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September 02, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2009
Futenma's fate back to the future
The coalition government of the Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the New People's Party have put off until next year a decision on the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in the central part of Okinawa Island. The government will seek possible alternatives...
EDITORIALS
Dec 17, 2009
Single-parent allowance revived
The Hatoyama administration has decided to revive the once-abolished allowance for single-parent households on welfare with children aged 18 or younger. This is the first social welfare-related measure included in the Democratic Party of Japan's election manifesto to be implemented. The allowance began...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 17, 2009
Do humanoid robots deserve to have rights?
By Agata Sagan and Peter Singer
PRINCETON/WARSAW — Last month, Gecko Systems announced that it had been running trials of its "fully autonomous personal companion home care robot," also known as a "carebot," designed to help elderly or disabled people to live independently. A woman with short-term memory loss broke into a big smile,...
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2009
Politics and the Emperor
The government's decision to let Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping have an exceptional audience with the Emperor Tuesday made many people wonder whether the government, especially Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, has a correct understanding of the constitutional order with regard to the position of the...
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2009
Understandings with Pyongyang
The Dec. 8-10 visit to Pyongyang by the U.S. special representative for North Korean policy, Stephen Bosworth, did not produce a concrete result on the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The United States and North Korea reached "common understandings" on the need to resume the stalled six-party...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2009
What does Japan want from Washington?
By Masahiro Matsumura
OSAKA — Three months after the Democratic Party of Japan's landslide general election victory, the new administration's foreign and security policy appears to be increasingly at odds with that of the United States. Indeed, there is growing concern on both sides of the Pacific that Prime Minister Yukio...
COMMENTARY
Dec 16, 2009
Saving the U.K. economy
By David Howell
Frequent comparisons are made these days between the plight of the British economy and the state of the Japanese economy. But in reality the two situations are very different.
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2009
Business challenge for Europe after Lisbon
By Glyn Ford
CINDERFORD, England — The much-delayed final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, and the appointment of former Belgium Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Union and Britain's Cathy Ashton as de facto foreign minister, means that the EU will increasingly take center stage on...
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2009
Underwriting a global reforestation program
By Michael Richardson
SINGAPORE — Where does Southeast Asia rank in greenhouse-gas emissions, a key focal point of the international climate change negotiations?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2009
Ozawa's pride of place vs. policy
Ichiro Ozawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, is theoretically subordinate to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who is also the DPJ president. Ozawa has even stated that all policy matters must be decided by the government, not by the party. Yet, in reality, he has established...
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2009
Realistic view on war and peace
In the October announcement of its decision to bestow the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on U.S. President Barack Obama, the Norwegian Nobel Committee attached special importance to his "vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons." The committee also praised the U.S. president by stating: "Only very...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2009
Wresting the press from pampered hacks
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG — Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was adamant that a free press is the most precious of all freedoms because it opens up or expands other freedoms. He famously wrote that given the choice of a government without a free press or a free press without a government,...
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
Woman dies after possible knife attack in Setagaya
Police investigate the scene where a woman was found bleeding on a street in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Monday.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.
More sweltering days forecast for September after hottest summer on record
By the end of August, 8,341 people had been transported by ambulance for heatstroke in Tokyo alone.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
‘Mount Fuji Lawson’ becomes a symbol of Japan’s overtourism problem
A couple poses for a wedding photo in front of a Lawson in the town of Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 25.
‘Cool’ Patagonia wants to take used items into the mainstream
"It's not just about sales. It's about system change," said Marty Pomphrey, general manager of Patagonia Japan, on Aug. 6.
How Tokyo's Ueno Zoo helps their animals cope with extreme heat
A polar bear at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo on Thursday. The Arctic animals are among the most vulnerable species to Japan's scorching summer heat and zookeepers have to take a number of precautions in order to keep them safe.
Japan is warming up to tattoos — just not permanent ones
Tattoos have a complex history in Japan, but new types of temporary ink are letting locals curious about body art experiment without the commitment.
Japan to launch broad review of immigration policies amid rise in foreign nationals
Foreign tourists at Narita Airport in June. A report released Friday stresses that Japan is at a turning point and that current ad-hoc measures on immigration are no longer sufficient.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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