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October 05, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2006
Why not pay more for Fairtrade food?
By Peter Singer
PRINCETON, New Jersey -- Marks & Spencer, a supermarket and clothing chain with 400 stores throughout Britain, recently announced that it is converting its entire range of coffee and tea, totaling 38 lines, to Fairtrade, a marketing symbol of "ethical production." The chain already sells only Fairtrade...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 23, 2006
'Folkways' school ban puts 'stateways' to democratic test
By Roger Pulvers
The essential argument about how to create a democratic society that is tolerant of difference revolves around an old and simple question: Do stateways make folkways?
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2006
Trust and the Food Safety Commission
The trustworthiness of the Food Safety Commission appears to be in jeopardy. Half of the 12-member panel under the commission that was tasked with assessing the safety of North American beef resigned as of March 31. The six who quit were regarded by consumer groups as being cautious about the idea of...
EDITORIALS
Apr 21, 2006
Reforms for nursing-care insurance
Under a revision of the nursing-care insurance law, the nation's care system for the elderly (people aged 65 or older) entered a new stage on April 1, the first day of fiscal 2006. This stage boosts efforts to prevent the health of senior citizens from deteriorating to the point that they need expensive...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2006
Turning point at Chernobyl
By Mikhail Gorbachev
MOSCOW -- The nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl 20 years ago this month, even more than my launch of perestroika, was perhaps the real cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union five years later. Indeed, the Chernobyl catastrophe was an historic turning point: there was the era before the disaster, and there...
EDITORIALS
Apr 20, 2006
Bill warrants thorough debate
Only two weeks after it was sent to the chamber's floor and with little debate, the Lower House has passed a bill that will allow the fingerprinting and photographing of foreigners as they enter Japan. The legislation is now in the Upper House. The Justice Ministry says that the bill to revise the Immigration...
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2006
Scandals over political funding
By Hugh Cortazzi
LONDON -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government has recently been accused of "selling" peerages that give the holder the right to a seat in the House of Lords, Britain's Upper House, which is not elected. The police have reportedly begun investigations into these allegations, which if proven...
EDITORIALS
Apr 19, 2006
An unhealthy blast from the past
The ruling coalition has agreed to include a clause on patriotism in a bill that will revise the Fundamental Law of Education for the first time, although Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has not decided when to send the bill to the Diet. The 1947 law, although drafted under the leadership of the Occupation...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 19, 2006
Time to consider pumping money into infrastructure
By Kenneth Rogoff
BOSTON -- Any good international investment banker knows that the end of April is a bad time to come peddling his services, for that is when the world's finance ministers return home from the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, chastened that risks to the global economy could spill over...
EDITORIALS
Apr 18, 2006
France refuses to face economic facts
It is hard to find a silver lining in the clouds that hover over France's economic future. Months of sustained political protest by French students forced a humiliating defeat on the Paris government, obliging it to withdraw a package of labor reforms that would have made it easier to fire first-time...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2006
No wonder Chavez makes Bush uneasy
By TED RALL
NEW YORK -- When the hated despots of nations like Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan loot their countries' treasuries, transfer their oil wealth to personal Swiss bank accounts and use the rest to finance (in the House of Saud's case) terrorist extremists, American politicians praise them as trusted friends...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2006
Dark side of structural reform
By Susumu Nishibe
Most economic pundits still support the idea of free competition in the market as the key principle of the society. As Japanese society becomes increasingly Americanized, however, a number of "fakes" have appeared in the market.
Takaichi poised to become Japan's first female PM after winning LDP poll
Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, holds a news conference after the LDP presidential election in Tokyo on Saturday.
A Japanese ski resort town is roiled by a debate over immigration
A Swedish snowboard instructor works at the Niseko ski resort area on Hokkaido, in Kutchan, in December 2022
Tokyo's newest stationery store sells 'a slower, more human rhythm'
Plotter's signature customizable leather binder is just one of many products contributing to the ongoing boom in the popularity of Japanese stationery.
Retro-wrapped trains mark 100th anniversary of Tokyo's Yamanote Line
Trains decorated to resemble the 103 (left) and 205 series of trains that formerly ran on the Yamanote Line, in Tokyo on Saturday.
One dead, one missing in Japan after bear attack
A bear warning sign. More and more wild bears have been spotted in Japan in recent years, even in residential areas, due to factors including a declining human population and climate change.
How a family-run landscaper turned the Osaka Expo green
The team at Ryokukou Garden consists primarily of a single family, including Toshiki Tanisaki (second from right), who led the company's efforts at the Osaka Expo, Chikako Tanisaki (fifth from right), who performs daily maintanence at the expo, and Takeshi Tanisaki (fourth from right), who added a nursery to the family farm more than 50 years ago.
Eat your balloons: The culinary theater of Grant Achatz comes to Tokyo
Avant-garde chef Grant Achatz and his team from Alinea are in Tokyo for a three-week residency.
Japan’s first foreign wine investor plants its roots in Hokkaido
Intrigued by Japanese wines, Burgundy winemaker Etienne de Montille decided to explore Hokkaido's wine scene, eventually setting up his outpost in Hakodate in 2017.
Tea ceremony experts see matcha boom as a big opportunity
Atsuko Mori, founder and director of Kyoto-based tea salon Camellia Tea Ceremony, prepares matcha during a tea ceremony in Kyoto.
The summer kabuki came roaring back
Kabuki has been trying for years to attract a new generation of fans. One way to do this has been to adapt manga and anime franchises, such as “Naruto,” for the stage. 

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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