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August 28, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Mar 26, 2009
Mr. Ozawa stands his ground
Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa decided to remain in his post after his chief secretary was indicted Tuesday on a charge of violating the Political Funds Control Law. The party endorsed his decision.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2009
Piracy and the Constitution
By Craig Martin
Once again the issue of Japanese contributions to international security efforts is the subject of tortured debate. And once again the proposed government policy, and aspects of the debate itself, reveals fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between Article 9 of the Constitution and the relevant...
EDITORIALS
Mar 26, 2009
A little lift from baseball
Team Japan, dubbed Samurai Japan, beat Team Korea (South Korea) 5-3 in the final game Monday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles to win its second consecutive title in the triennial World Baseball Classic.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 26, 2009
Iran's promising presidential contender
By Alireza Nader
WASHINGTON — Iran's presidential race just got more interesting, with former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mousavi throwing his hat in the ring and former President Mohammad Khatami withdrawing his. This development poses the most significant challenge yet to current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad —...
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2009
Dialogue about defense
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada met with his Chinese counterpart Mr. Liang Guanglie in Beijing on March 20 and talked about bilateral issues and the security situation in Northeast Asia. They agreed on some points and disagreed on others. Despite differences on some issues, it is important...
COMMENTARY
Mar 25, 2009
Wrestling with job losses as the recession deepens
By Hugh Cortazzi
In Britain the number of unemployed has reached over 2 million (6.5 percent) and there are fears that the number will rise to over 3 million before the recession ends. In America the rate of unemployment is reported to have risen to 8.1 percent. In European countries that have adopted the euro as their...
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2009
Protecting music copyrights
For many young people, ordinary cell-phone ring tones and alarms are monotonous and boring. So they replace those tones with chaku-uta (literally "arriving music"), or musical ring tones downloaded from the Internet. But there is a problem: A large number of these ring tones are downloaded for free from...
EDITORIALS
Mar 24, 2009
Pay-hike demands shot down
Bad business conditions because of the global recession triggered by the financial crisis that originated in the United States took a toll on Japanese labor in this year's spring wage negotiations. Major carmakers and electronics companies told labor that they will not increase base pay and that bonuses...
EDITORIALS
Mar 24, 2009
For the sake of consumers
The Diet has started deliberating bills to create a government organization to promote consumers' rights. It was Mr. Yasuo Fukuda, as prime minister, who first proposed establishing a Consumer Agency. Related bills submitted to the Diet have languished for 5 1/2 months. Clearly they were pushed aside...
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2009
Barring the people needed
By Gregory Clark
The Calderon affair — the expulsion of a Filipino couple who entered Japan illegally but whose Japanese-fluent daughter was born and raised in Japan — is seen as an indictment of Japan's confused immigration policies. And rightly.
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2009
Stay out of the classroom
The Tokyo District Court earlier this month ruled that three metropolitan assembly members in 2003 unduly interfered with sex education at a school for students with special needs. It also ruled that the punishment the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education meted out to teachers at the school for conducting...
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2009
Getting the record straight
The resignation March 16 of Mr. Shintaro Kubo as president of Nippon Television Network Corp., who took responsibility for an erroneous news report, underlines the importance of mass media people following the basics of journalism — obtaining evidence to support remarks made by news sources. The report...
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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