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August 24, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2008
Help your elderly neighbor
A declining birthrate and an aging population are changing the composition of Japanese households. A 2007 survey by the health and welfare ministry shows that the percentage of households comprising elderly people alone has risen while the size of the average household has shrunk. The trend points to...
COMMENTARY
Oct 24, 2008
A Republican general's warning to America
By Tom Plate
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — It was a revealing moment in American politics. In endorsing Barack Obama for president of the United States over fellow Republican John McCain, Colin Powell was not simply giving his blessing to this candidate. That was the easy part.
COMMENTARY
Oct 24, 2008
There's no ignoring China
By Frank Ching
HONG KONG — Earlier this month, when Washington announced the sale of a $6.5 billion arms package to Taiwan, China reacted with anger. It has canceled a series of military and diplomatic contacts with the United States, including port calls by naval vessels, and indefinitely postponed meetings on halting...
EDITORIALS
Oct 24, 2008
Iceberg of misused funds?
The Board of Audit has found that 12 prefectures misused subsidies from the central government worth some ¥550 million over five years from fiscal 2002 through fiscal 2006. The subsidies were mostly from the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 23, 2008
It's North Korea's choice to make
By Han Seung Soo
NEW YORK — When the Republic of Korea was established in 1948, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. GDP per capita was $67 in 1953, immediately following the Korean War, and rose to only $79 in 1960. At that time, North Korea's economy was much stronger than that of the South. Natural...
EDITORIALS
Oct 23, 2008
Boom and bust in oil
If there is anything resembling a silver lining to the economic turmoil that has ensnared the world, it is the prospect of falling energy prices. The price of crude oil has fallen by more than 50 percent since setting a record high this past summer. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),...
COMMENTARY
Oct 23, 2008
Remember the China lesson
By Brahma Chellaney
Each visit to China is a reminder of the power of global liberalizing influences. China has come a long way since the Tiananmen Square massacre of prodemocracy activists nearly two decades ago. It has opened up to the extent that it hosted this month an Asia-Europe conference of nongovernmental organizations...
COMMENTARY
Oct 23, 2008
Africa and the unstoppable rise of English
By Gwynne Dyer
Just over half of Africa's 52 countries speak French, but the number is dropping. This month Rwanda defected, announcing that henceforward only English will be taught in the schools. It would not be overstating the case to say that this caused alarm and despondency in France.
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2008
Fiscal health check
The internal affairs ministry has disclosed the financial health of the nation's local governments gauged by four indicators based on a 2007 law to prevent bankruptcy of local governments. All 47 prefectural governments have passed the test based on their fiscal 2007 account settlements. But the cities...
COMMENTARY
Oct 22, 2008
Playing the blame game
By Hugh Cortazzi
The financial crisis has attracted an assortment of accusations including those of irresponsibility, negligence, mendacity and greed. The targets of criticism range from politicians, central bankers, financial regulators, retail bankers, mortgage providers and managers of hedge funds to all the greedy...
EDITORIALS
Oct 22, 2008
Needs of the Afghan people
The Lower House Tuesday passed a bill to extend by one year the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean — a sign of Japan's commitment to international efforts to contain terrorism. The opposition-controlled Upper House will vote down the bill. But the Lower House is expected...
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2008
Mandate to cope with crisis
The Diet has passed a ¥1.808 trillion supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 with the support of not only the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito but also of the Democratic Party of Japan and two other opposition groups. Japan, however, is about to face difficult times, as the financial crisis...
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

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