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August 24, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Oct 8, 2007
An unsteady step forward
North Korea has agreed to "disable" its facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex and "provide a complete and correct declaration of all nuclear programs" by Dec. 31 in the latest round of six-party talks on the North's nuclear programs. The agreement is a step forward toward the country's denuclearization....
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2007
A gamble in Pyongyang
It is too early to tell whether South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun can call his trip to North Korea last week a success, but North Korean leader Kim Jong Il must be happy with the visit. The summit choreography appeared to confirm his status as the senior leader on the Korean Peninsula, and the summit...
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 2007
Okinawa's voice is heard
The angry reaction of Okinawa Prefecture residents to the deletion of references in history textbooks to the Imperial Japanese Armed Force's use of coercion and other forms of involvement in the mass suicides of local residents during the Battle of Okinawa has forced a change in the government's attitude....
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 2007
Mr. Fukuda tests the water
After a virtual recess following Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Sept. 12 resignation announcement, Prime new Minister Yasuo Fukuda and the opposition are squaring off against each other in the Diet. The opposition camp says that since the prime minister does not have the people's mandate, his first job...
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2007
Bizarre ruling against newspapers
The Tokyo District Court recently ruled that three newspapers libeled a doctor at Tokyo Women's Medical College Hospital by publishing a wire service report. But it acquitted the news agency that dispatched the article. This bizarre ruling carries the danger of greatly hampering newspaper reporting activities....
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2007
Improvised roads through kanji
A poll conducted by the Agency of Cultural Affairs in February and March on various issues related to the Japanese language offers interesting insight into people's attitude toward kanji — the Chinese characters that are an indispensable part of Japan's linguistic culture.
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2007
Flawed reliance on confessions
With the lay judge system scheduled to be introduced by May 2009, a system should be developed to ensure that investigators' records of suspects' oral statements are trustworthy. Recent cases involving false confessions highlight the urgent need for such a system.
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2007
Raise the bar at law schools
Results of the second national bar examination held under a new system were announced Sept. 13. Just 1,851 graduates of the law schools established under the system passed for a success ratio of 40 percent — down eight percentage points from last year. This suggests that the quality of law school students...
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2007
Mr. Fukuda's good intentions
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda made his first policy speech in the Diet Monday. Although Mr. Fukuda's speech lacked freshness and bold proposals, it shows that he correctly grasps what worries people have about today's politics. But the question is whether he will come up with concrete policy measures and...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2007
New experiences for Japan Post
A difficult path lies ahead the Japan Post group companies' 10-year privatization process, which started Oct. 1. They have to make profits to survive but not at the expense of services. This is especially critical for the postal service, which has earned the people's trust over the past 130 years through...
EDITORIALS
Oct 2, 2007
Enough time to find shelter
On Monday, NHK started a broadcast service for earthquake warnings (kinkyu jishin sokuho), with private broadcast stations to follow suit. Rather than predict when and where earthquakes will strike, the warnings will tell how many seconds it will take tremors from a major earthquake to reach specific...
EDITORIALS
Oct 1, 2007
Coping with the doctor shortage
As pregnant women, children and rural residents in Japan face a crisis in getting medical treatment, the government has decided to increase the quota for medical schools. This is a welcome move. It is urgent that the government take well-thought-out measures to deal with specific problems responsible...
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.
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.
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.
Man arrested over deadly stabbing of woman in Kobe
Masashi Tanimoto, 35, the suspect in the deadly stabbing a 24-year-old woman, is taken into custody in Kobe on Friday night.
Japanese city proposes two-hour daily limit for smartphone use
The Toyoake Municipal Government in Aichi Prefecture is planning to enact an ordinance to urge all smartphone users in the city to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school.
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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