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January 24, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Sep 1, 2007

Progress in China Airlines probe

The transport ministry's Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission, the U.S. National Transport Safety Board and Boeing Aircraft Co. have made progress in their investigation of the fire and explosions on a China Airlines Boeing 737-800 at Naha airport on Aug. 20.

EDITORIALS

Aug 31, 2007

The education of a sumo wrestler

Yokozuna Asashoryu, accompanied by his stable master Takasago, has flown to his motherland Mongolia for treatment of a mental disorder and injuries to his left elbow and lower back. The injuries have been diagnosed as requiring six weeks to heal.

EDITORIALS

Aug 31, 2007

A troubled cop off the beat

Guns possessed by yakuza gangsters pose a threat to society. But what happened early last week in Tokyo is serious as well. A "koban" (police box) duty officer of the Metropolitan Police Department assigned to the Tachikawa Police Station used a gun issued to him to shoot a woman to death in her apartment...

EDITORIALS

Aug 30, 2007

Common cause in Central Asia

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held its annual summit in mid-August, providing the occasion for another round of hand-wringing over whether an anti-Western bloc has emerged. Those dark speculations are exaggerated. Indeed, the rest of the world should support efforts to increase counterterrorism...

EDITORIALS

Aug 29, 2007

Mr. Abe plays it safe

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who chose not to step down after his Liberal Democratic Party's devastating defeat in last month's Upper House election, reshuffled the LDP leadership and his Cabinet on Monday. Mr. Abe has at least two messages for the people: that his new Cabinet is reliable and stable, and...

EDITORIALS

Aug 28, 2007

Learning from a summer of disasters

With an airplane exploding, bridges collapsing, and a nuclear plant shutting down, it has been a summer of disasters. Around the globe since May, no continent has been left untouched — whether by fire, flood, tornado, airplane crash or a collapsing mine. Disasters, clearly, do not take summer vacations....

EDITORIALS

Aug 27, 2007

Rethinking power-supply strategy

The impact of the magnitude-6.8 earthquake July 16 off Niigata Prefecture on Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant was clearly felt Aug. 22 when TEPCO, on short notice, requested that 23 large-lot industrial customers cut back on their use of electricity that afternoon.

EDITORIALS

Aug 27, 2007

Hesitation on interest rates

Since it ended its zero-interest-rate policy in July 2006, the Bank of Japan has sought to normalize interest rates up to a level that matches the nation's economic recovery. Recent increases in land prices also have given the BOJ cause to think that an interest-rate rise is necessary. But the central...

EDITORIALS

Aug 26, 2007

Eyes on the prize with India

Japan and India have very good reasons to forge closer ties. They are both democracies and share fundamental values. With proper attention, their economic relationship, which has been stunted, can grow to their mutual benefit. They share security concerns: stability in Central Asia and the Mideast, access...

EDITORIALS

Aug 25, 2007

Thailand approves a constitution

Last Sunday, Thai voters approved a new constitution. The expected result clears the way for national elections later this year. But the military-installed government should not exaggerate the meaning of this vote. It is a vote for a constitution, not a particular government. The election that should...

EDITORIALS

Aug 24, 2007

New effort to boost tourism

The government has decided on a basic plan to promote the tourist industry as one of Japan's main policy measures for the 21st century. The basic plan sets goals in 25 areas, including three main ones — increasing domestic tours by Japanese, attracting more tourists from abroad, and increasing the...

EDITORIALS

Aug 24, 2007

Positive trend in traffic safety

In 2007, Japan may be blessed with the lowest number of traffic-accident deaths in 54 years. In the first half of this year, 2,655 traffic deaths took place, a decrease of about 9 percent from the year before and the lowest figure on record since 1954. Through 2006, the number of annual deaths in traffic...

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

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