Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
August 28, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Opinion stories

COMMENTARY
Jun 16, 2012
Greek election decided in Spain
By Gwynne Dyer
It's probably the first time that events in Spain have decided the outcome of a Greek election. Last weekend the European Union agreed to loan Spain's nearly insolvent banks €100 billion on relatively easy terms. Syriza, the hard-left protest party that came from nowhere to dominate last month's election...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 16, 2012
An EU 'banking union' will make things worse
By Hans-Werner Sinn
In blatant violation of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Commission has come forward with one bailout plan after another for Europe's distressed economies. Now it wants to socialize not only government debt by introducing Eurobonds, but also banking debt by proclaiming a "banking union."
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2012
New fisheries approach needed
The Cabinet on May 25 endorsed a white book on fisheries for fiscal 2011. As the white book points out, it is important to revitalize fisheries in the Pacific coastal areas of the Tohoku region, which greatly suffered from the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear crisis. Reviving...
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2012
A champion of independent media
Cancer took the life of lawyer and journalist Mr. Kazuo Hizumi on June 12 at the age of 49. Although he died young, he has left behind a persuasive analysis of contemporary Japanese society from the viewpoint of protecting and promoting freedom of expression and citizens' right to know. The public in...
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2012
Legacy of a Minamata researcher
Dr. Masazumi Harada, who devoted himself to the study of Minamata disease, Japan's worst disease induced by industrial pollution affecting an estimated more than 30,000 people, died on June 11 of acute myelocytic leukemia at his home in the city of Kumamoto. He was 77. In carrying out his research, he...
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2012
Direct yen-yuan trade
On June 1, new currency markets opened in Tokyo and Shanghai for direct trading between the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan. The direct trading of the two currencies has been motivated largely by the instability of the main currencies such as the U.S. dollar and the euro.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2012
China: no answers and no justice
By Rowena Xiaoqing
Ya Weilin, 73, hanged himself in a parking lot in Beijing on May 25. He was marking, as he had in one way or another for 23 years, the death of his son at the hands of the Chinese government and the People's Liberation Army on the night of June 3, 1989. After 23 years of waiting, 23 years of petitioning...
CARTOONS / DAHL'S JAPAN
Jun 14, 2012
Tax Goggles
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2012
Rampant use and abuse of religious freedom
By Peter Singer
What are the proper limits of religious freedom? Marianne Thieme, leader of the Party for the Animals in the Netherlands, offers this answer: "Religious freedom stops where human or animal suffering begins."
EDITORIALS
Jun 14, 2012
Bottom line of welfare
A weekly magazine in April reported that the mother of an entertainer earning an annual income of ¥50 million has been receiving public livelihood assistance known as seikatsu hogo (literally livelihood protection). Through a blog of a Diet member and other media, the entertainer was identified as TV...
COMMENTARY
Jun 13, 2012
China's demographic crunch
By Michael Richardson
Just four years from now, China will pass a milestone. Its huge workforce will peak and start shrinking. This will make it more difficult for the world's second largest economy to continue the turbo-charged growth that has played a key role in the rise not just of China, but also its Asia-Pacific trade...
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2012
Unraveling Aum's crimes
On June 3, the Metropolitan Police Department arrested former Aum Shinrikyo cult member Ms. Naoko Kikuchi, who was on the wanted list for her suspected involvement in the 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway system. She was living in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan Post to stop accepting some parcels for shipment to the U.S.
Japan Post's UGX will still be available for many rejected packages.
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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 note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER