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July 23, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2009
Balance sheets key to an economic recovery
By Michael J. Boskin
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Early signs of a manufacturing rebound, already strong in Asia, lend hope for some modest recovery from today's deep global recession. But a strong and durable economic expansion is unlikely until progress is made in dealing with the toxic assets poisoning the balance sheets of...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 29, 2009
All stimulus roads lead to China
By Barry Eichengreen, Robert Dujarric and Rachel Kranton
BEIJING — Now that the "green shoots" of recovery have withered, the debate over fiscal stimulus is back with a vengeance. In the United States, those who argue for another stimulus package observe that it was always wishful thinking to believe that a $787 billion package could offset a $3 trillion...
EDITORIALS
Jul 29, 2009
New ambassador ready
When U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Mr. John V. Roos as the next American ambassador to Japan, some Japanese were apparently perplexed because the California-based lawyer was almost unknown to them and a Washington "Beltway" outsider.
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2009
Updated defense considerations
The government's 2009 white paper on defense details recent military moves by China and North Korea. Japan must closely watch the situation in Northeast Asia and carefully make the necessary adjustments to create an environment that will reduce the chances of confrontation, military or political.
COMMENTARY
Jul 28, 2009
Challenge of a straight question
By Hugh Cortazzi
LONDON — Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, recently was asked twice by the Defense Committee of the House of Commons whether the army chief of staff had requested that reinforcements of 2,000 men be sent to Afghanistan, where British forces have recently suffered a string of casualties. Brown...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 28, 2009
EU set to build ties with eastern neighbors
By Carl Bildt
STOCKHOLM — Pushing the "reset" button on diplomatic relations is a popular endeavor nowadays. President Barack Obama recently journeyed to Moscow in order to "reset" strained U.S.-Russian ties. The European Union, though not in need of a "reset" because of strained ties with its eastern neighbors,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2009
The deadline to prosecute
A study panel of the Justice Ministry has issued a final report urging abolition of the statute of limitations for serious crimes such as murder. It will ask the ministry's Legislative Council to discuss revisions to the Code of Criminal Procedure and other laws. The statute of limitations was first...
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2009
F-22 gives up ground
The U.S. Senate voted July 21 to hold the line on procurement of the F-22 Raptor fighter jet. The vote was a victory for U.S. President Barack Obama, his secretary of Defense, Mr. Robert Gates, and defense budgeting sanity. The move effectively forecloses the prospect of Japan's purchasing the troublesome...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 27, 2009
Mettle of 'thoroughbreds'
What does Prime Minister Taro Aso have in common with his immediate predecessors — Junichiro Koizumi, Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda? Each is either a son or a grandson of a well-known politician of the past.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2009
Threats against Iran feed off modern myths
By Cesar Chelala
NEW YORK — Several myths regarding Iran stand in the way of the United States and other nations reaching a peaceful relationship with that country. Much of the concern that Iran may attack Israel, if Iran successfully develops nuclear weapons, rests on the statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2009
Precautions for climbing
The recent deaths of 10 hikers in Hokkaido's Taisetsu mountain range serve as a tragic reminder that even summer mountaineering can be perilous. Hiking in bad weather, the 10 — all in their 50s and 60s — died from hypothermia. One was on a guided tour of 2,052-meter Mount Biei. The other nine were...
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2009
Better eating habits
In 2005, the Diet enacted the basic law on education on eating habits (shokuiku) to promote healthful eating habits. This move came against the backdrop of a deterioration in the country's dietary culture, which traditionally has been considered well-balanced and healthy.
Foreign residents closely follow Japan's election and party pledges
A police officer walks past posters of Liberal Democratic Party candidates, as well as one showing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, outside the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. As Japan’s foreign population continues to rise, one of the talking points during Sunday’s election was how the country should deal with the increase of international residents.
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
Ishiba clings to leadership after election setback
“As the first party in parliament, we have to fulfill our responsibility with the public so as to prevent politics from stagnating or drifting away,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said at a news conference at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan ruling bloc loses majority in Upper House after election drubbing
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, leaves at the party's headquarters following announcement of Upper House election result projections in Tokyo early Monday.
Ishiba clings to leadership after election setback
“As the first party in parliament, we have to fulfill our responsibility with the public so as to prevent politics from stagnating or drifting away,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said at a news conference at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on July 10.
‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.
In microbes we trust: Embracing the nature of fermented food
You don't need an oven to make Kenji Morimoto's easy and delicious Miso Sticky Toffee Crepe Cake.

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

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In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

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