Tag - japan

 
 

JAPAN

COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2014
Abe pulls strings to put NHK under his thumb
The media in a democracy exists to police governments, even those largely footing the bill. But Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is intent on forcing NHK to propagate and reinforce his views.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 4, 2014
South Korea's Japanese mirror
Japan and South Korea have similar social and economic problems. The difference is that South Korea may still have time to ameliorate some trends and avoid a quagmire of permanent low growth and long-term decline.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 4, 2014
Saving Japan and China from a dangerous new conflict
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had hoped to herald his economic reform program at Davos last week. Instead, his mention of tensions between China and Japan exposed the lack of multilateral institutions like those created in Western Europe after 1945 to settle Northeast Asian disputes.
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2014
Alcohol dependency in Japan
A major problem in Japan, where an estimated 6.45 million people have alcohol-related problems, is the lack of social recognition that alcohol dependency is an illness.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2014
Playing with fire is dangerous
Any moves that Japanese leaders make at this time to start the process of amending the Constitution would arouse strong feelings in Japan and abroad, against the nation's interests.
COMMENTARY / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 21, 2014
Is the Obama administration prioritizing ties with China?
The different tones of the U.S. and Japanese reactions to China's recent establishment of an air defense identificatin zone raises the question of whether the Obama administration is prioritizing ties with Beijing.
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2014
Japan's nuclear waste problem
The government plans to step up its efforts to select a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power generation despite having searched for more than a decade, without success, to find a willing host community.
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2014
Japan heading for darker days
It's still baffling why the Abe administration was in such a hurry to have the state secrets bill passed when various opinion surveys showed that the bill was opposed by about 80 percnet of respondens on the very day the Upper House voted on it.
COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2014
The real cause of Japan's renewed prosperity
Despite the apparent disconnect in recent years between the exemplary performance of Japanese students and the nation's stock and currency market fluctuations, the knowledge and skills that students bring to the workplace in the form of human capital make the companies that hire them more competitive.
EDITORIALS
Jan 17, 2014
Problematic nuclear accord
Japan should start considering right now how and whether it will assume liability for damages and casualties if a severe accident occurs at one of the four nuclear reactors that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is building with a French company in northern Turkey.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 14, 2014
Japan's Obama problem
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe does not appear to have considered the possibility that his pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine on Dec. 26 might end up helping China by deepening South Korea's antagonism toward Japan.
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2014
Lessons from the Diovan scandal
Fallout from the Diovan case in Japan suggests that clinical drug studies on patients should be financed either with public research funds or through formal funding contracts between pharmaceutical companies and the research institutions involved — rather than by pharma donations.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2014
Abe should end Yasukuni visits
Ever since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine last month, a former British ambassador to Japan has been trying to guess what Abe's motives for such an act could have been.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 12, 2014
Japan goes back to the future to affirm energy 'foundation'
The Japanese government's recently released draft Basic Energy Plan goes as close as possible to preserving the pre-Fukushima nuclear status quo, event with all nuclear power plants currently closed down and public opinion still strongly in favor of a nuclear phase-out.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 11, 2014
History textbook wars cross borders
Japan is hardly alone in confronting shame about past events and whether to describe them in textbooks. Germany, the United States and China are undergoing similar debates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2014
Diplomatic dustup a worrying sign for Japan-China relations
It's tempting to roll one's eyes at the respective invocations of 'Harry Potter's' Lord Voldemort by the Chinese and Japanese ambassadors to Britain in a diplomatic tit-for-tat, but the exchange is a troubling sign.
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2014
Shaky foundation for recovery
The Japanese economy appears to be on the recovery path for now, thanks to the policy of the Abe administration, but the effects from the consumption tax rise, beginning in April, and the extra financial burden that households can expect under the fiscal 2014 draft budget do not place the recovery on a solid foundation.
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2014
Fee hike should boost medical care
Revenue from the average 0.1 percent increase in medical fees for the 2014 draft budget is expected to be used mainly to improve emergency medicine and pediatric and obstetrical treatment — fields where quality care has declined in some localities because of shortages of physicians.
EDITORIALS
Jan 4, 2014
Not all kids can fete the new year
The extreme poor in Japan make up a larger percentage of the poor than in all except five other OECD nations. The children of this group do not have the basics for learning.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 2, 2014
Public's reaction to 'betrayal'
In light of the recent enact of the state secrets protectiion law, it is urgent that Japan improve its handling and disclosure of government information.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji