Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
May 17, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Opinion stories

EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2009
Smooth start to new trials
The first criminal trial under the lay judge system ended in Tokyo District Court last week, and a second such trial wrapped up in Saitama District Court on Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2009
Cory Aquino's legacy of enriched freedom
By Fidel V. Ramos
MANILA — The death of former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino — "Tita Cory" to most of the 92 million people of the Philippines — left behind a precious inheritance: a legacy of freedom that the Philippines came to share with oppressed peoples around the world.
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2009
Party leaders out of the gate
Prime Minister Taro Aso and Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Hatoyama held their first election debate Wednesday. Mr. Aso strove to paint the DPJ as a party with no governing ability, and tried to sell his Liberal Democratic Party as the "responsible" one that implements policy based on a solid...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2009
Berlusconi's scandals are no laughing matter
By Arnold Cassola
ROME — Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's political and sexual exploits make headlines around the world, and not just in the tabloid press. These stories would be no more than funny — which they are certainly are — if they were not so damaging to Italy and revelatory of the country's immobile...
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2009
A mockery in Myanmar
To the surprise of very few, a court in Myanmar has found Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of violating internal security laws and given a three-year prison term. As a theatrical coda to the ruling, the military regime immediately cut the sentence to 18 months of house arrest — to...
CARTOONS / DAHL'S JAPAN
Aug 13, 2009
Lay Judge Voter
COMMENTARY
Aug 12, 2009
Seven global lessons from a teachable event
By Ramesh Thakur
WATERLOO, Ontario — Apparently Sgt. James Crowley's arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in Boston on July 17 was "a teachable moment." Here are seven lessons relevant to world affairs.
EDITORIALS
Aug 12, 2009
The crisis in Nigeria
Little noticed in much of the world, the government of Nigeria is battling insurgents on two fronts. In the south, militants fight extraction of the region's mineral wealth for which they receive little in return; in the north, Islamic radicals are becoming increasingly violent as they try to impose...
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2009
Breakthrough with North Korea?
The release by North Korea of two Korean-American journalists is a welcome event. The two women broke the law, but incarceration was excessive punishment and their release was long overdue. The delay suggests the fate of these two women was determined by forces much larger than the details of their particular...
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2009
Seven topics for a summer day
By Hugh Cortazzi
LONDON — As Japanese lawmakers campaign for the Aug. 30 Lower House election, British members of Parliament are in recess and Prime Minister Gordon Brown is on holiday. Papers and weeklies are scraping the barrel for something to write about. Many fill their columns with so much sports that foreign...
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2009
Money swindlers don't rest
Cases of remittance fraud known as "furikome sagi" (send me money!) scams are still rampant. Swindlers posing as relatives or as officials of government agencies approach people by telephone or the Internet and dupe them into sending them money. The police, banks and other organizations must enhance...
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2009
Hitting the recovery road with eco-friendly products
By Takamitsu Sawa
On July 16 the State Statistics Bureau of China announced that GDP for the April-June quarter grew 7.9 percent in real terms from a year before, surpassing the 6.1 percent rate of the January-March quarter. After the Lehman Brothers shock last September, China's annual economic growth rate — which...
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.
Rich Japanese still fear yen crash, wealth manager says
The yen slumped more than 2% on Monday alone, nearing ¥150 to the dollar, after the U.S. and China temporarily lowered tariffs, triggering a reversal of bearish dollar bets.
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.
Irresponsible climbing prompts debate over who should pay for Mount Fuji rescues
Mount Fuji fills the skyline above a bridge connecting stores at a popular outlet shopping center in the city of Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in November 2024.
Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
Nissan hoping to electrify home crowd as Formula E returns to Tokyo
Nissan's Oliver Rowland drives during qualifying for Miami E-Prix at Homestead Motor Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on April 12.
For his first feature film, director Ryuya Suzuki created a masterpiece
"Jinsei," which follows its protagonist over a century, probes themes of identity and societal issues with a dark comic touch. The director, however, says he created the story without knowing where it would lead.
Historian Rob Fitts discovers earliest ever reference to baseball in Japan
Japan's Shohei Ohtani carries the Japanese flag onto the field before the start of the World Baseball Classic final against the United States in Miami on March 21, 2023.
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.
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.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027
Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER