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August 26, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2008
Rudd takes on climate change
By Alan Goodall
SYDNEY — Christmas is the best time of year for Australian governments to announce bad news. So when Canberra says this country will spend big to help stop world pollution, holidaying citizens are less than stunned.
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2008
Populist eyes default
It was only a matter of time, really. President Rafael Correa declared a default on Ecuador's foreign sovereign bonds earlier this month, vowing to fight "monster" debt-holders who had "illegal," "immoral" and "illegitimate" claims against his country. The question now is whether this is a precursor...
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2008
Preventing child pornography
In late November about 3,500 people from some 170 governments and from international and nongovernmental organizations attended the third World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Rio de Janeiro. The conference declared that accessing, downloading, storing or viewing child...
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2008
Worsening economic prospects
The government's economic report for December states that Japanese economic conditions are "worsening," a downgrade from the previous month's assessment that "the economy has weakened further." The term "worsening" was used for the first since February 2002, after the information-technology bubble had...
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2008
Climate-change meeting stalls
There is near-unanimous agreement — the few stubborn holdouts will likely never be convinced — that climate change is real and the world must respond aggressively to it. The existing framework for action, the Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012 and its effectiveness has been limited by the failure of...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2008
Asia will rise as dollar sinks
By Joergen Oerstroem Moeller
SINGAPORE — The world faces a depreciation of the dollar, a phenomenon that will result in the transfer of purchasing power from the United States to other parts of the world, specifically to Asia and to a lesser extent, Europe. An unprecedented economic decline for the U.S., never evinced in its history,...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 23, 2008
DPJ has a foot in the door
As the odds grow that the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan will take the reigns of government after the next general elections, the focus in the Japanese political arena is shifting to the lineup of a Cabinet headed by DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa, and to who would succeed him if he retired early...
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2008
Scoring the ability to think
The education ministry says that a halt to the recent slide in Japanese children's scholastic ability is indicated by the relatively high scores of Japanese fourth and eighth graders who took international achievement tests in 2007 for math and science. But it should not be proud.
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2008
Cross-strait ties leap ahead
Cross-strait rapprochement leaped forward last week as Taiwan and China launched direct flights and cargo shipping services. These new links reflect the economic reality that binds the two sides of the strait: Annual trade between the island and the mainland is about $100 billion. Political issues have...
COMMENTARY
Dec 22, 2008
Deal with the reparations
By Kiroku Hanai and Chris Hughes
This month marks the 67th anniversary of Japan's declaration of war against the United States and Britain. This long span of time is one reason the Japanese people have grown oblivious to the lessons learned from defeat in war.
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2008
What did the ASDF do there?
A unit of the Air-Self Defense Force has withdrawn from Iraq after completing its five-year-long transportation mission. Fortunately the ASDF unit suffered no casualties despite constant danger. Still, the Diet should examine whether the ASDF's activities in Iraq were proper from the viewpoint of the...
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2008
BOJ matches U.S. rate cut
The Bank of Japan's move and a government report last week point to the rapid deterioration of Japan's economy. The central bank cut the target rate for unsecured overnight call money from 0.3 percent to 0.1 percent. This followed a cut on Oct. 31 — which was the first in roughly 7 1/2 years — from...
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.
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.
JICA to designate four Japanese cities as 'hometowns' for African nations
The Japanese flag (left) with the flag of the African Union
Man arrested in Kobe stabbing had been staying at hotel near victim’s home
Masashi Tanimoto arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of a woman in Kobe, is sent to prosecutors on Sunday.
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.
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

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