Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
August 24, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Opinion stories

EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2008
Testing for what?
The education ministry has made public the results of nationwide scholastic tests conducted for sixth graders and third-year middle school students in April. Depending on the problems, the percentage of correct answers was eight to 16 points lower than in April 2007, when similar tests were held for...
EDITORIALS
Sep 25, 2008
Alternatives to a dam
Once a large public works project is decided on, it is very hard to stop it because of political and bureaucratic inertia. But Kumamoto Gov. Ikuo Kabashima has called on the central government to cancel its plan to build a dam on the Kawabe River, a tributary of the Kuma River, known for its rapid and...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2008
Misuse of the inaction argument
By Bjorn Lomborg
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — One commonly repeated argument for doing something about climate change sounds compelling, but turns out to be almost fraudulent. It is based on comparing the cost of action with the cost of inaction, and almost every major politician in the world uses it.
COMMENTARY
Sep 25, 2008
Bright side of the U.S. financial meltdown
By Tom Plate
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Rather than curse the current financial darkness, let us try to light candles. Without blowing our credibility entirely, let us see if we can illuminate the brighter side of this global meltdown. Here is a trio of pluses to try on for size.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2008
Untapped energy source fuels a paradox
By Michael Richardson
SINGAPORE — Ice that burns? It sounds like a magician's trick. So do some of the exotic names given to gas hydrate — "flammable sorbet," "crystal gas" and "burning ice." But recent scientific surveys and test drilling in Asia and elsewhere have proven that this substance exists in massive, potentially...
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2008
Setting up for a showdown
The Liberal Democratic Party on Monday elected Mr. Taro Aso as its new leader, after the opposition Democratic Party of Japan approved Mr. Ichiro Ozawa as party leader for a third term Sunday. Mr. Aso, as a new prime minister, will have a showdown with Mr. Ozawa in general elections expected in late...
EDITORIALS
Sep 24, 2008
Secretive mission to wind down
The government has decided to terminate the Air Self-Defense Force's aerial transportation mission in Iraq by yearend, citing the expiration of the United Nations resolution authorizing multinational forces' deployment in Iraq as well as the improved security situation there. Fortunately, the ASDF has...
COMMENTARY
Sep 24, 2008
Comrade Bush and the banks
By Gwynne Dyer
LONDON — After Comrade George W. Bush nationalized the two giants of the U.S. mortgage market, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, earlier this month, Anatole Kaletsky wrote in The Times of London that "the most capitalist administration ever, in the world's most capitalist country, (has) decided to wipe out...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 24, 2008
Facing a rise in sea level
By Michael Richardson
SINGAPORE — As policymakers plan ahead in Tokyo, Osaka-Kobe and other major port cities in Japan, one of the most vexing questions they face is how much will the sea level rise in coming decades?
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2008
A new face for Israel
While global attention has been focused on U.S. Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, another woman has quietly climbed to the top politics, in Israel. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has been elected leader of the Kadima party — the main party in that country's ruling coalition — and...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 23, 2008
Russia entering third act of financial tragedy
By Anders Aslund
WASHINGTON — The whole world is being hit by a tremendous financial crisis, but Russia is facing a perfect storm. The Russian stock market is in free fall, plummeting by 60 percent since May 19, for a loss of $900 billion. And the plunge is accelerating. As a result, Russia's economic growth is likely...
COMMENTARY
Sep 23, 2008
Roots of antipathy toward China
By Kazuo Ogoura
In almost all international polls, Japan ranks high in ratings with regard to peacefulness or contribution to world peace and stability. In other words, people in many countries have a favorable image of Japan. There is, however, a noteworthy exception: China.
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.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
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.
Man arrested over deadly stabbing of woman in Kobe
Masashi Tanimoto, 35, the suspect in the deadly stabbing a 24-year-old woman, is taken into custody in Kobe on Friday night.
Japanese city proposes two-hour daily limit for smartphone use
The Toyoake Municipal Government in Aichi Prefecture is planning to enact an ordinance to urge all smartphone users in the city to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school.
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.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan

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

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER