More Editorials Articles - The Japan Times

August 29, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

EDITORIALS

Jan 5, 2004

Restoring a nuclear-energy policy

The Atomic Energy Commission's latest white paper, announced late last year for the first time in 5 1/2 years, is a reminder of the troubled condition of Japan's nuclear power industry. The report's publication had been delayed because of a series of irregularities and accidents that came to light in...

EDITORIALS

Jan 4, 2004

Ten words that mirror a year

It's the time of year when people try to make sense of the past 12 months by coming up with lists -- the best this and the worst that, what was in and what was out and, above all, Top 10 Everything. Some of the latter lists are so familiar and expected that New Year's wouldn't be the same without them:...

EDITORIALS

Jan 3, 2004

Vote buying saps democracy

On the face of it, the much-touted drive for political reform in Japan appears to be going almost nowhere. On Monday, a Liberal Democratic Party legislator was arrested on charges of violating the Public Offices Election Law. Indeed, Japanese politics is locked in a never-ending cycle of corruption....

EDITORIALS

Jan 1, 2004

Year of tests for Asian democracy

For those who argue that democracy is alien to Asian society and culture, 2004 will provide the litmus test. The year will be thick with elections, challenging both voters and political systems throughout the region. Every campaign introduces volatility to domestic politics, but the sheer number of elections...

EDITORIALS

Dec 31, 2003

Assault on the established order

The concluding year will be remembered for the many ways it undermined the building blocks of the world as we know it. Globally, regionally and even here at home, the events of 2003 posed a direct challenge to the most basic ways in which states and societies act. While change is inevitable, it is by...

EDITORIALS

Dec 30, 2003

Fight against SARS begins at home

The New Year holiday is a season for travel. It is at this time, when many people and goods are moving across national borders, that an outbreak of infectious disease becomes more likely. This winter's first case of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) was confirmed in Taiwan on Dec. 17. This was...

EDITORIALS

Dec 29, 2003

The year politics turned a corner

Looking back on Japanese politics in 2003, two events stand out from all others: One is November's general election, which brought the two-party system a step closer to reality. The other is the government's decision earlier this month to send Self-Defense Force troops to Iraq on a humanitarian mission....

EDITORIALS

Dec 28, 2003

Behind the veil in France

Sometimes when we read about a political decision being taken in another country, the response seems both easy and obvious. Chechen independence, an Iraqi trial for toppled leader Saddam Hussein, approval of the Kyoto treaty to slow global warming, disapproval of the Israelis' land-gobbling border fence:...

EDITORIALS

Dec 27, 2003

Mr. Gadhafi's change of heart

Mercurial Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has pulled off another coup. Last week's announcement that Libya would give up all its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has turned the former pariah into an international statesman. Surprising though the move may have seemed, it was the result...

EDITORIALS

Dec 26, 2003

Privatizing the highway corporations

Finally the stage has been set for the privatization of the debt-ridden highway corporations. The government plans to send related bills to the next Diet session, which opens in January. If the package is approved as scheduled, a new tollway system will go into operation in fiscal 2005 under the management...

EDITORIALS

Dec 25, 2003

It's Pyongyang's move

The good news about nuclear nonproliferation is that Iran and Libya, both of which have long been suspected of harboring nuclear ambitions, have apparently changed their minds. The bad news is that North Korea, which already has nuclear-weapons programs, remains adamant about keeping them, thus clouding...

EDITORIALS

Dec 24, 2003

Mr. Sharon strikes again

I sraeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is known as "the Bulldozer" for his relentless approach to problem solving. Mr. Sharon likes to create "facts on the ground" that make certain outcomes -- his preferred outcomes -- inevitable. Recently, Mr. Sharon announced that he was prepared to proceed with unilateral...

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

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports