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August 28, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2006
Threat to confidentiality
As part of international efforts to stop money laundering by criminal organizations and money transfers by terrorist groups, the government is preparing a new bill that it hopes to submit to a regular Diet session next year.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2006
Kishi's diplomacy overdue
By Yukihisa Fujita
In a recent book Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was dubbed "The Man Who Turned Diplomacy into Fighting." Even after a diary by a former head of the Imperial Household Agency was revealed, describing Emperor Showa's displeasure over Yasukuni Shrine's decision in 1978 to honor Class-A war criminals,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2006
The rules of Lebanon's reconstruction
By Graciana Del Castillo
PRAGUE -- Lebanon's reconstruction, so painstakingly carried out in the 1990s, is now at risk of being undone. But Lebanon is not alone in that respect: According to the United Nations and several independent studies, countries in transition from war to peace face roughly a 50 percent chance of sliding...
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2006
A legacy of callousness
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, the 61st anniversary of the end of World War II, points to his failure to understand that such visits have a historical dimension that overshadows Japan's relations with neighboring countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2006
Gauging proportionate force
By George P. Fletcher
LONDON -- The war in Lebanon has prompted the term "disproportionate force" to be bandied about as if some crystal-clear principle of international law lay behind it, telling us when force is disproportionate and why it is illegal. But combat-related civilian deaths are not enough to say that "disproportionate...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2006
Intelligence works better than bullets
By Ramesh Thakur
The British police, acting closely with intelligence agencies in the United States, Pakistan and perhaps elsewhere over many months, have foiled a major terrorist plot of blowing up numerous planes between Britain and America.
COMMENTARY
Aug 16, 2006
Japan far too vulnerable to Pyongyang's missiles
By Robyn Lim
After North Korea's July 5 missile tests, Japan, for the first time since 1945, is asking America to beef up its military presence in Japan. Why? Because Japan's hedging and tardiness in relation to missile defense has left its cities more vulnerable than they need be. That risks encouraging Pyongyang...
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2006
The U.N. acts, at last
One month after fighting began in southern Lebanon, the United Nations Security Council last week passed a resolution calling for an end to the conflict. The resolution, which passed unanimously, was the subject of protracted negotiations and the compromises are evident in the final product. Both Israel...
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2006
A time to learn from the past
Japan marks the 61st anniversary of the end of World War II even as its politicians send signals that lead other peoples in the world to question its true inclinations. One such signal was the prediction that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi would visit Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday, the very day of the...
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2006
Heroic save in a long war
The good news is that British authorities thwarted a plot to blow up in midair around 10 airliners en route to the United States from Britain. The bad news is that the incident shows that the threat of an indiscriminate terrorist attack remains, reminding us that no nation or community can let up on...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2006
Children died as Western leaders stared
By Cesar Chelala
NEW YORK -- The failure to reach a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon for nearly a month was, in itself, a severe in- dictment against Western political leaders. They were the only ones who could stop a war that has caused tremendous suffering. The most vulnerable victims are hundreds of thousands of children....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2006
No shortcuts to free access
By Ken Sakamura
Last January, a major scandal broke over budget hotel chain Toyoko Inn Co.'s illegal removal of special guest rooms and parking spots set up for the disabled after the construction of those facilities had passed official inspection. Toyoko Inn converted the special rooms into normal rooms and the special...
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.
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.
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.

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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