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August 27, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2009
Cutting Kampo losses
Internal affairs and communications minister Kunio Hatoyama is holding back Japan Post Holding Co.'s plan to sell 70 Kampo no Yado inns and nine housing facilities to a subsidiary of leasing company Orix Corp. He thinks the facilities' sale price of ¥10.9 billion — about one-twentieth the cost of...
COMMENTARY
Feb 14, 2009
When it's wrong to protect
By David Howell
LONDON — A government's first duty is to protect its citizens. So say all the authorities and experts. It sounds simple, but in practice and in real life it is a very complex and problematic matter.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2009
Israel votes for firmer hand with Palestinians
By Daoud Kuttab
PRINCETON, N.J. — War and violence always have a direct effect on elections. Wars account for dramatic shifts in voter preferences, and radical leaders and parties often poll much higher after a round of sharp violence than in normal times. Minority ethnic groups are therefore often able to sway the...
EDITORIALS
Feb 14, 2009
Focus for Japan, South Korea
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone met with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and his counterpart Yu Myung Hwan in Seoul on Wednesday. Mr. Nakasone and Mr. Yu devoted half their meeting to North Korea-related issues and agreed to push for the North's denuclearization through the framework of the six-party...
COMMENTARY
Feb 13, 2009
Blaming bankers' bonuses
By Hugh Cortazzi
LONDON — U.S. President Barack Obama has called for an annual salary cap of $500,000 for directors of banks receiving government funds. (It is worth noting that this sum is $100,000 more than the president's salary.)
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2009
Slush funds and tax evasion
Special investigators of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office have arrested the president of the Oita-based consulting firm Daiko and 11 others on allegations of tax evasion. It is suspected that a Daiko-affiliated interior-work company evaded ¥292 million in corporate taxes by not declaring...
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2009
Beware pledges of sweet returns
The police have arrested the chairman of L&G K.K., a Tokyo-based bedding supplier, and 21 other people on suspicion of defrauding investors through a sham investment scheme. The specific charge that led to the arrests alleges that the suspects collected about ¥118 million from six people between July...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2009
Japan as the catalyst for improving global public health
By M. James Kondo
What place should Japan occupy in the world? This existential question has troubled Japan's leaders for the past two decades. Military leadership is restricted by the Constitution. Economic might has lost its glimmer. Cultural influence, epitomized by "cool Japan," has yet to take center stage.
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2009
Abuse of anonymity
The Metropolitan Police Department plans to send papers on 18 men and women, 17 to 45 years old, to public prosecutors for allegedly posting several hundreds of defamatory messages on the blog of a 37-year-old comedian. It has already sent papers on a 29-year-old woman from Kawasaki to public prosecutors...
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2009
Secretary Clinton's No. 1 mission is to reassure allies
By Brad Glosserman
HONOLULU — We welcome the news that Hillary Clinton's first overseas trip as U.S. secretary of state will be to Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China. While her visit to Beijing will likely garner the lion's share of attention and her visit to Indonesia will generate the most speculation (can a visit by...
EDITORIALS
Feb 12, 2009
Mr. Aso playing both sides
Prime Minister Taro Aso has flip-flopped again, this time over the privatization of the nation's postal services. As prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi had exploited this as the main issue in the September 2005 Lower House election, enabling the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito...
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2009
Dalai Lama's very existence frays relations between China, Europe
By Frank Ching
HONG KONG — At the core of Chairman Mao Zedong's revolutionary theory was the strategy of the united front: Identify the main enemy and then isolate it by forming a united front with as many other classes, groups or elements as possible. Once that is done, the process can be continued with the identification...
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
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 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.
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.
Japan ranked one of the most peaceful places in Asia as global tensions rise
Visitors look at paper cranes hung at Peace Park in Nagasaki on Aug. 8, a day ahead of the 80th anniversary of the World War II atomic bombing of the city.
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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