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August 29, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Apr 1, 2005

New era for depositors

Beginning Friday, in a sure sign of the renewed strength at Japanese banks, the government will reimpose the legal cap on deposit-insurance coverage. Nine years ago, in 1996, that ceiling -- 10 million yen in principal plus interest -- was removed amid widespread concern about banks' ballooning bad debt....

EDITORIALS

Mar 31, 2005

Rules to survive by

The Cabinet has approved a set of ground rules for protecting the people in the event of a military, terrorist or missile attack on Japan. The rules, officially called "Guidelines Concerning the Protection of the People," state what protective measures the government will take in such an emergency.

EDITORIALS

Mar 30, 2005

Ready or not, a revolution it is

Fourteen years after the fall of the Soviet Union, democracy is showing fresh signs of life in yet another former Soviet republic: Kyrgyzstan. Last week, in a dramatic display of "people power," popular protests against disputed elections toppled President Askar Akayev, who had ruled the Central Asian...

EDITORIALS

Mar 29, 2005

Mr. Bush's troubling nominations

Two controversial nominations have raised questions about U.S. President George W. Bush's intentions in his second term. Mr. Bush had pledged to put a renewed emphasis on diplomacy and to rebuild damaged relations with friends and allied nations. Yet the naming of Mr. Paul Wolfowitz to head the World...

EDITORIALS

Mar 28, 2005

Quicker domestic farm reform

Japanese agriculture is beleaguered. Farmland keeps shrinking as aging farmers retire. Collective farming is all but stalled as prospective partners stay on the sidelines. The domestic market faces strong pressure for liberalization. For all this, structural reform is making little headway. No wonder...

EDITORIALS

Mar 27, 2005

Warning to Japan and the world

A um Shinrikyo's terrorism of 10 years ago has traditionally been viewed though a domestic political prism, one that saw the act as the outgrowth of a uniquely Japanese set of circumstances. In fact, Aum was a harbinger of the future: It was less interested in political theater than killing large numbers...

EDITORIALS

Mar 26, 2005

Harnessing the power of dreams

Aichi Expo 2005, which opened Friday, differs significantly from previous world expositions. Its theme, "Nature's Wisdom," is the reason why. The six-month fair embodies two overarching principles: environmental friendliness and civic participation. The original construction plan was criticized for its...

EDITORIALS

Mar 25, 2005

Begin the postal-reform debate

With the passage of the 2005 government budget Wednesday, the Diet effectively ended the first half of its 150-day regular session. The biggest issue in the second half is the proposed privatization of postal services -- the main pillar of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform initiative. To succeed,...

EDITORIALS

Mar 24, 2005

Nuclear shadow follows Ms. Rice

Ms. Condoleezza Rice has just completed her first tour of Asia as U.S. secretary of state. The trip took her to the major capitals of the region -- Delhi, Islamabad, Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing -- as well as to Afghanistan, briefly. At each stop, she confirmed U.S. commitment to the region and pledged to...

EDITORIALS

Mar 22, 2005

Iraq's Parliament convenes

Two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and two and a half months after that country's historic elections, Iraq's Parliament held its inaugural session last week. Although the legislative session was more symbolic than substantive, the symbolism was important nonetheless. The convening of the...

EDITORIALS

Mar 21, 2005

Decade after Aum's crimes

For many Japanese, the March 20, 1995, sarin attack on Tokyo's subways -- which killed 12 people and sickened more than 5,000 -- is still fresh in their memory. The passage of 10 years seems hardly enough to heal the sorrow of the families of the deceased and the suffering of the surviving victims.

EDITORIALS

Mar 20, 2005

A flock of Emiews

I t must say something about the times when a news release heralding yet another piece of cutting-edge Japanese technology makes us scratch our heads and think how quaint and last-century it sounds. That happened last week when we read about Hitachi Ltd.'s rollout of a wheeled humanoid robot that it...

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

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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