More Opinion Articles - The Japan Times

August 25, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 20, 2009

Coordinate a global stimulus for this crisis

By Juan Somavia and Kemal Dervis

GENEVA — As recession spreads around the world, the global production networks that arose with the globalization of the world economy have become sources of cutbacks and job losses. Postponing purchases of new winter coats in the United States means job losses in Poland or China. These losses then...

COMMENTARY

Jan 20, 2009

Obama and the alliance

By Kazuo Ogoura

Under the Bush administration, the Japan-U.S. alliance has undergone a quiet but important transformation in the eyes of most Japanese people: It has become a global alliance instead of a regional or bilateral one.

EDITORIALS

Jan 20, 2009

Let change be contagious

Mr. Barack Obama won the keys to the White House by instilling expectations of change and optimism in the minds of the American public, as conveyed by his slogan "Yes, we can." His Jan. 20 inauguration as the United States' 44th president should be a source of great inspiration to the people and government...

EDITORIALS

Jan 19, 2009

Ruinous cash-flow wall

The large number of corporate bankruptcies in 2008 shows how badly the global downturn has slammed the Japanese economy. The government should pay special attention to the fact that many companies in the black went under due to cash-flow problems.

EDITORIALS

Jan 19, 2009

Make way for emergency care

The deterioration of emergency medical services has become a nationwide worry. In October, a pregnant woman transported by ambulance was refused admission to eight hospitals in Tokyo and died after giving birth. In December, an elderly woman seriously injured in a traffic accident died after she was...

COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Jan 19, 2009

Aso getting the brushoff

As the approval rate for the government of Prime Minister Taro Aso plummets, bureaucrats have begun to distance themselves from him in favor of establishing closer ties with the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan, which they apparently think has at least a fair chance of displacing Aso's ruling...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 19, 2009

In vitro fertilization stands test of 30 years

By Peter Singer

MELBOURNE, Australia — Louise Brown, the first person to be conceived outside a human body, turned 30 last year. The birth of a "test-tube baby," as the headlines described in vitro fertilization, was highly controversial at the time.

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 18, 2009

The long-term security threat to Arab states

By Barry Rubin

JERUSALEM — In Iran, elements from within the regime are reportedly offering a $1 million reward for the assassination of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak because of his opposition to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In Lebanon, the leader of Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, merely calls for the Egyptian...

COMMENTARY / World

Jan 18, 2009

Obama among the Lilliputians

By Kevin Rafferty

HONG KONG — Tuesday will be an historic day when Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th U.S. president. He is not only the first African-American president to hold the highest office, but his swearing in is also a triumph of the Great American Dream.

COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT

Jan 18, 2009

Dialing up the decider one last time before he leaves the Oval Office

By Roger Pulvers

With only days left in office for the 43rd president of the United States of America, George W. Bush, I decided, on a lark — or a duck, if you will — to Skype the soon to be ex-commander in chief to find out what preoccupies his thoughts as he bids us a solemn farewell. I want to share this very...

EDITORIALS

Jan 18, 2009

Househusbands on the rise

A recent survey conducted by the Kaji Kentei Jikko Iinkai (Housework Aptitude Test Association) reveals a great deal about the aspirations inside Japanese homes. Apparently, a surprisingly large number of married Japanese men — nearly 30 percent — would not mind being househusbands. This may not...

EDITORIALS

Jan 18, 2009

Regrettable admission in court

In the trial of a psychiatrist charged with disclosing investigative materials on a teenage boy who set a house fire that killed his stepmother, half-brother and half-sister about 2 1/2 years ago, a journalist has testified in court that the psychiatrist was the news source.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports