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August 28, 2025

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COMMENTARY

Jul 21, 2008

Birth of a massacre myth

By Gregory Clark

With the Beijing Olympics looming we see more attempts to remind the world about the alleged June 4, 1989, massacre of democracy-seeking students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

EDITORIALS

Jul 21, 2008

Toning down the convenience

In an attempt to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, some local governments are planning to ask convenience stores to rethink their round-the-clock operations. If fully implemented, fewer business hours would have a great impact on people's lifestyles. As a first step, though, it would be necessary...

EDITORIALS

Jul 21, 2008

Incongruous with the facts

The Tokyo High Court has upheld a 2005 Mito District Court decision that granted a retrial to two men who were convicted of a 1967 murder-robbery and spent 29 years behind bars. The case lacked material evidence and the prosecution relied on confessions to build the case.

EDITORIALS

Jul 20, 2008

Science fact or fiction?

Later this year, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is scheduled to go into operation outside Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists hope the LHC will enable them to better understand what happened when the universe was born. Some critics fear that the machine could trigger a catastrophe that ends life on Earth...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 20, 2008

Can Hu ease up to enjoy the world's wishes?

By Kevin Rafferty

HONG KONG — With a little unexpected help from people who would not normally be considered its friends, China has recently taken important strides to improve regional relations and become a global political as well as economic player.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Jul 20, 2008

Lemon-picking prof prompts reflection on strange twists of fate

By Roger Pulvers

Lately I have been thinking about some wonderful teachers I was blessed with at university. Three, in particular, shaped my life. Had I not encountered them, I doubt that I myself would have become an author of fiction, a translator and a teacher.

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 19, 2008

What's the beef with Seoul?

By Michael G. Kulma

NEW YORK — At the outset of the violent protests in South Korea over imported beef from the United States, the entire Cabinet of South Korean President Lee Myung Bak offered to resign. Last week, Lee fired three of them. But beef, it turns out, represents just the tip of the iceberg of grievances against...

EDITORIALS

Jul 19, 2008

Niigata earthquake anniversary

The first anniversary of the earthquake off Niigata Prefecture came Wednesday, reviving sad memories for residents in Kashiawazaki, Niigata Prefecture, and other places. The quake resulted in the deaths of 15 people, and more than 2,300 were injured. Some 40,000 homes sustained damage, including 1,330...

EDITORIALS

Jul 19, 2008

Ensuring accuracy in food labels

A government plan to enact a new law in or after fiscal 2009 to establish the traceability of all food products is timely and appropriate. People's trust in food labels, already undermined by previous incidents, was further shaken by a recent scandal in which Chinese eels were falsely labeled as domestic...

COMMENTARY / World

Jul 18, 2008

Raul Castro seeks alternatives to Venezuela

By Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira and Ted Loos

BRASILIA — Raul Castro has begun a gradual process of changing Cuba's economy and international relations. Within Cuba, he hopes to legitimize his government by improving standards of living. Outside of Cuba, he does not want to be held captive by Cuba's one international supporter: Venezuelan President...

EDITORIALS

Jul 18, 2008

Inspiration for Japanese literature

Ms. Yang Yi, a Chinese resident in Japan, has won the 139th Akutagawa Prize, the prestigious literary prize launched in 1935. She became not only the first Chinese to receive the prize but also the first recipient who didn't start learning Japanese until after becoming an adult. We congratulate her on...

EDITORIALS

Jul 18, 2008

Mongolian democracy tested

Riots that followed parliamentary elections the week before last shone a spotlight on an oft-forgotten haven of democracy in Northeast Asia. A state of emergency has ended, but questions about Mongolia's stability remain. As ever, the solution may be found in genuinely representative politics that puts...

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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