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January 25, 2025
 

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EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2008
Halting ODA's downward trend
Japan was the world's top foreign aid donor from 1991 to 2000, topping the United States. But faced with budget shortages, Japan has been reducing its official development assistance in recent years. A report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says that in 2007 Japan slipped...
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2008
Funding for U.S. military facilities
The Lower House passed a new special-measures agreement for financial burden-sharing to maintain U.S. military facilities in Japan and sent it to the opposition-controlled Upper House on April 3. Even if the Upper House does not pass the agreement, it will become effective 30 days after the Lower House...
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2008
No need for nationwide fitness test
The education ministry has decided to carry out a nationwide test of physical strength covering all fifth graders and middle school second-year students from this month to late July. The test will cover about 2.4 million children at both public and private schools, and cost ¥335 million. The ministry...
EDITORIALS
Apr 13, 2008
The ball's in China's court
Apprehension has been long expressed about the Beijing Olympic Games in August due to several issues. Two of them — air pollution in the Chinese capital and food safety — focus on the Games themselves. A third one involves criticism of China's human rights records and its close ties with Sudan, whose...
EDITORIALS
Apr 13, 2008
At last, a meaningful debate
For the first time in the current Diet session, Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and the Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa had a one-on-one debate last week. Compared with their low-key debate in January, last week's debate was heated and came closer to what such a debate ought to be. Both Mr....
EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2008
Conservatives win again in South Korea
South Korean President Lee Myung Bak got a boost this week from parliamentary elections that gave fellow conservatives a majority in the National Assembly. The results provide a modicum of relief for "the bulldozer" but he is still going to have to struggle to implement his policy agenda. Ironically,...
EDITORIALS
Apr 11, 2008
What lies behind murderous intent?
It is always difficult to determine why anyone would develop an urge to kill. However, the behavior and the background of the suspects in two murders in late March indicates that along with other cautionary measures, better social and familial help might have prevented the tragedies.
EDITORIALS
Apr 11, 2008
At long last, a new BOJ governor
To the belated, if only partial, relief of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and financial market players, the position of the governor of the Bank of Japan, which had been empty since former BOJ chief Toshihiko Fukui's tenure ended on March 19, has finally been filled.
EDITORIALS
Apr 10, 2008
No place for politics in education
The final version of the new courses of study announced late last month by the education ministry places greater stress on patriotism than the draft announced in mid-February. Apparently this change reflects the ministry's last-minute efforts to reflect the opinions of some lawmakers in the document....
EDITORIALS
Apr 10, 2008
Supervising interrogations
The National Public Safety Commission has endorsed a set of rules devised by the National Police Agency for properly interrogating suspects. Under the rules, a system for supervising interrogation processes at police stations will be introduced from April 2009. Police headquarters in large prefectures...
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2008
Murder in Yokosuka
A Nigerian man serving in the U.S. Navy was arrested on April 3 on suspicion of stabbing to death a taxi driver on March 19 in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. The crew member of the Aegis cruiser Cowpens reportedly has admitted to the crime.
EDITORIALS
Apr 9, 2008
Few cheers for devolution
A 15-member government panel has submitted an interim report recommending the introduction of the "doshu" system of regional governments. The report, submitted to internal affairs minister Hiroya Masuda, calls for a complete shift to the new system by 2018, and proposes that the government submit a basic...
BOJ takes rates to 0.5% amid calm markets after Trump inauguration
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda had sounded dovish after the central bank's December policy meeting, which led some analysts to say that rate hikes might only emerge in March.
Japanese researchers develop peptide preventing COVID-19 infections
Institute of Science Tokyo Distinguished Professor Yoshinori Fujiyoshi (left) and Assistant Professor Shun Nakamura, who developed a peptide that can bind to the spike proteins of the novel coronavirus to prevent COVID-19 infections, at the Institute of Science Tokyo's Ookayama campus in Tokyo on Monday
Japan supermarket sales up for fifth year in 2024
Vegetables for sale at a local supermarket in Kyoto.
Japan contemplates global free-trade leadership as U.S. goes protectionist
Shipping containers at an industrial port in the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki. Japanese businesses see a larger role for Japan if global trade breaks down and multilateral trade institutions become less effective without U.S. participation.
Search for suspect underway after fatal stabbing at Nagano Station
The crime scene where three people were attacked near JR Nagano Station on Wednesday
The cartoon chaos of ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’ was ahead of its time
Animated series “Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi” premiered on Cartoon Network on Nov. 29, 2004, and ran for three seasons. The show is based on real-life J-pop band Puffy.
How 'Twin Peaks' turned David Lynch into Japan's favorite weirdo
“The Elephant Man” and “Twin Peaks” director David Lynch became a favorite among Japanese moviegoers who flocked to new arthouse cinemas (known as “mini theaters”) popping up around the country in the 1980s and ’90s.
As parliament opens, ruling coalition enters uncharted territory
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a policy speech at the Lower House of the parliament in Tokyo last November.
Dodgers introduce Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki
Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki speaks during his introductory news conference with the team in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Japan-made games part of a rising tide of indie greatness
One of the brighest spots of Japan's indie gaming landscape in 2024 was Sonokuni, and with more incubators and other avenues of support springing up, there may be more games like it in the future.

Podcast

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

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go
By Kazuaki Nagata and Richard Meyer

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