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August 25, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Jan 20, 2010

DPJ drawn into Mr. Ozawa's pickle

A regular Diet session started Monday — less than a week after the chief secretary and two former secretaries of Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, were arrested. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad arrested the three on...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 20, 2010

Poverty remains endemic

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram

NEW YORK — Last year the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization announced that the number of hungry people in the world increased over the last decade. In 2008, the World Bank announced a significant decline in the number of poor people up to 2005.

COMMENTARY

Jan 20, 2010

Swords crossed in Sri Lanka

By Brahma Chellaney

Two celebrated heroes who, as president and army chief, helped end Sri Lanka's long and brutal civil war against the Tamil Tigers are now crossing political swords. Whichever candidate wins Sri Lanka's Jan. 26 presidential election will have to lead that small but strategically important island-nation...

EDITORIALS

Jan 19, 2010

Indian Ocean mission ends

The Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean ended Friday, upon the expiration of the relevant law. The mission was in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan that began in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 19, 2010

EU consumers to foot bill for protectionism

By Alec Van Gelder and Timothy Cox

LONDON — The European Union imposed 89 new trade barriers in 2009 and rounded off the year by prolonging tariffs on shoes from China and Vietnam, originally due to expire in 2008. The EU needs to understand that trade barriers limit growth and economic recovery — as well as harming its own companies...

COMMENTARY

Jan 19, 2010

Military spending — for what?

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON — The United States dominates the globe militarily. The threats facing America pale compared to its capabilities. Why, then, is Washington spending so much on the military?

EDITORIALS

Jan 19, 2010

Learning from tragedy

Fifteen years have passed since the Great Hanshin Earthquake hit Kobe and adjacent areas on Jan. 17, 1995. The magnitude-7.3 quake originated in the northern part of Awaji Island. In Kobe, the seismic intensity measured seven on the Japanese scale, the highest level. The quake took the lives of more...

EDITORIALS

Jan 18, 2010

More trade 'noodles'

Little noticed at the beginning of the year was the introduction of several more strands into the "noodle bowl" of Asia-Pacific trade agreements. On Jan. 1, several new free trade agreements went into effect. These trade deals are by no means perfect. In fact, they represent distinctly second- or even...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 18, 2010

Europe's surrender of resources similar to U.S. spending on wars

By Hans-Werner Sinn

MUNICH — Once upon a time, stocks were risky and collateralized securities were safe. That time is over, as the breakdown of the American mortgage securitization market has shown.

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Jan 18, 2010

Ex-minister making waves

Former Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, who had lain low for some time, resumed his political activities in earnest late last year. Political observers now wonder what his ultimate aims are: Does he seek to create a political party of his own?

EDITORIALS

Jan 17, 2010

Japan's cultural heritage

Japanese traditional culture received a big boost late last year when UNESCO added 13 Japanese cultural assets to its Intangible Cultural Heritage List. This worldwide list details cultural arts, traditions and practices that deserve safeguarding for humanity's future. Japan should be proud that it has...

COMMENTARY

Jan 17, 2010

Will the Tiger find a way out of the Woods?

By Tom Plate

LOS ANGELES — Buddhism is one of the historic religions of Asia, and today its influence remains strongly felt throughout the world. One has only to scratch the surface of this religion that originated in India in the fifth or sixth century B.C. to know that it has much to say about suffering.

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

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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