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September 18, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
May 19, 2008
Rising costs of living
Price rises are hitting both consumers and enterprises. Among consumer goods, rises in the prices of food and energy, closely tied to people's daily lives, are conspicuous, and companies hit by higher raw materials costs hesitate to raise wages. These factors tend to depress consumer demand, thus damping...
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2008
A credible health check?
An obligatory checkup, begun in April and aimed at reducing metabolic syndrome, will cover 57 million people aged 40-74 who participate in public health insurance plans. The health ministry hopes the checkup will lead people to healthier lifestyles and eventually contribute to fewer people with lifestyle-related...
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2008
Natural disaster relief system
The cyclone in Myanmar and earthquake in China are grim reminders of how neighbors need to help one another. Asian countries have a duty to offer assistance to one another, and to accept it. The refusal of aid by the military junta in Myanmar exposes citizens to more suffering than necessary. In the...
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2008
More expensive school lunches
Everyone who has attended school retains memories of school lunches. The simple experience of eating together with other students and teachers is almost as important as learning inside the classroom. Social skills, informal interaction and a sense of shared community are basic to school lunches. However,...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 18, 2008
Japan affords translators an elevated status not found elsewhere
By Roger Pulvers
Here's a little quiz for you.
EDITORIALS
May 17, 2008
Mr. Siniora gambles and loses
It is increasingly clear that the administration of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is the government of Lebanon in name only. In deciding to confront Hezbollah last week, Mr. Siniora badly miscalculated, and was forced to make a humiliating retreat. Now, the country teeters on the precipice of a civil...
COMMENTARY
May 16, 2008
What if Barack Obama were a real Muslim?
By Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES — A significant number of West Virginians (and some others in America) evidently take the view that U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim. In a surpassingly depressing report from the coal-miner state on the eve of Tuesday's West Virginia primary, The Los...
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2008
Giving nonprofits their due
Ten years have passed since the promulgation of the Law Concerning the Promotion of Specific Nonprofit Organization Activities (NPO Law). Many people benefit from NPO services. The central and local governments need to adopt measures to strengthen NPOs' financial bases and overall ability to carry out...
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2008
Misguided use of space
The Diet is expected to enact soon a bill establishing a basic law on space. The bill, passed by the Lower House in a plenary session, represents a drastic departure from Japan's traditional "peaceful purposes only" space policy and could lead to extensive use of space for military purposes. Regrettably,...
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2008
Devastating quake in China
The death toll from the massive earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province Monday has neared 15,000, and more than 20,000 are reportedly still trapped under rubble. This is China's most devastating earthquake since the July 1976 earthquake in Tangshan, Hebei Province, which killed about 242,000 people....
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2008
Contradictory road-tax law
Resorting to a two-thirds majority in the Lower House on Tuesday, the ruling bloc enacted by revote a bill to use revenue from gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas taxes for road-related projects for 10 years from fiscal 2008. The action was taken after the opposition-controlled Upper House had voted...
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2008
Getting Japan to capitalize on its innovation
By Andrei Hagiu and Robert Dujarric
BOSTON/TOKYO — As they lament the West's obsession with China and prepare to host the Group of Eight in July, Japanese fear becoming a minor planet in the Chinese orbit. Trouble is, Japan still sees manufacturing as the key to prosperity, despite the fact that it is vulnerable to offshoring.
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.
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 elderly population down at around 36.2 million
The estimated number of people age 65 or older in Japan stands at 36.19 million as of Monday, accounting for record 29.4% of the country's total population, according to the internal affairs ministry.
China says Philippine ship ‘deliberately rammed’ coast guard vessel in South China Sea
A China Coast Guard ship navigates near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea in August.
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.
Pole vault rivals in awe after Duplantis has another historic night in Tokyo
Sweden's Armand Duplantis competes in the men's pole fault final during the World Athletics Championships at National Stadium in Tokyo on Monday.
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.
Tara Davis-Woodhall leaps to gold and finds redemption at world championships
Tara Davis-Woodhall celebrates after winning the women's long jump final at the World Athletics Championships at Tokyo's National Stadium on Sunday night.
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.

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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