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August 23, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2004
How will postal privatization help?
Japan's postal savings system, along with mail and insurance services, is to be privatized over a 10-year period beginning in 2007, according to the guidelines drawn up by the government's Economic and Fiscal Policy Council earlier this month. The question is how to transform the system into a viable...
EDITORIALS
Aug 17, 2004
No need for gloom over economy
Japan's current economy can be likened to a patient nearly recovering from illness: He is allowed to go outside the hospital when weather permits, but he is confined to bed again to rest if he is exposed to cold air and feels poorly.
EDITORIALS
Aug 16, 2004
North Korea must move first
It is deeply disappointing that last week's working-level talks in Beijing between Japan and North Korea produced no substantial progress on the question of whether Japanese abductees remain in North Korea. Pyongyang should reverse its backward-looking attitude and sincerely work to settle this issue....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2004
State debt no boon for financial markets
By Christopher Lingle
PRAGUE -- There is a palpable schizophrenia concerning public-sector debt. On one hand, a high proportion of public-sector debt relative to gross domestic product is seen as a warning sign that a country is suffering from macroeconomic imbalances. Similarly, a high ratio of government debt to total debt...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2004
Challenging Canberra's march to war
By Ramesh Thakur
On Aug. 8, a group of 43 former top Australian officials -- department heads in foreign affairs and defense, military chiefs, ambassadors -- published an open letter calling for "truth in government." This was without precedent in Australia, although it follows earlier British and American examples....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2004
Sun rapidly setting on German paradise
By Michael R. Czinkota
WASHINGTON -- My summertime in Germany with family and friends gave me the warmth and many pleasures of the visitor. On the level of the economy, unfortunately, my visit provided me with the pains of the outside spectator who sees things unfold with the distinct impression that the prognosis is not good....
EDITORIALS
Aug 15, 2004
From Russia with impact
The price of oil on the futures market of the New York Mercantile Exchange, which usually serves as an indicator of international oil prices, has been revisiting all-time highs above $43 per barrel since the beginning of this month. The rise has been caused by concern that the Russian oil giant Yukos...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 15, 2004
Life in a Russian namesake
By Constantine Pleshakov
MOSCOW -- To be a namesake of a celebrity is a curse. A person who bears the same name as a baseball star or a TV anchorman invariably finds himself a target of countless unkind comments that demean his intellect, looks and savings account, and even make fun of the car he drives. No matter how hard he...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2004
Rowdy Chinese fans raise some Olympic-size questions
By Richard Halloran
HONOLULU -- Nasty outbursts against a Japanese sports team in China have raised worrisome questions about Beijing's fitness to host the 2008 Olympic Games, which China's rulers intend to be a showcase for the progress of their nation, much as the Games were for Japan in 1964 and for South Korea in 1988....
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2004
Rape now taking the form of genocide
By Cesar Chelala
NEW YORK -- Although rape as a weapon of war has existed for as long as war itself, it is taking a particularly heavy toll on women's lives in today's conflicts around the world. A high proportion of the women who are victims of rape end up infected with sexually transmitted diseases and infections,...
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2004
Casting a wider net against crime
The rising wave of international crime is making it necessary to promote international cooperation in criminal investigations. As a step in this direction, Japan and South Korea have agreed to begin preparatory work on a bilateral treaty that will enable their law-enforcement authorities to conduct joint...
EDITORIALS
Aug 13, 2004
Ready for the Olympics?
The Summer Olympics are back! With the 28th Games opened in Athens on Friday night, people everywhere -- Japan included -- are experiencing that familiar little buzz of ambivalence. Enthusiasm on the one hand, ennui on the other: Yes, it is possible to feel these conflicting emotions at once. The Olympics,...
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Demystifying the manufacturing success of China
China’s massive scale, strong education system and competitive local governance have enabled it to reach the technological frontier and dominate high-tech manufacturing despite its low per capita gross domestic product.
Infectious diseases to watch for in Japan this summer amid surge of cases
An illustration of a colony of the Bordetella pertussis bacterium that causes pertussis, or whooping cough. As of Aug. 10, there were 64,467 cases reported this year, according to the latest data from the Japan Institute for Health Security.
103-year-old remembers Soviet attack right after WWII
Shoichi Takahashi holds a photo of himself when he was younger, in Otaru, Hokkaido, on May 17.
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.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
Atsushi Kitagawara’s exhibition finds poetry in architecture
The inverted cone, one of Atsushi Kitagawara’s six signature elements in architecture, is a key feature of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection museum building.
Candidates preparing to make final pitches for Sawamura Award
Hawks pitcher Livan Moinelo has a 1.13 ERA in 19 starts this season.

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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