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August 29, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Sep 25, 2006
Sticky bureaucratic fingers
By Kiroku Hanai
It used to be said that Japanese bureaucrats were first rate while politicians were third rate. That's no longer true, as evidenced by an appalling spate of scandals involving slush funds in the central and local governments.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 25, 2006
Supreme Court ruling doesn't hold water
By Hiroaki Sato
NEW YORK -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia can't be serious. In a recent decision he penned, he quoted "a famous exchange" in the 1942 movie "Casablanca" and a tale about "an Eastern guru" exclaiming, "Ah, after that it is turtles all the way down." The first quote was intended to deride the...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2006
Pope showed bias in misguided moment
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG -- What theological devil tempted Pope Benedict XVI earlier this month to make a byzantine reference to a long-forgotten Christian emperor who, under siege in Constantinople (now Istanbul) from Muslim forces, made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad's instruction to spread Islam by...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2006
What's in store for Thailand?
By Ramesh Thakur
During a conference in Bangkok in August, signs of a three-way tussle among Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his political opponents and the military were already evident. For example, a former army chief who remains influential as an adviser to the king made a point of wearing the uniform while addressing...
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2006
Summer's end
It's true, summer tends to linger on like an unwanted guest long after the autumnal equinox gives it the official boot in late September. But the season needs to face facts: Ever since August departed, it's been looking tired and stale. The same thing happens every year. The first twinges of fall set...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2006
The art of making classical music fans
By Melvyn Krauss
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- September is traditionally the time when opera companies and orchestras return to their home cities from Aix, Salzburg, Tanglewood and countless other summer festivals. This is also marked (on both sides of the Atlantic) by the return of worries about how classical music is financed....
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2006
Right to a minority opinion
The Tokyo District Court last week ruled illegal the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education's policy of forcing school teachers to sing the national anthem "Kimigayo (Your Reign)" during school ceremonies. The court ruled that the policy violates Article 19 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2006
Japan needs a Willy Brandt
By Bernhard May
BERLIN -- Junichiro Koizumi will resign as the Japanese prime minister at the end of this month and be replaced by Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe. Koizumi became prime minister in April 2001. After more than five years as prime minister, Koizumi's political record is checkered: He achieved big successes...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 24, 2006
Japan's hordes of hoarders still look to their navel nest eggs
By Roger Pulvers
I have spent nearly 40 years writing about Japan, virtually all of the time trying to show how Japanese people are really no different from other nationalities. But, by God, there is one aspect of Japanese life that makes this country unique. I defy any reader to name a society that has a custom like...
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2006
Stepping up pressure on Pyongyang
Japan imposed financial sanctions on North Korea earlier this week. The action, which came more than two months after the North's July 5 test-firing of seven missiles, may have been be unavoidable since Pyongyang has not shown any sign that it will return to the six-nation talks on its nuclear-weapons...
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2006
A setback for Thai democracy
The Thai military seized power Tuesday, revoking the constitution and declaring martial law. The coup took place while Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was in New York attending a U.N. General Assembly session.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2006
India's song of freedom creates a divide
By Gautaman Bhaskaran
MADRAS, India -- India has a national song, and a national anthem. The first, "Vande Mataram (Salute to the Mother)," signified the cry for freedom from British brutality. The song pushed the nation into a nationalistic frenzy that often caused fear and panic among the occupying British forces. The first...
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.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
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.

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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