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EDITORIALS

Sep 17, 2010

The LDP's new front line

On Sept. 9, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party chose new party executives: LDP President Sadakazu Tanigaki tapped former infrastructure and transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara as secretary general, the party's No. 2 post, and former environment and defense minister Yuriko Koike as head of...

EDITORIALS

Sep 17, 2010

Currency intervention at last

The government and the Bank of Japan sent a strong message to foreign currency markets Wednesday by intervening in the currency trade for the first time since March 2004, to stem the rise in the value of the yen against the dollar. This was a surprise move because Prime Minister Naoto Kan had been considered...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 16, 2010

Gillard has her work cut out

By Alan Goodall

SYDNEY — With the Labor Party back in power by the skin of its teeth and with the Greens holding the whip, countries buying essentials from Australia should expect to negotiate more carefully with suppliers of coal, iron ore, uranium and foodstuffs.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 16, 2010

If wild fish could only scream

By Peter Singer

PRINCETON, N.J. — When I was a child, my father used to take me for walks, often along a river or by the sea. We would pass people fishing, perhaps reeling in their lines with struggling fish hooked at the end of them. Once I saw a man take a small fish out of a bucket and impale it, still wriggling,...

CARTOONS / DAHL'S JAPAN

Sep 16, 2010

Monetary Goldilocks

EDITORIALS

Sep 16, 2010

Mr. Kan keeps his job

Prime Minister Naoto Kan saved his job by beating Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, in Tuesday's election of the DPJ president. In a big win, he got 721 points from DPJ Diet lawmakers, local assembly members, and registered party members and supporters against...

COMMENTARY

Sep 15, 2010

Corruption is not very sporting

By Hugh Cortazzi

Top players in world sports earn salaries that are staggeringly large. But, if various allegations that have recently been published are true, the earnings of top sportsmen, combined in many cases with huge payments from companies using the stars' images to advertise their products, have not been sufficient...

EDITORIALS

Sep 15, 2010

Japan's rice dilemma

Rice prices are falling. This may be good news for consumers, but it will cause problems. Because the Democratic Party of Japan government has started the policy of income compensation for individual farmers, sharp decreases in rice prices could make operation of the compensation program difficult. ...

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Sep 15, 2010

Seoul blundering on North

South Korea has committed a number of blunders in its efforts to gather intelligence on North Korea since President Lee Myun Bak took office in February 2008 with a tougher stand against Pyongyang than his predecessors.

EDITORIALS

Sep 15, 2010

Anti-base assembly in Nago

Candidates who support Mayor Susumu Inamine of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, an opponent of the Japan-U.S. plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from Ginowan in the central part of Okinawa Island to the less populated Henoko area of Nago, won a majority in the city's assembly in Sunday'...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 15, 2010

Why Putin is good for Japan

By Tina Burrett

For Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, it has been a hectic summer. He took a spin across 2,100 km of the Siberian tundra in a Lada, was initiated into the Hell's Angels, fired darts at gray whales with a crossbow and still found time to jump into the cockpit of a Be-200 jet to extinguish the wildfires...

EDITORIALS

Sep 14, 2010

JSA must live up to its words

Japan Sumo Association chairman Hanaregoma declared on Aug. 30 that the association will cut all ties with gangsters, a statement that was endorsed by the JSA's executive board and board of trustees. The JSA has been rocked by such scandals as members helping yakuza get ringside seats and gambling on...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.

What comes after 100?

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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

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