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September 15, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Nov 9, 2005

Step up relief for quake victims

The sufferings of survivors continue one month after the magnitude-7.6 earthquake ravaged northern Pakistan on Oct. 8. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called the quake "a huge, huge disaster -- perhaps the biggest we have ever seen." But it is never too late for other nations and peoples...

EDITORIALS

Nov 8, 2005

Ending the zero-rate policy

In March 2001, the Bank of Japan set short-term interest rates at near zero, declaring that the nation's economy had entered a period of deflation. That extra-loose monetary policy, which is said to have had few parallels in the world, is likely to change next spring, because an upturn in consumer prices...

EDITORIALS

Nov 7, 2005

Draft revision tosses principles aside

The Liberal Democratic Party, which has long claimed that the present pacifist Constitution was imposed on the Japanese people by the Occupation Forces, has announced a draft revision. Although the text begins promisingly enough with "The Japanese people, based on their own will and determination, establish...

COMMENTARY

Nov 6, 2005

Slow relief adds to the peril

By Hugh Cortazzi

LONDON -- In the past year the world has suffered a series of natural disasters that have caused the deaths of some 200,000 people, serious injuries to many more, and enormous damage to property and infrastructure. Relief efforts by governments have often been too little and too late. Nongovernment organizations...

EDITORIALS

Nov 6, 2005

Fishing for 'interesting individuals'

Tired of the same old liberal causes? Here's one you might not have heard of: "Fish," according to a spokeswoman for the Fish Empathy Project, "are interesting individuals who deserve our respect and compassion." Not since the British poet Rupert Brooke wrote about "each secret fishy hope or fear" way...

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Nov 6, 2005

Say 'cheese' and snap out of such fanciful thinking

By Roger Pulvers

Foreign-ministers-in-waiting don't drop clangers for nothing. When the then Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Taro Aso spoke last month at the newly-opened Kyushu National Museum in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, he fully expected his clanger to resound and reverberate when it hit the ground....

EDITORIALS

Nov 5, 2005

A rough week for Mr. Bush

Last week was rough for U.S. President George W. Bush. A top official in the White House was indicted, his Supreme Court nominee withdrew her name from consideration, the U.S. military sustained its 2,000th death in Iraq, and opinion polls show a majority of Americans unhappy with their president. While...

EDITORIALS

Nov 5, 2005

Unacceptable rhetoric from Iran

The statement by Iran's president, Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that Israel should be "wiped off the map" is unacceptable. Apart from purely moral objections, there are legal issues too: As a member of the United Nations, Iran has agreed never to use force or threaten the use of force against other countries....

COMMENTARY / World

Nov 5, 2005

'Morality police' on a rampage in India

By Gautaman Bhaskaran

MADRAS, India -- When the mullahs in Iran curbed personal freedom, Indian political leaders cried out loudly and called them names. Yet, India is now witnessing the same frightening restrictions on individual rights.

EDITORIALS

Nov 4, 2005

Toward a police-controlled media

There is a strong social trend toward protecting privacy. A milestone will be the enforcement of the Private Information Protection Law beginning in April. But the government is apparently taking advantage of this trend and people's distrust of the media -- due to often sensationalistic crime coverage...

COMMENTARY

Nov 4, 2005

Bush's intolerance showing

By Doug Bandow

WASHINGTON -- The White House seems to breed arrogance. President Richard Nixon had his enemies list. President Bill Clinton's personal irresponsibility almost ruined his presidency. Now vice presidential aide "Scooter" Libby has been indicted as a result of his efforts to discredit an administration...

COMMENTARY

Nov 3, 2005

Curtain falling on Chirac?

By Andre Fontaine

PARIS -- For decades it was widely assumed that Europe needed an engine to go forward, and that France and Germany were best qualified to play that role. For the time being, however, this has ceased to be true. If any member aims to lead the European Union, it's Britain, which holds the EU presidency...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.

The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight

By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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