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August 27, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2006
Dark side of structural reform
By Susumu Nishibe
Most economic pundits still support the idea of free competition in the market as the key principle of the society. As Japanese society becomes increasingly Americanized, however, a number of "fakes" have appeared in the market.
EDITORIALS
Apr 17, 2006
Prayer: not the best medicine
In a study that has made a splash this month, an American cardiologist concludes that praying for sick people has no effect one way or the other on their recovery. In fact, if they know they are being prayed for, it makes them worse. Non-believers naturally find the first result predictable and the second...
COMMENTARY
Apr 17, 2006
Ozawa confronts the LDP
By Keizo Nabeshima
The Democratic Party of Japan has made a fresh start under new chief Ichiro Ozawa, known for his "iron fist" leadership. His first priority is to revitalize the top opposition party, which has lost public trust following the fiasco over a fake e-mail.
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2006
Burden-sharing must be fair
Japan and the United States have been holding negotiations over sharing of the cost to relocate U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam. In the negotiations held in Washington earlier this month, the two parties could not overcome their differences. A followup round of negotiations held in Tokyo last week...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2006
Myths and misconceptions on Chernobyl
By Louisa Vinton and Kalman Mizsei
LONDON -- The 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident of April 26, 1986, is prompting a new wave of alarmist claims about its impact on human health and the environment. As has become a ritual on such commemorative occasions, the death toll is tallied in the hundreds of thousands, and fresh...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 16, 2006
'Conspiracies of silence' feign sympathies largely unfelt
By Roger Pulvers
Japanese people are known for their sense of propriety and decorum. Reserve and self-restraint are fine Japanese virtues, and they have afforded the society an enviable harmony and level of personal safety unparalleled in the developed world. Putting a damper on people's self-assertive instincts, and...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2006
Democracy? Good leaders matter more
By Tom Plate
SINGAPORE -- The notion of multiparty democracy as an ideal one-size-fits-all form of government is, I am sorry to have to report, not exactly bowling people over these days. Take a look at Thailand and the Philippines, which Washington has often enshrined on its ideological placards as a pair of shining...
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2006
Abduction issue not resolved
The Japanese government has announced DNA analysis results that indicate that the daughter of Ms. Megumi Yokota, a Japanese abducted by North Korean agents in 1977, was very likely fathered by a South Korean man also abducted by the Pyongyang regime in the 1970s, a Mr. Kim Young Nam. There is now a strong...
COMMENTARY
Apr 15, 2006
2006 is all about democracy
By Ralph Cossa
HONOLULU -- The 2006 National Security Strategy (NSS) document has just been released. News coverage has focused on one word: preemption. Largely overlooked has been the much greater emphasis on the promotion of democracy as the primary objective of American foreign policy in the second administration...
EDITORIALS
Apr 14, 2006
A new approach for prisons
The 1908 Prison Law was revised last year to improve protection of prisoners' human rights and enhance their social rehabilitation, ushering in a new era of reforms in the nation's prison system. A new type of prison is now under construction in Mine, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The Mine Social Rehabilitation...
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2006
Tattered NPT needs repairs
By David Howell
LONDON -- What has become of the globally agreed regime designed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons -- the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)? The answer these days is that while it has served the world well for many years it is now in tatters.
COMMENTARY
Apr 14, 2006
Slow courtship for the Vatican and China
By Frank Ching
HONG KONG -- A senior Chinese official has acknowledged that Beijing and the Vatican have been in contact about the normalization of diplomatic relations. This was the first formal confirmation of hints from Vatican officials that negotiations for the restoration of ties, broken since 1951, were going...
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
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.
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.
Japan ranked one of the most peaceful places in Asia as global tensions rise
Visitors look at paper cranes hung at Peace Park in Nagasaki on Aug. 8, a day ahead of the 80th anniversary of the World War II atomic bombing of the city.
Misinformation over JICA’s Africa ‘hometown’ initiative sparks controversy
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba arrives at a photo session for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reacts, in Yokohama, last week.
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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