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COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2008

Obstacles to overcome in the development of a concert of Asia-Pacific democracies

NEW DELHI — The new Australian government is signaling a wish to turn its back on an initiative bringing four major democracies of the Asia-Pacific together, even as U.S. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has vowed to institutionalize that venture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 19, 2008

CO2 trading mirrors, but still smoke?

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, the world has been spewing out greenhouse gases that now threaten the global ecosystem. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 379.1 parts per million in 2005, or 35 percent higher than the estimated level before...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 2, 2007

You have to appear to be a complete loser in Japan to get benefits

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's vision for a "beautiful country" stresses self-reliance. The media usually translates this aim in national defense terms: a stronger military that doesn't have to duck behind the United States. To the average person it simply means you're on your own. That buzz word of several...
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2007

Referendum law raises questions

The Upper House on Monday enacted a law that establishes procedures for a national referendum to revise the Constitution. The legislation was backed by the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, one member of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan and an independent. The law's provisions concern the most...
JAPAN
May 8, 2007

Ishibashi's brief reign in '57 a key crossroads

is congratulated by Nobusuke Kishi after winning a runoff election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidency on Dec. 14, 1956. KYODO PHOTO
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2007

Tobacco's road from fashion to filth

NEW YORK -- If a recent article in the Science section of The New York Times is any indication, the idea that the history of the tobacco industry in the United States has been nothing less than perfidy has taken hold among the socially conscientious. Titled "Tracing the Cigarette's Path From Sexy to...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 17, 2006

It's horses for courses if there's a few bucks to be made

Whenever the media covers some story about an animal that has been rescued or neglected there are always dozens of people willing to adopt it.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 22, 2006

Plea to a TV comic: Take on the big boys and take on politics

To Hikari Ota, c/o Titan Talent Agency.
EDITORIALS
Oct 6, 2006

Encouragement for reporters

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by a U.S. health-food maker against a high court decision that upheld a reporter's right to keep a news source secret. The decision concerns an NHK report that the Japanese subsidiary of the company had underreported its revenues to reduce tax bills.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2006

Hawkishness is watchword for Abe team

The Cabinet and special advisers named Tuesday by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe share one dominant trait: conservatism.
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2006

Court misses the big picture

Protecting a news source is the most important ethic of a reporter. But the Tokyo District Court has mounted a frontal attack on this principle, endangering freedom of press and the people's right to know. The court decided March 14 that when the possibility exists that a news source is a public servant,...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2005

Journalist did not defame expert in tainted blood fiasco: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court overturned a high court decision Thursday, ruling that noted journalist Yoshiko Sakurai did not defame a late hemophilia expert in her writings about the infection of hemophiliacs with HIV from tainted blood products.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2005

Nakasone group unveils Constitutional amendment plan

An independent think tank led by former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone on Thursday unveiled its draft for revising the Constitution.
JAPAN
Jan 15, 2005

NHK closes ranks against Asahi, whistle-blower

NHK said Friday it has demanded that the daily Asahi Shimbun correct a story it ran claiming the public broadcaster, due to political pressure, altered a 2001 TV program on a mock trial on Japan's use of wartime sex slaves.
COMMENTARY
Jul 11, 2004

Japan can't compete with a burning Iraq

LOS ANGELES -- Before too long, Asia might get weary of being declared by self-appointed Occidental experts as the new center of the political universe. For one thing, the notion is hardly novel in Asia. But, then again, it might as well enjoy the limelight so long denied this most pivotal region on...
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2001

Door to constitutional change

Last June, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi created an advisory panel on his proposal aimed at empowering the public -- not lawmakers as at present -- to directly elect the premier. The group is expected to come up with recommendations on the plan by next summer.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 25, 2001

Failed chemistry experiments in the media lab

Two weeks ago, a friend faxed me an article from the weekly news magazine Aera about a new advertising trend called "collaboration CF," which is the selling of two different companies' products in one TV commercial. I had already read about collaborations two days earlier in advertising critic Yukichi...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Mar 26, 2001

Never say you've apologized too much

When Ursula Smith, my publisher friend up in Vermont, wrote to say, "I can't close without offering some (futile) form of apology, as one national to another, for that unfortunate accident off Hawaii," I said there was no need to apologize to me. It was an accident, and I wasn't too clear about the meaning...
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2000

Mori sues over story on gangster ties

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori filed a libel suit with the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday against a magazine that published an article and photographs allegedly linking him to a rightwing gangster, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2000

Magazine to run picture of Mori, alleged rightist

In the latest potential headache for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, a weekly magazine plans to publish photographs of Mori with a man allegedly linked to a crime syndicate in an edition that will hit newsstands this week.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2000

Mori recants as friends, foes slam abduction plan

Retracting comments made earlier by his government, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori admitted during Tuesday's Diet session that a controversial proposal for finding Japanese nationals allegedly abducted by North Korean agents was not merely the personal opinion of a ruling party lawmaker.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 1, 1999

'Liberation' of birth control proves a bitter pill to swallow

On Aug. 16, the Health and Welfare Ministry announced that it had finally approved the low-dosage birth control pill, which will likely become available through prescription in the fall. Oral contraceptives for women have been available in the West for close to 40 years, but in Japan they've always been...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 15, 1999

Japanese women say single life fine — if they're financially independent

Some say that '70s feminism began its fall from grace in 1986 when a study claimed that a woman's chances of marrying sometime in her life drops to 5 percent after she passes her 35th birthday. The notion that so many nominally liberated women found this conclusion distressing gave rise to the cynical...
Japan Times
PODCAST / deep dive
Jun 7, 2023

Is Japan going to legalize same-sex marriage?

A series of court cases is helping to shape the debate over whether or not Japan will act on legalizing same-sex marriage.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
May 11, 2023

The land beneath this stadium once was theirs. They want it back.

As so-called land-back movements have gained momentum, three Los Angeles families have been working to define what reparations mean for them and how to get them.
PODCAST / deep dive
Apr 5, 2023

What should you expect when you land a job in Japan?

What is it like to work in Japan? With the number of foreign residents slowly rising, we take a look at what they might be in for when it comes to the country’s corporate culture.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / ANALYSIS
Jul 11, 2023

Role of Thailand's monarchy looms over battle to appoint prime minister

A deadlock over the appointment could tip Southeast Asia's second-largest economy into crisis, with reformers vying to dislodge the grip on power of the royalist military establishment.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’