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EDITORIALS

Nov 20, 2006

Politics of an energy boost

Recent events surrounding energy-development projects overseas highlight resource-poor Japan's vulnerability. They underscore the need for both the government and the private sector to develop a multipronged long-term strategy that will enable the nation to flexibly cope with unexpected changes in the...

EDITORIALS

Nov 19, 2006

Law students who can think

The annual national bar exam was once reputed to be Japan's most difficult examination. Virtually anybody could take the exam, but only about 3 percent of the applicants passed it. Some hapless applicants spent many years preparing for it, riveted to the text of a compendium of laws that became their...

EDITORIALS

Nov 18, 2006

Another dent in public trust

The arrest of Wakayama Gov. Yoshiki Kimura on suspicion of involvement in rigging bids for a prefectural sewerage project has further weakened public trust in local government. He became the first incumbent governor to be arrested on such an allegation. Bribery is also suspected inasmuch as a slush fund...

EDITORIALS

Nov 18, 2006

Quicker justice for misdemeanors

As part of national legal reform, a speedy trial system for misdemeanors was introduced last month in summary and district courts. Trials for minor offenses -- from indictment to sentencing -- used to take about two months. Under the new system, the period has been shortened to two weeks in principle....

EDITORIALS

Nov 17, 2006

Big business pushes lower taxes

Under new chairman Mr. Masaaki Honma, the Tax Commission, an advisory body directly responsible to the prime minister, appears poised to give priority to reducing the tax burden on business corporations. The commission must explain how a lower tax burden on enterprises will lead to energized economic...

EDITORIALS

Nov 17, 2006

Dip in personal spending

Japan's economy in the July-September period grew at an annualized 2.0 percent in real terms from the previous quarter, roughly twice as vigorously as the average growth forecast by private-sector economists. While the economy expanded for the seventh straight quarter and financial markets, including...

EDITORIALS

Nov 16, 2006

Russia moves closer to the WTO

Last week, Russia passed a key hurdle in its effort to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Moscow reached agreement with Washington, the lone major trading power with which it had not concluded a deal, on the terms of Russia's entry into the global trade body. The deal does not mean that Russia...

EDITORIALS

Nov 15, 2006

Southeast Asia battles haze, again

With fires burning out of control in Indonesia this fall, smog and haze have blanketed much of Southeast Asia. The region knows well the costs involved, and has even come up with a plan to deal with it. Unfortunately, Indonesia, the main offender, has not yet ratified the agreement. Action must be taken...

EDITORIALS

Nov 14, 2006

Uninspiring case for revision

Sixty years after the postwar pacifist Constitution was promulgated Nov. 3, 1946, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other politicians are pushing to revise the supreme law. Strangely, their call for constitutional revision comes amid a lack of enthusiasm for it among the public in general. Clearly, people...

EDITORIALS

Nov 12, 2006

'Very happy, super horse'

It was an Irish poet, W.B. Yeats, who definitively captured in words the magic that attends a great horse race. In his poem "At Galway Races" (1909) he wrote:

EDITORIALS

Nov 11, 2006

Closing a respectful distance

Communications Minister Yoshihide Suga's order on Friday that the international shortwave radio service of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corp.) devote more of its broadcast coverage to the past abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korean agents could open the door to government interference in news reporting....

EDITORIALS

Nov 11, 2006

On cue with the ministry's script

The recent revelation that the government has manipulated the process of promoting education reform raises the basic question of whether the government is morally qualified for education-related administration at a time when the Diet is discussing a bill to revise the Fundamental Law of Education.

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

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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