov 30, 2007

Next step toward devolution

In its interim report, a government panel for devolution spells out specific fields in which the central government should transfer powers to local governments and calls for strengthening local financial bases. The report is a precursor of the panel's full recommendations to be submitted to the government...

EDITORIALS

Nov 29, 2007

Science fact, not fiction

In its fourth and final report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), winner (with Mr. Al Gore) of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, concluded that global warming is "unequivocal" and already threatens hundreds of millions of lives and as much as two-thirds of the species on the planet....

EDITORIALS

Nov 28, 2007

Australia with a new face

Until around a year ago, Australian Prime Minister John Howard looked unbeatable with his administration's strong economic management. But in Sunday's elections, the youthful-looking Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd dealt a crushing defeat to the conservative coalition led by the 68-year-old Mr. Howard....

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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