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August 24, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Oct 11, 2008

A secret kind of control

The Defense Ministry on Oct. 2 dismissed a 50-year-old colonel of the Air Self-Defense Force for allegedly passing a "defense secret" to a Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reporter more than three years ago. The information was about a Chinese submarine that had surfaced in the South China Sea and was adrift....

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 10, 2008

'Pumping station' or bust

By Kenichi Ohmae

Last week I discussed two key points in dealing with the U.S. financial crisis: The first was that U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's plan to buy up bad assets is not the priority; a liquidity facility is. The second was that a "wolf-pack" psychology will prevail without a "pumping station" of liquidity...

EDITORIALS

Oct 10, 2008

Credit to scientific pioneers

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' announcement that a Japan-born American and two Japanese will receive the Nobel Prize in physics for 2008 is certainly uplifting news following the recent days of gloom over the impact of the credit crisis that has spread from the United States and the apparent...

COMMENTARY

Oct 10, 2008

Distressed Chinese dairy companies get help

By Frank Ching

HONG KONG — At a time when the United States — and now Europe — is acting to rescue financial institutions such as Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and AIG, it is interesting to note that Chinese authorities are offering a hand to distressed companies caught in the contaminated milk scandal.

COMMENTARY / World

Oct 9, 2008

Much to a name in U.S. politics

By Paul A. Kowert

SENDAI — The most important televised debate of the current American presidential campaign was held on the night of Oct. 2, and it featured not the presidential candidates themselves, as one might expect, but rather their vice presidential running mates. The debate was interesting because, while the...

EDITORIALS

Oct 9, 2008

NPT at a crossroads

The U.S. Congress has approved a nuclear deal between the United States and India that will allow the U.S. to export nuclear fuel, reactors and technologies for peaceful energy use to India. The agreement, which went into effect Wednesday when signed by President George W. Bush, is virtual recognition...

COMMENTARY

Oct 9, 2008

Criteria for good leadership

By Hugh Cortazzi

The argument that in a time of crisis experience in government is a necessary qualification for high office has some appeal, but it is not a conclusive reason for choosing a leader. This question became a focus of Britain's two main political parties recently at their respective annual conferences.

EDITORIALS

Oct 9, 2008

Danger to the real economy

The financial crisis that originated in the United States shows no sign of abating despite congressional passage last week of a $700 billion financial rescue package. There is a danger that it could further damage the real economy.

COMMENTARY

Oct 8, 2008

The truth comes too late

By Gwynne Dyer

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was well aware that he resembled the generals who join a peace movement as soon as they retire. "I have not come here to justify my actions over the past 35 years," he said. "For a large portion of that period, I was unwilling to look reality in the eye."

EDITORIALS

Oct 8, 2008

Public wariness hampers police

The National Police Agency's 2008 police white paper shows that investigators are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain information from witnesses, suspects and others during criminal investigations. Behind this is increasing public indifference to others, growing distrust of the police, and a...

EDITORIALS

Oct 8, 2008

Beyond the Kyoto Protocol

One of former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's notable achievements was when, as the chair of the Group of Eight summit this summer, he managed to get the G8 nations to broadly agree on efforts to fight global warming. Although the government has changed, Japan must strive with other countries to overcome...

EDITORIALS

Oct 7, 2008

Pressures on health system

The introduction in April of the health insurance system for people age 75 or over is exerting so much financial pressure on health insurance societies that some of them have dissolved themselves. As the graying of the population progresses, the government must reconstruct and set the nation's medical...

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

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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