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September 19, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Mar 14, 2009

Fate of abductees

Ms. Yaeko Taguchi was abducted by North Korea in 1978 at the age of 22. Earlier this week Mr. Koichiro Iizuka, her son, and Mr. Shigeo Iizuka, her elder brother, met Ms. Kim Hyon Hui, a former North Korean agent, in Busan, South Korea. Ms. Kim told the Iizukas that she believed that Ms. Taguchi was alive....

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 13, 2009

Climate change mitigation by low-income countries

By Rahul Pandey

MUMBAI, CITIZENS NEWS NETWORK — The economies and resultant emissions of low-income countries are growing at a rapid pace. China and India are already among the top five greenhouse-gas emitters. The rest of the world may strive to stabilize its emissions at 1990 levels, but if China and India continue...

EDITORIALS

Mar 13, 2009

Mr. Bashir is indicted

It is unlikely that last week's decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict Mr. Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, on charges of war crimes has cost Mr. Bashir much sleep. The ICC cannot enforce the writ on its own, and Mr. Bashir has allies and friends around the world.

EDITORIALS

Mar 12, 2009

Words that sow distrust

The investigation that led to the arrest of the chief secretary of Democratic Party of Japan leader Mr. Ichiro Ozawa over alleged irregularities in political donations has put not only Mr. Ozawa but also some Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers in a difficult position. It also has put in focus the thoughtlessness...

EDITORIALS

Mar 12, 2009

Suicide crisis continues

As the employment situation worsens in the midst of the deepening economic crisis, it is feared that more people may commit suicide. In 2007, the latest year for which annual suicide statistics are available, 33,093 people killed themselves, making it the 10th consecutive year that suicides topped 30,000....

COMMENTARY

Mar 12, 2009

'Interesting' year for China

By Brahma Chellaney

Large parts of the Tibetan plateau today have been turned into militarized zones and made off-limits to foreigners. De facto martial law prevails on much of the plateau after the largest troop deployment since the March 2008 Tibetan upheaval.

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 11, 2009

Building markets we need

By Alfred Gusenbauer

VIENNA — The greatest challenge of the current global financial crisis is the seeming impossibility of comprehending and managing its diversity. Indeed, the way problems are proliferating appears almost uncontrollable. Plans to meet the crisis, in country after country, have been revamped and restructured...

EDITORIALS

Mar 11, 2009

Step up efforts to slash emissions

Prior to the Toyako Group of Eight summit in July 2008, Japan adopted a long-range goal of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050 from the current level. But compared with other major developed countries, Japan has been slow in deciding on a midrange reduction goal.

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Mar 11, 2009

Nakasone predicts major changes in politics

Former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who still exerts much influence in Japanese politics at the age of 90, hailed Ichiro Ozawa in an interview toward the end of last year as "having gained dignity, insight and stature during the past year" as the man qualified to lead his Democratic Party of Japan...

EDITORIALS

Mar 11, 2009

Mr. Aso lands on Okinawa

Prime Minister Taro Aso visited Okinawa Prefecture over the weekend for the first time since he came to power in September, and met with Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima. He did not visit any U.S. military bases or their vicinity, as he apparently sought to avoid luring public attention to base-related issues....

COMMENTARY / World

Mar 11, 2009

Iraq is stable enough for U.S. troops to leave

By Lowell Schwartz

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration's decision to withdraw the bulk of U.S. troops from Iraq over the next 19 months has sparked fears that Iraq will once again plunge into the wide-scale and debilitating violence that it endured from 2004 to 2007. Those fears are, for the most part, overblown. There...

COMMENTARY

Mar 11, 2009

Gauging Obama's Asia policy

By Ralph Cossa

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip to Asia underscored elements of continuity and change in the Obama administration's Asia policy. Generally speaking, her visits to Japan, South Korea and China represented continuity; her trip to Indonesia signaled change.

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.

Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’

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

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