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EDITORIALS

Dec 17, 2006

'Defense Ministry' will bear watching

The legislation just enacted to upgrade the Defense Agency to ministry status and revise the Self-Defense Forces Law will significantly change the character of the Self-Defense Forces, which has assumed a low-profile posture under the nation's strictly defensive security policy, reflecting the nation's...

EDITORIALS

Dec 17, 2006

Political theater in town

In June 2001, the first government-sponsored town meeting under the initiative of then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was held to promote direct dialogue between the people and Cabinet ministers. So far, there have been 174 such meetings. But a report by a Cabinet Office investigation panel shows that...

EDITORIALS

Dec 16, 2006

Faint signs of hope

After a 13-month lapse, a fresh round of the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear-arms programs is likely to start Monday in Beijing. It may face hitches before picking up from the Sept. 19, 2005, joint statement -- in which Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security...

EDITORIALS

Dec 16, 2006

Blame users, not software

The Kyoto District Court has fined Mr. Isamu Kaneko, a former University of Tokyo researcher, for developing the anonymous file-sharing software Winny. It ruled that development of the software program, in effect, helped users illegally copy copyrighted content.

EDITORIALS

Dec 15, 2006

Allowing a future for tuna

In late November the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) decided to cut the allowable catch of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea by about 20 percent in four years. Earlier, the international commission for conserving southern bluefin...

EDITORIALS

Dec 15, 2006

More fluid politics in Taiwan

Results of recent mayoral elections in Taiwan's two largest cities must have come as some relief for President Chen Shui-bian and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Although the opposition Kuomintang or Nationalist Party (KMT) took the capital of Taipei -- with Mr. Hau Lung-bin beating Mr....

EDITORIALS

Dec 14, 2006

More trouble in paradise

For the fourth time in 19 years, the legal government of the South Pacific country of Fiji has been overthrown. The military is the culprit this time, with the head of the armed forces, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama deposing Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase and his Cabinet. The coup has been roundly condemned...

EDITORIALS

Dec 13, 2006

Clarify ASDF's Iraq activities

The government has decided to extend the deployment of the Air Self-Defense Force in Iraq until July 31, 2007. The ASDF started airlifts from Kuwait in March 2004 under a July 2003 ad hoc law to carry out Self-Defense Forces deployment for noncombat activities in Iraq. Initially the ASDF's airlifts were...

EDITORIALS

Dec 13, 2006

How to use road taxes?

Under legislation dating from 1954, the government's revenues from "road-related taxes" have been exclusively earmarked for road improvement. These revenues have been a "sanctuary" of sorts for politicians representing the interests of industries engaged in road construction. Last year, then Prime Minister...

EDITORIALS

Dec 12, 2006

Heavy burden on an aging town

The residents of Yubari city in Hokkaido are shivering not only from biting cold but also from the city's harsh financial reconstruction plan under the supervision of the internal affairs ministry. The former coal-mining center, now with a population of only about 13,000, must pay back 36 billion yen...

EDITORIALS

Dec 12, 2006

Take the money and run

Nearly 20 offices, including the head office, of Kinmirai Tsushin Inc., an Internet protocol telephony service provider, have been searched following allegations that it lured and defrauded investors with talk of new technology and lucrative returns.

EDITORIALS

Dec 10, 2006

Our words of the year

Once again, it's the season when the dictionary and language people are hard at work winnowing words -- new ones, catchy ones, much-looked-up ones, over-used ones -- in preparation for crowning their latest Word of the Year (WOTY). This year, we thought we might do a bit of winnowing of our own.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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