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January 21, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Jul 23, 2005

Making ends meet with less

The fiscal 2005 "Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finances" pays attention to the impact on the economy of two inevitable demographic changes: the expected shrinkage of the population (the first such shrinkage since World War II) and the retirement in large numbers of baby boomers born...

EDITORIALS

Jul 22, 2005

Breakthrough in U.S.-India ties

Hyperbole is not unusual to describe meetings of heads of state. Yet the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the United States marks a genuine departure in relations between those two countries. The U.S. agreement to help India secure international assistance with its civilian nuclear-energy...

EDITORIALS

Jul 21, 2005

More trouble in southern Thailand

The situation in southern Thailand continues to deteriorate. A series of recent attacks indicate a troubling new sophistication by the Islamic insurgents there. The government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has responded with legislation that gives it sweeping new powers in the South. The danger,...

EDITORIALS

Jul 20, 2005

'Colossal, collective failure'

A decade ago, a terrible tragedy was visited on the citizens of Srebrenica, a small town in Bosnia. At the height of the war over Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serb military forces systematically slaughtered all of the town's Muslim men and boys. What is worse, this massacre occurred under the eye of the United...

EDITORIALS

Jul 19, 2005

Collusive ripoff 'from heaven'?

The bid-rigging scandal involving major bridge builders has again brought into public view the structural collusive relationship between private enterprise and the public sector. The scope of the criminal investigation -- which originally targeted projects ordered by local bureaus of the Land, Infrastructure...

EDITORIALS

Jul 18, 2005

Japan's quiet time bomb

Health problems linked to asbestos, which was used in large quantities as heat-insulation material for buildings during the period of Japan's high economic growth, are spreading among workers who inhaled the substance in the past. One enterprise after another has released lists of workers who have died...

EDITORIALS

Jul 17, 2005

On the verge of decline

The countdown has begun ahead of Japan's plunge into a period of shrinking population that will have a serious impact on the nation's economy and society, especially the labor force and social welfare, including the pension system.

EDITORIALS

Jul 16, 2005

Priorities in the six-party talks

The next round of six-party talks, the multilateral negotiations over North Korea's nuclear-weapons programs, are scheduled to resume the week of July 25 in Beijing. While it is unclear what motivated North Korea to return to the talks, success will depend on whether the other five parties -- Japan,...

EDITORIALS

Jul 15, 2005

Preventive care for the elderly

A revision in the nursing-care insurance law, which passed the Diet in late June, will go into effect in April 2006, representing a significant turn in the direction of the government's approach since the insurance system was introduced in fiscal 2000.

EDITORIALS

Jul 14, 2005

Shutting down business fraud

Today's communities in Japan, especially impersonal big cities, are becoming hostile places in many ways for elderly people living alone. New gangs of criminals, who often pose as kind and soft-spoken business operators, are eager to swindle the elderly out of their life savings. These con artists know...

EDITORIALS

Jul 13, 2005

Stabilize Central Asia

Central Asia remains a wild and forbidding place. It is a sprawling, sparsely populated area. Its position at the crossroads of trade between East and West has made it the focus of attention and competition for centuries. The discovery of significant oil and gas reserves has made Central Asia even more...

EDITORIALS

Jul 12, 2005

Some hope from the G8

It is easy to be cynical about G8 summits. The annual meetings of the heads of state of the leading industrialized nations are equal parts political theater, photo opportunity and security nightmare. Each summit produces a lofty statement that echoes its predecessors, is invariably bland despite (or...

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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