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August 30, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2007
Confusion at the Defense Ministry
The confusion in the Defense Ministry that accompanied the selection of the ministry's new administrative vice minister appears to have been settled. But the unfortunate episode revealed a lack of prudence on the part of Defense Minister Yuriko Koike and a lack of leadership on the part of Prime Minister...
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2007
Surviving summer's heat waves
The hot weather last week certainly made some people wonder whether the Japanese archipelago is experiencing the effects of global warming. On Aug. 16, the city of Kumagaya in Saitama Prefecture and the city of Tajimi in Gifu Prefecture registered the highest temperature — 40.9 C — in the history...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2007
Japan's bureaucrats versus Shinzo Abe
By Masahiro Matsumura
OSAKA — Much has been made of the massive defeat Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party suffered in the July 29 Upper House elections. But as the smoke from the vote dissipates, it has become clear that the real victor is neither the leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2007
Nuclear deal fueling opposition to Singh
NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's political future has come under a cloud over a controversial civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States that has helped isolate his party in Parliament.
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2007
Restraints on spending
The Cabinet has approved a ¥47.3 trillion ceiling on core policy-related outlays in the fiscal 2008 budget. For the first time since he came to power in September 2006, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has drawn up the basic framework for a budget. Although the spending ceiling is ¥300 billion higher than...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2007
Islam's message of tolerance
By Mohammad Habash
DAMASCUS — I am often invited by religious authorities in the Persian Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia to attend meetings that are held to urge people to follow Islamic faith and law, while avoiding any debate connected to politics or political rights. Political rights, my hosts insist, are maintained...
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2007
Auspicious start to mediation
More than a year has passed since a mediation process was introduced in district courts to settle labor disputes, especially between individual workers and companies. The system, which went into force in April 2006, utilizes the experience of people such as corporate personnel affairs experts and labor...
COMMENTARY
Aug 20, 2007
Know that the devil is in the derivative
By Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES — Although Warren Buffet does have — I reluctantly admit — more money than I do (like maybe $50 or so billion more?), we do share a pair of common traits. The first is that this internationally famous investment banker (known as the "Sage of Omaha") tends to favor cautious, carefully...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Aug 20, 2007
Why can't Americans give up their guns?
By Hiroaki Sato
NEW YORK — Is there anything comparable to the numbing obstinacy, the utter blindness to reality, that politicians display toward the consequences of untrammeled gun ownership in this country? So I wondered, once again, when I stumbled upon President George W. Bush's answer to what some now call "the...
EDITORIALS
Aug 20, 2007
Downturn in economic recovery
The Cabinet Office has announced that Japan's gross domestic product for the April-June period grew 0.1 percent, or an annualized 0.5 percent, in real terms from the previous quarter. This points to slowing economic growth in Japan, although economic activities as a whole continue to expand.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2007
Why not let doping close the gene gap?
By Peter Singer
PRINCETON, New Jersey — There is now a regular season for discussing drugs in sports, one that arrives every year with the Tour de France. This year, the overall leader, two other riders and two teams were expelled or withdrew from the race as a result of failing, or missing, drug tests. The eventual...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 19, 2007
Something's up as 'buy' confidence slips
By Robert J. Shiller
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut — The sharp drop in the world's stock markets on Aug. 9 — after BNP Paribas announced that it would freeze three of its funds — is just one more example of the markets' recent downward instability or asymmetry. The markets have been more vulnerable to sudden large drops than...
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
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.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Virtual singer Kaf's music becomes magic in 'Kamitsubaki City Under Construction'
Virtual singer Kaf got her start in 2018 by posting songs and covers to YouTube. Now, after having performed live shows at major venues including Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, she is turning to voice acting and starring in the new anime series “Kamitsubaki City Under Construction.”

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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