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September 19, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2009
Suffer the Rohingya
About 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar. They are a Muslim group in a Buddhist state. They are not recognized as one of Myanmar's official minorities, which means they are subject to persecution and worse in that army-run dictatorship. Not surprisingly, thousands of Rohingya have fled their homeland....
COMMENTARY
Feb 5, 2009
What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan
By Gregory Clark
The good news is that Japan's education bureaucrats realize that despite six years of middle and high school study many Japanese are still unable to speak English well. The bad news is that the bureaucrats plan to solve this problem by giving us more of what caused the problem.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2009
Why can't Japanese kids get into Harvard?
By Yuki Allyson Honjo and Robert Dujarric
Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Masakawa, Osamu Shimomura and Japan-born U.S. citizen Yoichiro Nambu won the 2008 Nobel Prize for their work in physics and chemistry. At first glance, Japan's place as a global knowledge center is secure, but these individuals are the exception, rather than the rule. Indeed,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2009
Other side of Sri Lanka's civil war
As the Sri Lankan military closes in on the remaining core of Tamil Tiger rebels, there is growing concern about the fate of civilians trapped in the conflict zone. The government, guerrillas and human rights groups trade accusations over who is responsible for the lives of thousands of noncombatants...
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2009
Act independently on IRENA
The world took a step forward in its efforts to fight climate change with the Jan. 26 inauguration of the International Renewable Energy Agency in Bonn, Germany. Member states hope that IRENA, the first global organization dedicated to renewable energy, will become the world's "new mouthpiece for renewable...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2009
Can Russia's economy be saved?
By Aleh Tsyvinski and Sergei Guriev
MOSCOW — Russia's economy is collapsing, but the situation could be worse. The economic crisis has finally forced the government to adopt sensible policies, thereby staving off disaster — at least for now.
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2009
Guantanamo closure raises key issues for U.S.
By Michael Richardson
The Obama administration has moved swiftly to end controversial practices that tarnished America's international reputation and undermined its moral authority. But in doing so, it has raised new questions about how the United States will prosecute and punish terrorists in future, and where and under...
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2009
Japanese thinker from the Gulag
On Aug. 9, 1945, the Soviet Army started invading Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Japanese military in today's Northeast China, violating the Japan-Soviet Neutrality Pact. Many Japanese, both civilians and soldiers, perished there and the Soviet Union took many Japanese to labor camps in Siberia and...
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2009
Will Afghanistan turn into Obama's Vietnam?
By Gwynne Dyer
You aren't really the U.S. president until you've ordered an airstrike on somebody, so Barack Obama is certainly president now: two in his first week in office. But now that he has been bloodied, can we talk a little about this expanded war he's planning to fight in Afghanistan?
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2009
Protectionism not the answer
By Hugh Cortazzi
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has rejected protectionist measures to mitigate the effects of the present world economic crisis and has condemned the anti-globalization lobby as ignorant and misguided. He and Lord Mandelson, the minister responsible for business affairs and a former EU commissioner,...
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2009
Rational boost to agriculture
The Council of Food, Agriculture and Rural Area Policies, an advisory body to the farm minister, has begun discussing a new basic plan for the nation's agriculture. The Cabinet is expected to adopt the plan by March 2010. Since the plan could lead to a drastic change in the nation's agriculture policy,...
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2009
Aso deserves high praise
By Hisahiko Okazaki
Allow me to cite from a private conversation held with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi around the summer of 2004, following the the Upper House election in July and ahead of the Cabinet reshuffle in September. I had made two requests of Koizumi: Revise the government's interpretation of the Constitution...
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japan dispatches five language education 'partners' to India
Five members of the Japan Foundation's Nihongo Partners program (front) gather at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday.
End of U.S. de minimis exemption causes headaches for some businesses in Japan
Proxy-shopping services — companies that ship Japanese products ranging from cosmetics and snacks to limited-edition stationery on behalf of customers abroad — are already feeling the impact of the U.S. suspending de minimis exemptions.
Over 90% of low-income families in Japan struggling to feed children
Save the Children Japan domestic program chief Sonoko Kawakami speaks at a news conference in Tokyo in July. A survey conducted by the group in June has found that over 90% of low-income households with children face food insecurity.
Struggling train firm in Chiba Prefecture turns to self-deprecating humor
"Laughter is important when you're in a difficult situation," said Katsunori Takemoto, president of Choshi Electric Railway, on Aug. 5 in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture.
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
Still plenty to fight for, says Japan’s team leader at worlds
Race walker Hayato Katsuki earned bronze for Japan on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japanese athletes inspired by raucous home fans at World Athletics Championships
Fans cheer on the home favorites during the women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

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