Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
July 14, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Opinion stories

COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2008
Raul Castro seeks alternatives to Venezuela
By Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira and Ted Loos
BRASILIA — Raul Castro has begun a gradual process of changing Cuba's economy and international relations. Within Cuba, he hopes to legitimize his government by improving standards of living. Outside of Cuba, he does not want to be held captive by Cuba's one international supporter: Venezuelan President...
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2008
Inspiration for Japanese literature
Ms. Yang Yi, a Chinese resident in Japan, has won the 139th Akutagawa Prize, the prestigious literary prize launched in 1935. She became not only the first Chinese to receive the prize but also the first recipient who didn't start learning Japanese until after becoming an adult. We congratulate her on...
EDITORIALS
Jul 18, 2008
Mongolian democracy tested
Riots that followed parliamentary elections the week before last shone a spotlight on an oft-forgotten haven of democracy in Northeast Asia. A state of emergency has ended, but questions about Mongolia's stability remain. As ever, the solution may be found in genuinely representative politics that puts...
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2008
Cliches won't rescue Earth
By Hugh Cortazzi
LONDON — The recent Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido was one of the least memorable summit meetings. Every G8 spews out cliches; the Hokkaido meeting was no exception. Leaders at the meeting were generally a mediocre lot.
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2008
New world order is long overdue
By Frank Ching
George Herbert Walker Bush, when he was president of the United States, used to talk a lot about a "new world order" emerging after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Seventeen years later, that new order is still not in place as the countries that dominated the old order refuse to make way for...
COMMENTARY
Jul 17, 2008
Let's hope it's over soon
By David Howell
The world is now in the grip of a first-class financial crisis. Some will be hit harder than others, but no one is going to escape. Final confirmation of this has arrived with the news that the two giant mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pillars of American life that underwrite, or insure,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2008
Anti-Chavez axis emerging in Latin America
By Charles Tannock
BRUSSELS — The rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages who had been held for years by FARC guerrillas marks more than a turning point in Colombia's long war against its drug-running, Marxist guerrillas. It also confirms the emergence of a new troika of Latin American leaders — Colombia's...
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2008
Fishermen fed up
The one-day stoppage of fishing operations on Tuesday proves that current high oil prices are acutely affecting economic activities. Most of Japan's 200,000 fishing boats took part in the fishermen's strike throughout the country, the first and largest of its kind.
EDITORIALS
Jul 17, 2008
Don't let islets issue damage ties
The government's decision to mention the Takeshima islets, in the Sea of Japan, in a teaching manual has cast a pall over ties between Japan and South Korea, both of which claim sovereignty over the islets. South Korean reactions are strong and could touch off strong nationalistic sentiment in Japan....
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2008
The odds are stacked against an Iran attack
By Gwynne Dyer
The Iranians have clearly concluded that all the American and Israeli threats to attack them are mere bluff. Israel could not destroy all of Iran's nuclear facilities unless it was willing to drop large numbers of nuclear weapons on Iran. The United States could do the job using only conventional weapons,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2008
Al Gore and the green inquisition
By Bjorn Lomborg
COPENHAGEN — When it comes to global warming, extreme scare stories abound. Al Gore, for example, famously claimed that a whopping 6 meters of sea-level rise would flood major cities around the world.
EDITORIALS
Jul 16, 2008
Scandal undermines education
The Oita prefectural board is mired in an outrageous corruption scandal involving the recruitment of teachers. Five education officials have been arrested, and circumstances suggest that the corruption may be more widespread than detected by investigators and reported by the media. As an education ministry...
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Osaka police crack down on crime ring over underage prostitution
Osaka Prefectural Police headquarters
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
U.S. urges clarity on Japan’s role in potential war over Taiwan, report says
A Ground Self-Defense Force member conducts a military drill with an anti-ship missiles unit, at the GSDF's base on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture in April 2022.
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
Is Japanese skin really ‘too smooth’ for Hideo Kojima’s games?
Hideo Kojima, the leading auteur in Japanese video games, has skirted controversy in the wake of the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.

Podcast

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

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan
By Megha Wadhwa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy
Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER