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August 14, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2005
Put everything on the table
By Michael O'Hanlon and Michael Horowitz
WASHINGTON -- North Korea's return to six-party negotiations in Beijing has been accompanied by greater civility and seriousness than many expected. Further, the frequent and direct bilateral contacts that have taken place between the U.S. and North Korean delegations -- a softening of the Bush administration's...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2005
Long-term value of new peace memorial
By Masamichi Hanabusa
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine have unduly been compounded as a diplomatic issue in Japan's relations with China and South Korea. It seems that Chinese and Korean leaders consider the visits supportive of moves by some Japanese to "legitimize the wrongs of the past."
EDITORIALS
Aug 10, 2005
North Korea's choice
Predictably, the fourth round of talks over North Korea's nuclear-weapons programs broke off last weekend in stalemate. Progress was evident during the marathon negotiations, however, so the break is only a recess: Representatives from the six parties to the talks -- China, Japan, North Korea, Russia,...
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2005
No rationalization for Nagasaki attack
By Brahma Chellaney
NEW DELHI -- History is written by victors and thus abounds in well-cultivated rationalizations for the winners' actions, however unjustifiable or gory they might be. Vanquishers are rarely burdened by guilt. Sometimes the rationalization stops with their first major slaughter in a war, as if their willful...
COMMENTARY
Aug 10, 2005
When it comes to American policy, Tokyo and Beijing have something in common
By Tom Plate
LOS ANGELES -- In two recent decisions involving the two major powers of East Asia, the United States revealed that it is still ungenerous about sharing power, even with a close ally like Japan, and that it is still so paranoid about China that it is willing to risk antagonizing it by acting as if it...
EDITORIALS
Aug 9, 2005
Mr. Koizumi raises the stakes
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dissolved the Lower House on Monday after a rebellion within his Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House killed the postal privatization bills, the centerpiece of his reform agenda. Despite his prompt countermove, Mr. Koizumi's overall political agenda has suffered...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2005
The power of empathy
By Daisaku Ikeda
August is a time when questions of war and peace seem to hang in the heavy summer air like the feverish trilling of the cicadas -- this year, in particular, as it marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, which came to a close with Japan's surrender on Aug. 15, 1945.
EDITORIALS
Aug 7, 2005
A way to preempt labor disputes
I n recent years, labor disputes involving individual workers, particularly with regard to layoffs and wages, have increased rapidly in Japan. In the background are sweeping changes in the employment situation, as illustrated by sharp rises in the number of temporary and part-time workers. Current labor-related...
COMMENTARY
Aug 7, 2005
Legacy of tepid leadership
By Keizo Nabeshima
For Japanese, August is a gloomy month. In the Pacific War, which ended in August 60 years ago, more than 3 million Japanese troops died. In the final days of the war, U.S. forces dropped history's first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki following indiscriminate carpet bombings of Japanese cities...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2005
Nepalese children caught in the crossfire
By Cesar Chelala
NEW YORK -- The armed conflict in Nepal between the government and Maoist guerrillas is making victims of an increasing number of children, who have been subjected to a wide array of human-rights violations. Over the past several years, the U.N. Security Council has worked to develop a body of law intended...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 7, 2005
Learning a foreign language is a cultural journey, too
By Roger Pulvers
English students of Japan, unite! You have nothing to lose but your (conversation school) chains!
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2005
An excuse for nuclear weapons
Sixty years ago, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, followed by one on Nagasaki three days later. The killing and injuring of hundreds of thousands of people ushered in an age that threatened nuclear annihilation. Since the East-West confrontation ended 15 years ago, the world has tended...
Britain’s Prince of Wales aircraft carrier makes Japan debut
HMS Prince of Wales arrives into the Port of Darwin, Australia, in July during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.
Japanese students who want to study abroad looking at options in Asia
The number of Japanese students who applied to the National Taiwan University in Taipei in 2025 is more than 60% higher than last year due partly to affordability and proximity.
Controversial theories continue to swirl around 1985 JAL jet crash
Kimi Ozawa, who lost her husband in the 1985 crash of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet, prays in front of his memorial marker on Tuesday in the village of Ueno, Gunma Prefecture.
1 in 55 Japanese middle schoolers abuse over-the-counter drugs, survey shows
Among the middle school students who admitted to abusing over-the-counter medication, the majority — around 64% — said they got them from pharmacies while a third said they had access to them in their own households.
The indelible memory of being a part of Unit 731
Hideo Shimizu, 95, says he cannot forget seeing the prisoners' bloody wills scribbled on the walls of prison cells at Unit 731 in 1945.
The indelible memory of being a part of Unit 731
Hideo Shimizu, 95, says he cannot forget seeing the prisoners' bloody wills scribbled on the walls of prison cells at Unit 731 in 1945.
Will Ishiba's critics be able to garner enough support for a leadership race?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's political survival likely hinges on whether a leadership race will take place within the Liberal Democratic Party following its decision to have its election committee canvass the opinions of party members and prefectural chapters on the subject.
Hidden rosters and the legacy of Japan’s germ warfare
Katsutoshi Takegami, 77, in his storehouse attic where he discovered his father's Unit 1644 documents
Osaka Expo highlights the challenge of holding events in Japan's scorching summer
People huddle near a large fan blowing icy-cold mist at the Osaka Expo on July 12. Amid Japan's relentless summer heat, organizes have put myriad measures in place in order to keep guests safe.
At Himawari Shokudo 2, Italian food with a Japanese soul
At Himawari Shokudo 2, chef Hozumi Tanaka serves Italian-inspired fare with a focus on Toyama produce, such as this appetizer of lightly blanched "hotaru ika" (firefly squid) served atop mixed wild plants and a crepe prepared from "yamato-imo" yam.

Podcast

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

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person
By Naoko Abe

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