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August 24, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2009
Revise the whistle-blower law
More than three and a half years have passed since a law to protect whistle-blowers went into force in April 2006. The law was enacted in response to the courage demonstrated by corporate whistle-blowers in bringing irregularities to light. Revelations in publicized cases have included allegations that...
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2009
A yellow card for J. League
The financial conditions of J. League football clubs are deteriorating because of the nation's economic downturn. Most J. League clubs are spilling red ink. They need to take measures to economize and the J. League should reconsider its expansion plans.
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2009
The child allowance
An allowance for each child up to the third grade at middle school is a main promise in the Democratic Party of Japan's election manifesto. The party plans to make the monthly ¥26,000 allowance a permanent measure. The Hatoyama administration plans to give half the amount, or ¥13,000, in fiscal 2010,...
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2009
Expanded stimulus package
The government Tuesday announced a ¥7.2 trillion emergency stimulus package, some 2.7 times more than the originally planned ¥2.7 trillion, to buoy the Japanese economy. Apart from the rather questionable economic impact of the package, confusion in the Cabinet and lack of leadership on the part of...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2009
Central bankers must finesse money supply
By Edin Mujagic and Sylvester Eijffinger
TILBURG, Netherlands — The current economic crisis highlights the need for major changes at central banks. It is time for a return to some form of moderate monetarism — but in a 21st-century mold.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2009
Aussie revolt over climate
By Alan Goodall
SYDNEY, Australia — Even before the Copenhagen talkfest opened this week, a climatic wrangle cost an Australian political leader his job. Even before the expected international fallout from Copenhagen, Canberra is on alert for national electoral turmoil.
EDITORIALS
Dec 10, 2009
The climate in Copenhagen
The U.N. Climate Change Conference is under way in Copenhagen with more than 15,000 participants, including delegates from 192 countries, attending. Its original goal was to conclude a new treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol and to set a global framework to curb greenhouse gas emissions between 2013...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2009
Turkey aims to reconnect with its neighbors
By Suat Kiniklioglu
ANKARA — Nowadays, the international media are obsessed with the question of who "lost" Turkey and what that supposed loss means for Europe and the West. More alarmingly, some commentators liken Turkey's neighborhood policy to a revival of Ottoman imperialism. Recently, a senior Turkish columnist went...
COMMENTARY
Dec 10, 2009
Asia's new strategic partners
By Brahma Chellaney
The recently concluded India-Australia security agreement has come at a time when tectonic power shifts are challenging Asian strategic stability. Asia has come a long way since the emergence of two Koreas, two Chinas, two Vietnams and a partitioned India. It has risen dramatically as the world's main...
EDITORIALS
Dec 9, 2009
At last, an Afghan strategy
After months of deliberation, U.S. President Barack Obama has announced his plans for Afghanistan. As anticipated, Mr. Obama decided to send an additional 30,000 troops to the embattled country over the new few months. And as expected, that decision has not satisfied anyone. His supporters want U.S....
COMMENTARY
Dec 9, 2009
Doom and gloom scenarios for lifeboat Japan
By Gwynne Dyer
Japan is a lucky country. When the global average temperature has gone up by 2 degrees Celsius and most of mainland Asia is ravaged by famines, when civil wars and failed states and waves of climate refugees are the norm from Tehran to Hanoi and from Madras to Beijing, Japan will still be at peace and...
EDITORIALS
Dec 8, 2009
Focus on facts in Copenhagen
One factor has been overlooked throughout the controversy surrounding the release of e-mails that allegedly show that leading climate change advocates tried to manipulate data and silence opposing views: the timing. The hacked e-mails were released just days ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference,...
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Man arrested over deadly stabbing of woman in Kobe
Masashi Tanimoto, 35, the suspect in the deadly stabbing a 24-year-old woman, is taken into custody in Kobe on Friday night.
Japanese city proposes two-hour daily limit for smartphone use
The Toyoake Municipal Government in Aichi Prefecture is planning to enact an ordinance to urge all smartphone users in the city to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan

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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