More Editorials Articles - The Japan Times

January 24, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

EDITORIALS

Feb 5, 2008

Making the best students brighter

A night "cram school" for top achievers run by a private company has begun at the publicly run Wada Junior High School in Tokyo's Suginami Ward. Some public schools have been pushing tieups with private cram schools offering supplementary instruction to help improve the scholastic ability of students....

EDITORIALS

Feb 5, 2008

Mother-and-child health care

In addition to the fight against global warning, Japan could exercise its leadership at July's Group of Eight summit to promote international cooperation in protecting the health of mothers and infants in developing countries. The Japanese government plans to propose an action guideline at the summit...

EDITORIALS

Feb 4, 2008

A farce of a presidential race

While the U.S. campaign intensifies, Russia's presidential race is becoming increasingly farcical. There is little doubt that Mr. Dmitry Medvedev, President Vladimir Putin's chosen successor, will win the March ballot. But the government is taking no chances, eliminating any real competition and making...

EDITORIALS

Feb 4, 2008

Focus in U.S. campaign narrows

The U.S. presidential campaign sharpened last week with the withdrawals of Mr. Rudy Giuliani and Mr. John Edwards. Now, two main candidates dominate each race and will battle head to head in "Super Tuesday" this week and to their nominating conventions later this year. Voters in both parties now have...

EDITORIALS

Feb 3, 2008

Putting the pieces back together

The Social Insurance Agency on Dec. 17 started sending notices about pension premium payment records to people with the expectation that the notices would help them remember details of past pension premium payments and partially solve the problem of 50.95 million hard-to-identify payment records.

EDITORIALS

Feb 3, 2008

Late response to food poisoning

News that more than a thousand people have suffered food poisoning after eating insecticide-tainted gyoza meat and vegetable dumplings imported from China has set off alarms about food safety. Traces of the organo-phosphate methamidophos were found in the frozen gyoza. This chemical is so lethal that...

EDITORIALS

Feb 2, 2008

Making an impact on tourism

The government plans to inaugurate a Tourism Agency in October as an extra-ministerial bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The new agency will be aimed at attracting overseas visitors to Japan as their tourist destination and to make tourism an important industry of the nation....

EDITORIALS

Feb 2, 2008

Bite of a consumer watchdog

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who in his latest policy speech called for creating a system in which citizens and consumers become "leading players," is eager to establish a Consumer Agency. A series of irregularities such as false labeling and data fabrication involving food, construction and paper manufacturing...

EDITORIALS

Feb 1, 2008

Mediation averts confrontation

Thanks to mediation efforts by Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono and Upper House President Satsuki Eda, the ruling and opposition parties have averted a fierce confrontation over the government's tax code bill, which includes maintaining provisionally raised gasoline and road-related taxes for 10 years...

EDITORIALS

Feb 1, 2008

Lackluster speech for the final year

U.S. President George W. Bush failed to put forth bold proposals or ideas in his final State of the Union address. The economy, once a political asset, is now joining the unpopular Iraq war as a liability for Mr. Bush, as he acknowledged when he said, "As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a...

EDITORIALS

Jan 31, 2008

Gaps amid higher employment

The economic crisis of Japan's "lost decade," in which companies plagued with bad loans went bust, appears to be a thing of the past. The unemployment rate, once above 5 percent, came down to 3.8 percent in December. The employment rate for university graduates has risen for four consecutive years. But...

EDITORIALS

Jan 31, 2008

Moves toward devolution

This will be an important year for the government's plan to push devolution. A government panel for devolution will start submitting to the government a series of recommendations around June. The first main recommendation will concern the relegation of more powers to local governments in implementing...

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports