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August 27, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Sep 27, 2008

Nuclear carrier at home

The 97,000-ton George Washington, a nuclear-powered carrier of the U.S. Navy, arrived at its new home port, Yokosuka, Thursday. The flattop carrying more than 70 aircraft is the fourth U.S. carrier to be stationed there since 1973 — after the Midway, the Independence and the Kitty Hawk, all oil-powered....

COMMENTARY

Sep 27, 2008

The world's new hot spot

By David Howell

BAKU, Azerbaijan — In this large Caspian city on the edge of Europe and Asia the problems of the Western world — shaky banks, financial upheavals, struggles with terrorism — seem far away.

EDITORIALS

Sep 27, 2008

Slow reaction to tainted food

Following the scandal in which rice contaminated with pesticides or mold toxin was resold to companies, an industrial chemical is now suspected of having found its way into food products. Marudai Food Co. has begun a recall of five products possibly made with melamine-tainted milk purchased from a Chinese...

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Sep 26, 2008

Japan's mature spectators

Has democracy matured in Japan? Scholar-turned-politician Yoichi Masuzoe used to say Japan is a mature democratic nation, as its politics is led by public opinion. Recently, however, he seems to have reversed his way of thinking, as he states that Japanese citizens have become more like spectators than...

EDITORIALS

Sep 26, 2008

Mr. Aso has his Cabinet

Mr. Taro Aso was chosen as the nation's 92nd prime minister by the Diet and immediately formed his Cabinet on Wednesday. For Mr. Aso, a grandson of the late former Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida and a son-in-law of the late former Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki, this should be an auspicious occasion.

COMMENTARY

Sep 25, 2008

Will bankers ever learn?

By Hugh Cortazzi

PARIS — For a week it looked as though banking was not "as safe as houses" (a phrase that has seemed singularly inappropriate recently), but instead would turn into a "house of cards" that might be blown down with a puff of wind.

EDITORIALS

Sep 25, 2008

Testing for what?

The education ministry has made public the results of nationwide scholastic tests conducted for sixth graders and third-year middle school students in April. Depending on the problems, the percentage of correct answers was eight to 16 points lower than in April 2007, when similar tests were held for...

EDITORIALS

Sep 25, 2008

Alternatives to a dam

Once a large public works project is decided on, it is very hard to stop it because of political and bureaucratic inertia. But Kumamoto Gov. Ikuo Kabashima has called on the central government to cancel its plan to build a dam on the Kawabe River, a tributary of the Kuma River, known for its rapid and...

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 25, 2008

Misuse of the inaction argument

By Bjorn Lomborg

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — One commonly repeated argument for doing something about climate change sounds compelling, but turns out to be almost fraudulent. It is based on comparing the cost of action with the cost of inaction, and almost every major politician in the world uses it.

COMMENTARY

Sep 25, 2008

Bright side of the U.S. financial meltdown

By Tom Plate

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Rather than curse the current financial darkness, let us try to light candles. Without blowing our credibility entirely, let us see if we can illuminate the brighter side of this global meltdown. Here is a trio of pluses to try on for size.

COMMENTARY / World

Sep 25, 2008

Untapped energy source fuels a paradox

By Michael Richardson

SINGAPORE — Ice that burns? It sounds like a magician's trick. So do some of the exotic names given to gas hydrate — "flammable sorbet," "crystal gas" and "burning ice." But recent scientific surveys and test drilling in Asia and elsewhere have proven that this substance exists in massive, potentially...

EDITORIALS

Sep 24, 2008

Setting up for a showdown

The Liberal Democratic Party on Monday elected Mr. Taro Aso as its new leader, after the opposition Democratic Party of Japan approved Mr. Ichiro Ozawa as party leader for a third term Sunday. Mr. Aso, as a new prime minister, will have a showdown with Mr. Ozawa in general elections expected in late...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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