More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

September 01, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

EDITORIALS

Nov 13, 2007

The takeover of Nova

The court-appointed trustees of Nova Corp. have given up trying to rehabilitate the nation's largest language-school chain and have chosen a Nagoya-based company to take over part of Nova's business. Although the trustees' quick decision suggested that a business solution was at hand and the new company...

EDITORIALS

Nov 13, 2007

Joy of learning marked down

A panel of the Central Education Council, which advises the education minister, has compiled an interim report that urges more class hours for core subjects in elementary and junior high schools — the first such move in 30 years. The proposal would be carried out as early as in 2011 as courses of study...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 11, 2007

Should we study race-intelligence links?

By Peter Singer

PRINCETON, New Jersey — The intersection of genetics and intelligence is an intellectual minefield. Harvard's former President Larry Summers touched off one explosion in 2005 when he tentatively suggested a genetic explanation for the difficulty his university had in recruiting female professors in...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Nov 11, 2007

Why trust the self-serving United States anymore?

By Roger Pulvers

I began by asking myself the question linked inevitably to the survival of the United States as a trusted nation in the 21st century: Why can't America admit defeat?

EDITORIALS

Nov 11, 2007

Mr. Musharraf's misrule

In a move reminiscent of the Vietnam-era logic that justified destroying a village to save it from communism, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has suspended his country's constitution for the sake of saving its democracy. That decision is only the latest in a series of missteps that have undermined...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 10, 2007

Lucky little countries, or not?

By Ian Buruma

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, New York — Western Europe's small democracies have, on the whole, been exceptionally fortunate. Freer and richer than almost anywhere else in the world, countries such as Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland would seem to have little to worry about. This is why the world normally...

EDITORIALS

Nov 10, 2007

Hooked on hired help

Blackwater USA, a private security company, is undergoing unprecedented scrutiny following the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqis earlier this year. The investigation has revealed that this was only the most recent in a string of incidents that demonstrates horrific indifference to the violence perpetrated...

EDITORIALS

Nov 9, 2007

Difficult path for Mr. Ozawa

A fter a few days of fussing in the Democratic Party of Japan, Mr. Ichiro Ozawa on Tuesday withdrew his offer to resign as head of the No. 1 opposition party. Mr. Ozawa had announced his resignation over the weekend to express a sense of responsibility for causing a rift in the party over his handling...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 9, 2007

East Timor need not follow Myanmar

By Fidel V. Ramos

MANILA — East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste, is the world's newest democracy. It may have a population of less than 1 million, but it has a proud, heroic history and a rich culture built up over centuries of diverse ethnic and colonial influences.

EDITORIALS

Nov 9, 2007

Hope for hepatitis C settlement

The Osaka High Court has recommended that the parties involved in a lawsuit over hepatitis C virus infections caused by the use of tainted blood products compromise and reach a settlement. It is hoped that the state and drug makers will be ready to take responsibility for the medical disaster and apologize...

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 9, 2007

EU's moment of decision

By Daniel Cohn-Bendit

BRUSSELS — Is amnesia an integral part of politics? When it comes to the treaty to reform the European Union's institutions, which will be finalized this month, recent events suggest that amnesia does play a central role.

EDITORIALS

Nov 8, 2007

Mr. Putin's faulty history

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up rhetoric against U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in Europe. He recently paralleled Washington's plans with the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, considered to be the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. Although he quickly dismissed the chances...

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

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports