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August 27, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Mar 29, 2002

A murder in Italy

The Italian city of Bologna can claim several distinctions. It is the home of one of Europe's oldest and most respected universities; it has some of the country's finest food; and it is the center of the "red belt," a geographic swath that has been governed by the left -- and has been the location of...

EDITORIALS

Mar 28, 2002

A fairer tax system needed

Two years ago the Tokyo Metropolitan Government imposed a controversial tax on large banks doing business in the capital, with business size, not income, as the standard. Twenty-one banks (now 18 due to reorganization) filed a lawsuit seeking repeal of the tax. On Tuesday the Tokyo District Court ruled...

EDITORIALS

Mar 27, 2002

Developing a new perspective

In an era of unprecedented prosperity, it is important to remember how unevenly this vast wealth is spread. More than 1 billion people -- one-fifth of the world's population -- must live on less than $1 a day; nearly half the population survives on twice that amount. There has long been agreement that...

EDITORIALS

Mar 26, 2002

Double-edged law for juveniles

The Liberal Democratic Party is preparing a bill designed to deal with "social conditions detrimental to the sound development of juveniles" -- conditions that induce or encourage sex and violence on the part of children. Although there is no question about the need to promote the healthy development...

EDITORIALS

Mar 25, 2002

More needed than festive spirit

This year is a special one for Japan and South Korea. Not only does the World Cup kick off in two months' time, but 2002 has also been designated the "Year of People-to-People Exchange Between Japan and the Republic of Korea." The governments of both countries have high hopes that the successful cohosting...

EDITORIALS

Mar 24, 2002

One book, one city

Imagine a whole city reading the same book at the same time, then getting together at libraries and museums, in local community centers and suburban living rooms, to talk about it. In a civic experiment that has blossomed into a national trend in the past couple of years, Americans from Seattle to Washington,...

EDITORIALS

Mar 23, 2002

Taiwan flexes its muscles

There appears to be a new confidence in Taiwan these days. The island government senses new diplomatic opportunities and is wasting no time in exploiting them. That is understandable, but Taipei must also be cautious. Over-reaching will only anger China, which is ever sensitive to the status of the island...

EDITORIALS

Mar 22, 2002

America's dangerous nuclear posture

The leak of a Pentagon report on the U.S. nuclear posture has unleashed a storm of controversy. Critics argue that it lowers the threshold at which the United States will use its nuclear weapons. That is not necessarily true. The cornerstone of the U.S. posture continues to be deterrence. The real concern...

EDITORIALS

Mar 21, 2002

Lengthy rule results in corruption

The re-election of Mr. Robert Mugabe as president of Zimbabwe augurs ill for the future of the southern African republic and for the regional stability of southern Africa as a whole. Mr. Mugabe has governed the former British colony since it became independent in 1980, pushing an ambitious program of...

EDITORIALS

Mar 20, 2002

A blessing in disguise for Mr. Kato

Corruption scandals have forced two influential members of the Liberal Democratic Party to leave the party in rapid succession. On Monday Mr. Koichi Kato, former LDP secretary general, resigned to take responsibility for the arrest of his one-time top aide, Mr. Saburo Sato, on charges of tax evasion....

EDITORIALS

Mar 19, 2002

Nation-building vs. military goals

Half a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, President George W. Bush's war on terrorism appears to be entering a more complex and difficult phase. U.S. troops have mounted a major ground offensive in Afghanistan, while a special forces team is helping fight Muslim militants...

EDITORIALS

Mar 18, 2002

Steeling for a fight

During the Vietnam War, a peculiar strand of U.S. logic was revealed when an official argued that a village had to be destroyed to save it from the North Vietnamese. A version of that tortured thinking has been resurrected recently as U.S. officials have struggled to justify President George W. Bush's...

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

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