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August 28, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 24, 2009
Was Japan's first Western screen star shameful to his homeland?
By Roger Pulvers
The Japanese have a term for certain types of movies made outside the country featuring Japanese actors who play Japanese characters. It is kokujoku eiga. Eiga means "movies," and kokujoku, derived from the words for "country" and "insult," means "disgrace" or "denigration." In other words, kokujoku...
CARTOONS / ZERO GRAVITY
May 24, 2009
Fridge Fungi
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2009
A giant slush fund?
As the Diet continues deliberations on the ¥14 trillion supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 and related bills, it needs to scrutinize the content of the huge extra budget. When the fiscal 2009 main budget and the supplementary budget are combined, the total budget size will top ¥100 trillion for the...
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2009
Record fall for GDP
Japan's gross domestic product in real terms in the January-March 2009 period declined 4 percent from the previous quarter for an annualized contraction of 15.2 percent, a postwar record, following a revised annualized 14.4 percent drop in the October-December 2008 period. The drop in GDP shows that...
COMMENTARY
May 23, 2009
U.S. fighting the wrong war
By Brahma Chellaney
The deeper Pakistan has dug itself into a jihadist dungeon over the past decade and more, the more the United States has gotten involved in that country, including in propping up its tottering economy through generous bilateral and international aid, macro-managing Pakistani politics and pampering the...
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2009
New world of Indian politics
India's Congress party has pulled off a stunning election victory. In a monthlong, multi-stage parliamentary ballot, the party produced its best electoral performance in over a quarter of a century. Even more important, when the seats of its main coalition partners are added to its total, Congress is...
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2009
California crisis imperils Obama's agenda
By G. Pascal Zachary
BERKELEY, Calif. — While the new Obama administration is commanding global attention, America's future may be written — as so many times before — in and by its largest state. Once the lodestar for American optimism and achievement, California now illustrates the difficulties confronting the United...
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2009
Life of coalition extended
By Bidyut Chakrabarty
DELHI, OPINION ASIA — The outcome of the just-concluded 2009 national poll in India reflect continuity because the verdict was clearly in favor of an incumbent coalition government that presages political stability. Equally, the results are indicative of change because voters rejected regional parties,...
EDITORIALS
May 21, 2009
Containing the new flu
The new H1N1 influenza has spread rapidly mainly among high school students, their family members and teachers in Hyogo and Osaka prefectures. On Saturday, the first eight cases were confirmed. By Sunday, the number of confirmed cases topped 80, and on Wednesday it climbed to at least 238.
EDITORIALS
May 21, 2009
Day of the lay judges
Epoch-making judiciary reform is starting as lay judges prepare to sit for trials of suspects indicted on and after May 21 on charges of serious crimes such as murder, arson and kidnapping for ransom. But many people are not enthusiastic about it because the system has been implemented from above. The...
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2009
What do the North Koreans really want?
By Victor Cha
WASHINGTON — The latest statements out of North Korea appear to be telegraphing Pyongyang's next set of provocative moves. It has threatened further ballistic missile tests, another nuclear test, and steps to acquire its own civilian nuclear capabilities unless the United Nations "apologizes" for its...
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2009
The way forward in Afghanistan
By Hugh Cortazzi
So far, 157 British troops have died in Afghanistan and many more have been injured. These are significant and worrying losses. How long will British public opinion accept these losses when it is not clear whether the war in Afghanistan can be won?
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan Post to stop accepting some parcels for shipment to the U.S.
Japan Post's UGX will still be available for many rejected packages.
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.

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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