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May 16, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2009
U.S.-Japan collaboration on high-speed rail
By Daniel Kliman
PRINCETON, N.J. — Traveling at up to 300 kph and boasting an impeccable safety record, the Shinkansen exemplifies Japan's technological prowess. It could also become a new frontier in the U.S-Japan partnership.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2009
Recalling the fall of the Wall 20 years later: 'Botched' press release changed the world
By Michael Meyer
NEW YORK — For weeks, the scene has been re-played on TV screens around the world, as if the events were breaking news: joyous Berliners dancing atop the infamous Wall, toppled 20 years ago on Nov. 9, 1989.
COMMENTARY
Nov 8, 2009
Don't bank on 'adverse impact' from Hatoyama's carbon cuts
By Takamitsu Sawa
I would like to commend Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama wholeheartedly for his determination to work toward a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. It is utterly absurd to question the feasibility of attaining this goal. Rather, the entire nation must recognize the...
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2009
Lifeline for enterprises
The government has submitted a bill to the Diet to help small and midsize enterprises overcome cash-flow problems. An increasing number of enterprises earning operating profits are going bankrupt after being pressed by lenders to repay loans. It is hoped that this bill will help such companies avoid...
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2009
Mission to cut budget fat
On Wednesday the Hatoyama administration's Government Revitalization Unit will begin the task of eliminating wasteful or unnecessary projects from fiscal 2010 budgetary requests, which have bloated to a sum of more than ¥95 trillion. Administrative Reform Minister Yoshito Sengoku, head of the unit,...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2009
No alternative to a new world architecture
By George Soros
NEW YORK — Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism, the world faces another stark choice between two fundamentally different forms of organization: international capitalism and state capitalism.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 8, 2009
Reading between the lines of Hatoyama's far-sighted 'vision thing'
By Roger Pulvers
The prime minister's keynote policy address in the Diet affords the nation's leader an opportunity to present their overall thinking to the people — as its name in Japanese, shoshin hyomei (declaration of convictions), would indeed suggest.
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2009
Mr. Hatoyama fuzzy on funds
As expected, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party has launched a salvo of criticism in the Lower House's Budget Committee against Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama over a political funds scandal. Unfortunately for Mr. Hatoyama, his explanations have not been very convincing.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2009
Debate Afghan war goals, then select strategy
By Adnan A. Zulfiqar and Craig Martin
The current debate in the United States over the war effort in Afghanistan contains no shortage of opinions on the best strategy for defeating the Taliban, but far too little discussion regarding the actual objectives of the war. The famous Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz wrote about war that...
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2009
Tough pension task for DPJ
When the Democratic Party of Japan was in the opposition, party member Mr. Akira Nagatsuma was known for research into the problem of hard-to- identify pension-premium payment records and his sharp questions on the matter in the Diet. Now as health, labor and welfare minister, he finds himself struggling...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2009
Recalling a saint's legacy to leprosy victims
By Yohei Sasakawa
In early October, "Father Damien" was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. This religious and spiritual ceremony is an opportunity to reflect on Father Damien's life and the lives of those with whom he was most closely associated — people affected by leprosy.
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2009
Confusing approach to goals
Under the slogan "Politics that values humans, not concrete," the Hatoyama administration is taking a different direction from that of the Liberal Democratic Party when it was the ruling party. Symbolic of the change are decisions to stop the Yanba dam project in Gunma Prefecture and to introduce monthly...
Success of Chinese-made fighter jets against India raises alarm in Asia
Chinese J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in November 2015.
Japan to recognize Taiwan as place of origin in family registration system
Masataka Yuhara, secretary-general of the Friends of Lee Teng Hui Association in Japan, which has been calling for "Taiwan" to be permitted as a place of origin in family registers.
Japanese retailers turn to California rice for cheaper alternative
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass eats California rice at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday along with Mitsuko Tsuchiya, vice president of retailer Aeon.
Japanese automakers looking at a ¥1 trillion hit from Trump tariffs 
Cars on display at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday. The automaker posted a massive annual net loss and confirmed that it plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.
Two crew feared dead after ASDF training jet crashes in Aichi
Self-Defense Forces personnel collect apparent parts of an Air Self-Defense Force T-4 training jet from a reservoir in Inuyama, Aichi Prefeture, on Thursday. The jet crashed shortly after takeoff a day earlier.
Sumo title contenders already emerging in early stages of Tokyo meet
Onosato (left) battles Abi on Day 3 of the Summer Basho in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Harmfully hot days for pregnant women in Japan nearly doubled over past five years
New research by a U.S. climate scientists’ group reveals that extreme heat has increased the risks of preterm births and other pregnancy complications in Japan, nearly doubling the number of days that are harmfully hot for pregnant women over the past five years.
Japanese automakers looking at a ¥1 trillion hit from Trump tariffs 
Cars on display at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday. The automaker posted a massive annual net loss and confirmed that it plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.
Tokyo Stock Exchange wants stocks to be affordable for the average investor
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Nihonbashi. The exchange wants companies to lower the entry cost of investing in their shares.
Consumption tax set to dominate Upper House election debate
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Podcast

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Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones
Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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