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October 05, 2025
 

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COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2005
Know when not to apologize
By David Howell
LONDON -- Here is a telling statistic about Japan's foreign policy that is little known in the West, and may not be widely known even in Japan itself.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2005
Salary reform for public servants
has recommended that the government reduce the annual salary of central government workers for fiscal 2005 by 0.1 percent, or 4,000 yen from the previous fiscal year's level, to bring it into closer alignment with the annual salary level for private-sector workers. More importantly, it has called for...
EDITORIALS
Aug 23, 2005
A blow to peace in Sri Lanka
The recent assassination of Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, foreign minister of Sri Lanka, is a blow to the fragile peace process in that country. Hard fought negotiations have yielded a tenuous ceasefire, yet a peace agreement remains beyond reach. Antagonism between ethnic groups has been matched by equally...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2005
LDP again at the crossroads
By Keizo Nabeshima
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi views the forthcoming general election, set for Sept. 11, as a national referendum on his top-priority plan to privatize the postal system. "I would like to ask the people whether they are for or against postal privatization," he told a nationally televised press conference,...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2005
Taiwan skimping on defense readiness
By Richard Halloran
HONOLULU -- The political leaders of Taiwan, both government and opposition, are in serious danger of misreading or ignoring the increasingly stiff warning signals coming from Washington.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2005
Asian chance after Annan
By Ramesh Thakur
The term of Kofi Annan as U.N. secretary general (SG) expires Dec. 31, 2006. Countries and individuals have begun to position themselves to succeed him. If Asians are to have a credible chance of filling what should rightfully be their turn at the job, their discussions and negotiations in the next six...
COMMENTARY
Aug 22, 2005
Unhealthy fixation on 'miracle' growth
By Frank Ching
HONG KONG -- In the late 1970s, after China had emerged from the frenzy of the Cultural Revolution and it was again politically correct to talk about development, economists and officials focused on two principal economic indices: GVIO and GVAO, or gross value of industrial output and gross value of...
COMMENTARY
Aug 22, 2005
Victor's logic in hindsight
By Kiroku Hanai
Every August Japan is filled with prayers for the 3.1 million Japanese who died in the Pacific War and feelings of resentment against the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This August, which marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the war, Japanese media have done intensive reporting to...
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2005
For safer travel over 65
The National Police Agency chose "Striving for the World's Safest Road Traffic" as the main theme of its 2005 white paper made public recently. This is the first time in about a quarter-century that traffic safety has been the main feature of the annual report, thus denoting the agency's enthusiasm for...
EDITORIALS
Aug 21, 2005
New party braces for battle
With a snap general election set for Sept. 11, the conflict within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over postal-service privatization has entered a new stage with the formation of a new party led by antireform old guards. The new group is led by Mr. Tamisuke Watanuki, former Lower House speaker, and...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Aug 21, 2005
All together now, as yesterday's no-no becomes the status quo
By Roger Pulvers
When I first arrived in Japan in the 1960s, I was friends with a Western sociologist who was genuinely frustrated. When he went around surveying public opinion, he said that he found Japanese people to be stubbornly reserved and conservative. Apparently, those who responded to his questions about social...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2005
Consolidating against conflict, disaster
By Eric Teo Chu Cheow
SINGAPORE -- Despite some initial difficulties, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations preserved its cohesion as a credible regional organization to end a weeklong series of annual meetings on a good note late last month in Vientiane:
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.
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.
Japan’s jobless rate edges up to highest in over a year
August’s unemployment figures showed a slight tempering of Japan's job market, but the data still points to overall firmness amid an ongoing labor shortage.
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. 
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.
Japan's far-right party courts Trump allies and vows not to get 'wacky'
Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
How Ohtani has boosted Japan's soft power and made LA even more baseball-obsessed
Fans at Dodger Stadium pose in front of a mural highlighting the Dodgers' Japanese stars from past and present during a game earlier this year.
Japan faces fresh energy challenge as it seeks to expand power-hungry data centers
Data storage tapes at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center facility in Berkeley, California. Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, and that will only rise as generative artificial intelligence takes off in earnest.

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

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Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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