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July 21, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Jul 22, 2009
Critical election to come
Prime Minister Taro Aso finally dissolved the Lower House on Tuesday for a snap election Aug. 30. In the election, the voters will make clear whether they want a government led by the Liberal Democratic Party or by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. Thus the election will have a great impact on...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2009
Are the finance sector's halcyon days over?
By Howard Davies
LONDON — For at least a quarter-century, the financial sector has grown far more rapidly than the economy as a whole, both in developed and in most developing countries. The ratio of total financial assets (stocks, bonds, and bank deposits) to gross domestic product (GDP) in the United Kingdom was...
COMMENTARY
Jul 22, 2009
Protectionist trend on the rise
By David Howell
In the English language the word "Protection" sounds warm and friendly. Everyone needs protection against the storms of life and it is nice to give protection and be protected. But lift this innocent word into the international sphere and it becomes a sinister and ominous concept, a harbinger of narrow...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2009
Finance firms letting the good times roll again?
By Lucian Bebchuk
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Goldman Sachs announced this month plans to provide bonuses at record levels, and there are widespread expectations that bonuses and pay in many other firms will rise substantially this year. Should the good times start rolling again so soon?
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2009
Gubernatorial influence
In the past, an important job of prefectural governors was lodging petitions with the central government to get funds and projects for their prefectures. But the nation's 47 governors seem to have become aware of the political potential they can exert if they act in concert. People like Gov. Toru Hashimoto...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 20, 2009
Two brothers competing on Japan's political ladder
One of the major topics of speculation among political observers nowadays is what course of action former internal affairs minister Kunio Hatoyama will take following his revolt against Prime Minister Taro Aso. He will have to make up his mind soon now that the date of the next general election has just...
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2009
H1N1 flu still spreading
The H1N1 flu pandemic is spreading not only in the Southern Hemisphere but also in such countries as the United States, China and Britain. The World Health Organization announced that as of July 10, the number of confirmed cases of infection in the world topped 100,000 in 142 countries. As of July 6,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2009
NEETs on the rise
The number of NEETs (people Not in Employment, Education or Training) now totals 640,000 people in Japan, according to a government white paper released in July. At the current rate of increase, NEETs may approach a million within five years, becoming a significant social problem that the government...
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2009
Temp worker casualties
A new report by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry revealed that 5,631 dispatch workers were injured or killed in work-related accidents in 2008. Most of these were injured after being sent to temporary jobs in the manufacturing industry, which accounted for two-thirds of the accidents. The transportation...
COMMENTARY
Jul 19, 2009
Like it or not, China is not about to go away
By Tom Plate
KUALA LUMPUR — There was never the slightest doubt in the mind of a single reputable expert anywhere in the world that China was a caldron of ethnic unrest ready to boil over. Nor was there the slightest possibility that the masters of the People's Republic of China would be able to escape, within...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 19, 2009
To be human in today's Japan, is it best to be 'no longer human'?
By Roger Pulvers
On June 22, playwright and novelist Hisashi Inoue appeared on national broadcaster NHK's television program, "Close Up Gendai." The occasion was the centenary of the birth of the novelist Osamu Dazai.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2009
Out of step over failed price deal
By Alan Goodall
SYDNEY — Australia is having to rethink its dealings with China following the bizarre jailing in Shanghai of an Australian businessman and a flurry of undercover diplomatic requests for explanations from Canberra to Beijing.
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.
Polls open for key Upper House election that could shake Japanese politics
People vote during Japan's Upper House election at a polling station in Tokyo on Sunday.
Sunken WWII Japanese warship Teruzuki found off Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands. A team from the U.S. nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust has discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki on the deep seabed off the Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
Japan team finds ancient ocean full of squids
The ancient ocean was full of squids, whose population exceeded that of fish or ammonites, a Japanese research team mainly from Hokkaido University has found through a new method using technology.
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.
Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood

Podcast

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

Longform

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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Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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