Morearticles

 
Menu
Search
 
August 24, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

More Opinion stories

COMMENTARY
Nov 11, 2008
Laissez faire has taken a powder
By Takamitsu Sawa
In the wee hours of Oct. 11 Tokyo time, finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven industrialized countries met in Washington to discuss how to resolve the global financial crisis and agreed to protect all depositors and inject public funds to rescue financial institutions.
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2008
Need for reality checks
The line between real and virtual worlds has become more confused than ever. Two weeks ago, a woman was arrested after "killing" her virtual husband who had divorced her in an online game called "Maple Story." She was arrested not on charges of murder, but on charges of illegally accessing a computer...
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2008
Urban economic inequality
A recent report from the U.N. Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) reveals that inequality is increasing around the world in major cities. The generally accepted measure of income inequality, the Gini coefficient (where 1.0 signifies complete inequality and 0.0, complete equality) has been rising in...
COMMENTARY
Nov 9, 2008
McCain's heart wasn't really in it
By Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES — History's losers can emerge later as history's winners, especially in U.S. politics. John F. Kennedy lost his bid to become the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1956, but his televised concession speech helped to propel him into the White House four years later.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Nov 9, 2008
What a world of difference that one momentous day could make
By Roger Pulvers
The stunning victory of Barack Obama in last Tuesday's election is a cause of great joy not only for Americans but for people all over the world.
COMMENTARY
Nov 8, 2008
Domestic health-care issues to test Obama
By Cesar Chelala
The election of Barack Hussein Obama as U.S. president represents hope for the kind of transformational politics that can lead to a better, more secure world. It also suggests an end to the politics of divisiveness and a turn toward a political system more attuned to the needs of what both candidates...
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2008
Shoring up social security
A group of experts appointed in January 2008 by then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to advise the government on the future shape of the nation's social security system has presented its final report. It states that people must directly shoulder a larger financial burden if they want a stable social security...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2008
American dream triumphs
By Kevin Rafferty
HONG KONG — Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama and to the people of the United States of America, some of whom lined up for five hours to vote, for their stunning victory. Bill Bennett, a former Republican Cabinet secretary under Ronald Reagan, commented that "the country has grown up."...
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2008
Boost civilian control of SDF
The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday sentenced former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya, who served as the Self-Defense Forces' top nonuniformed official from August 2003 through August 2007, to 2 1/2 years in prison for taking bribes worth some ¥12.5 million and ordered him to pay the same amount...
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2008
A healthy insurance system
The health insurance system for people aged 75 or over, introduced in April 2008, has proved unpopular because aged people covered by the system feel that they have been herded into a certain category separated from younger generations. They are also angry about the practice of withholding insurance...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2008
Europe's mania for a black U.S. president
By Ian Buruma
NEW YORK — Why do Europeans adore America's president-elect, Barack Obama? Stupid question, you might say. He is young, handsome, smart, inspiring, educated, cosmopolitan, and above all, he promises a radical change from the most unpopular American administration in history. Compare that to his rival...
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2008
Taxi industry in trouble
Japan's taxi industry was deregulated in 2002. But in July 2008, the transport ministry started reviving some regulations, saying that that an oversupply of taxis has led to lower profits for taxi companies and poorer working conditions for taxi drivers. In about 80 percent of the nation's taxi operation...
Japan to revise romanization rules for first time in 70 years
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is recommending replacing the government’s long-standing Kunrei system with more widely used Hepburn-style spellings.
Women-only communities flourish in China
Chen Yani (right), nicknamed "Keke," eats lunch with friends and guests in a female co-living space she founded called "Keke's Imaginative Space" in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on July 14.
JR East cancels luxury train run over crew's boozing
East Japan Railway said Thursday that it will cancel one trip of a luxury overnight sleeper service, which was originally scheduled to depart from Ueno Station in Tokyo on Aug. 30, after crew members were found to have been drinking alcohol on duty.
Man arrested over deadly stabbing of woman in Kobe
Masashi Tanimoto, 35, the suspect in the deadly stabbing a 24-year-old woman, is taken into custody in Kobe on Friday night.
Japanese city proposes two-hour daily limit for smartphone use
The Toyoake Municipal Government in Aichi Prefecture is planning to enact an ordinance to urge all smartphone users in the city to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school.
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.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
As farm minister, Koizumi is held ‘hostage’ by Ishiba
Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi (center) attends a Lower House session on Aug. 1. Locking Koizumi into the Cabinet is Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s way of turning a potential rival into a team player, according to one expert.
Big burgers and bigger ambitions for Japan's Burger King
Kazuhiro Nomura, president of BK Japan Holdings, which operates Burger King in Japan

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

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