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January 20, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Apr 4, 2004

The U.S. pastime in Tokyo Dome

Major League Baseball's decision to stage Opening Day 2004 in Tokyo has apparently caused some heartburn back home in the United States, even though it is hardly the first time the U.S. season has opened abroad.

EDITORIALS

Apr 4, 2004

Pipe dreams of warp speed

When an experimental NASA aircraft streaked across the sky last weekend at Mach 7 -- seven times the speed of sound -- those of us watching it on television worldwide probably all had the same response: We did some quick math.

EDITORIALS

Apr 3, 2004

Nurturing the sprouts of recovery

Japan's economic recovery, supported chiefly by large, export-oriented manufacturers, is spreading to other sectors, according to the Bank of Japan's quarterly survey on business sentiment. However, it is premature to conclude that the economy is headed for a self-sustaining recovery led by domestic...

EDITORIALS

Apr 2, 2004

Lessons from the Okamoto case

The Tokyo High Court earlier this week rejected a U.S. request to extradite a medical researcher to face charges of industrial espionage in the United States. The court ruled that Mr. Takashi Okamoto, a former employee of the Japanese government-affiliated Institute of Physical and Chemical Research,...

EDITORIALS

Apr 1, 2004

Don't forget Afghanistan

Three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan is once again tottering on the brink of chaos. The facts will be in plain view in Berlin at a two-day conference from Wednesday, when 54 nations assess the problems and progress since the U.S-led invasion of Afghanistan. Progress has been remarkable,...

EDITORIALS

Mar 31, 2004

Pay transparency for secretaries

The Diet's system of public secretaries -- which allows each legislator to hire three aides at taxpayers' expense -- has proven to be deeply flawed, as shown by a recent spate of pay scandals in which a number of legislators were accused of misusing their secretaries' salaries. Now, belatedly, the ruling...

EDITORIALS

Mar 30, 2004

A test for Taiwan's democracy

Ten days after Taiwan's presidential election yielded a contested result, there are signs of progress in resolving the political crisis it created. The winner of the vote, President Chen Shui-bian, last weekend promised a recount to defuse mounting tensions. The recount is a vital step in sorting out...

EDITORIALS

Mar 29, 2004

Letting foreign workers past the gate

One aspect of globalization is freer employment across national borders, including Japan's borders. Although foreigners are increasingly becoming important members of the nation's labor force, by and large, the job market here remains effectively closed to them. Yet foreign employment looks set for a...

EDITORIALS

Mar 28, 2004

The little horse that couldn't

Haruurara, the chestnut mare famous for having now lost 106 races in a row, must be a secret fan of Samuel Beckett, the acerbic Irish playwright who died in 1989. We are thinking in particular of Beckett's late play "Worstward Ho," a line from which is said to have become the mantra of a thousand struggling...

EDITORIALS

Mar 27, 2004

The last thing Japan, China need

Japan-China relations are strained again, this time over a territorial dispute involving a group of uninhabited islets in a potentially oil-rich area of the East China Sea. On Wednesday, seven Chinese activists landed on one of the Senkaku Islands. Japanese police arrested them for violating the Immigration...

EDITORIALS

Mar 26, 2004

Last resort to protect privacy

Over the past two weeks Japanese media have made much of a privacy issue involving the eldest daughter of former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka. It all started with an article in a popular weekly describing the daughter's private life. Responding to a request from her lawyer, the Tokyo District Court...

EDITORIALS

Mar 25, 2004

A bullet tips Taiwan's ballot

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian won last weekend's national election by a sliver. A mysterious assassination attempt on the eve of the ballot may have provided the margin of victory. The protests and charges of misconduct that followed the announcement of the results were predictable. It will take time...

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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