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August 28, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 22, 2008
Lame conclusions about U.S. occupations
By Yoshi Tsurumi
NEW YORK, SPECIAL TO THE J (AP) Lately South Koreans' view of the United States has improved as the Obama-Clinton contest showed the possibility of ending the Bush-Republican Iraq war and halting the destruction of American democracy. Now, South Koreans are rebelling against President Lee Myung Bak,...
EDITORIALS
Jun 22, 2008
Uphold disabled people's rights
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities took effect May 3 — 30 days after it received its 20th ratification (April 3). So far, 27 countries have ratified the convention, which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities and promotes their social participation.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 22, 2008
Has Japan's dogged idealism of '68 become truly poodled?
By Roger Pulvers
On June 7, The New York Times' op-ed columnist Bob Herbert wrote an intriguing piece about the United States in 1968, recalling the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy exactly 40 years ago, and also referring to Sen. Barack Obama clinching the 2008 Democratic Party nomination for the presidency....
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2008
Security versus freedom
How to maintain a fair balance between national and individual security and traditional freedoms and human rights is an important political issue in Britain. We have been forced to accept increasing intrusion into our private lives by government agencies. Some fear we are living in a world similar to...
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2008
Baptism by fire for Taiwan's President Ma
By Frank Ching
The success of the first round of talks between Taiwan and the China mainland is a feather in the cap of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, who made improved relations with Beijing the central theme of his campaign platform. But he has yet to display his acumen where foreign policy is concerned.
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2008
Consumers to come first
An expert panel has submitted to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda a final plan to establish a Consumer Agency that would integrate the administration of consumer affairs now handled by different ministries and agencies.
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2008
Sea of cooperation
Japan and China have reached an agreement on gas development projects in the East China Sea. By shelving differences over the demarcation of exclusive economic zones (EEZs), the two countries achieved a compromise that will contribute to more stable and deeper bilateral ties.
COMMENTARY
Jun 20, 2008
Tribute to the good sense of a brighter Bush
By Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES — We in the West are always grateful and utterly relieved when East Asians manage to take significant steps away from the risk of serious conflict.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2008
Burden of subsidies grows
By Michael Richardson
SINGAPORE — As the price of oil has surged ever higher in recent weeks, Asian countries that subsidize energy prices have been hit hard. India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Taiwan have been forced to raise fuel prices by cutting their subsidies, despite concerns about stoking inflation,...
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2008
Death of a serial killer
Tsutomu Miyazaki, the death-row inmate convicted of killing four girls from 1988 to 1989, was executed Tuesday, as were two other men. The number of death-row inmates hanged on the orders of Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama has now reached 13, topping the post-1993 record of 10 ordered hanged by Justice...
EDITORIALS
Jun 20, 2008
A North Korean about-face
North Korea has promised to begin a "reinvestigation" of the fate of Japanese nationals abducted by its agents and to hand over the four remaining members of the nine leftists who hijacked a Japan Airlines jet to Pyongyang in 1970 along with two wives of the leftists.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2008
The EU must go on, with or without Ireland
By Uffe Ellemann-Jensen
Ireland should do the rest of Europe a favor and withdraw from the European Union. That seems to be the only tenable solution to the situation created by the Irish "no" to the Lisbon Treaty. The Irish have created a problem for themselves. They should not let it be a problem for others.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan Post to stop accepting some parcels for shipment to the U.S.
Japan Post's UGX will still be available for many rejected packages.
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
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.

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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