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January 18, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Dec 2, 2001

Birth of an Imperial princess

A new baby is always cause for rejoicing, but the birth of a child to the Crown Prince and Princess on Saturday comes as especially bright news at this somber time. In an instant, the symbolic value of the monarchy -- sometimes doubted or forgotten -- becomes clear again. For a brief, shining moment,...

EDITORIALS

Dec 1, 2001

Japan's role in rebuilding Afghanistan

International efforts are under way to begin a recovery process in Afghanistan now that anti-Taliban forces have taken control of Kabul. International cooperation in Afghan recovery and reconstruction is a logical follow-up to the internationally supported military campaign against Osama bin Laden and...

EDITORIALS

Nov 30, 2001

Easing rules for police use of guns

Police officers in Japan are subject to strict restrictions in the use of handguns. This is held partly responsible for the increasing deaths of police in the line of duty. Beginning Dec. 1, however, they will be able to fire shots with less constraint when their lives, or those of others in need of...

EDITORIALS

Nov 29, 2001

Banks come to grips with bad debts

After years of timid attempts to clear mountains of nonperforming loans, Japanese banks appear to be finally coming to grips with the bad-debt crisis. In the half-year business term to September, most of the 14 top lenders took larger-than-expected charges against their dud loans, even dipping into their...

EDITORIALS

Nov 28, 2001

A long-term budget helps reform

Six months into his economic reform campaign, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is doing a fairly good job. Determined to reduce public debt, he has kept his promise to limit new bond sales for the fiscal year 2001 to no more than 30 trillion yen. At the same time, in an urgent move to help the growing...

EDITORIALS

Nov 27, 2001

Belated Lower House reform

Much has been said about the need for parliamentary reform, but so far little effective action has been taken. The Diet -- the supreme organ of the state -- appears to stand aloof from the wave of restructuring sweeping the nation's economic and industrial society. The national legislature's apparent...

EDITORIALS

Nov 26, 2001

Don't rush revision of PKO law

The government, in a rather hasty move, is seeking parliamentary approval of a bill updating the 1992 legislation that allows the Self-Defense Forces to participate in U.N. peacekeeping operations. The bill, which was sent to the Lower House last Tuesday, would expand the SDF's role as international...

EDITORIALS

Nov 25, 2001

Nothing ventured, nothing gained

You think it's hard work trying to get people to buy things? Put yourself in the position of those dreamers who try every year to get people to buy nothing. Give it a rest, they say. Borrow, recycle, repair, eat at home. Call a moratorium on yearend gift-giving. Resist the blandishments of advertisers...

EDITORIALS

Nov 24, 2001

Find the mad-cow infection route

The specter of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) continues to haunt the nation despite official assurances of safety. On Wednesday another cow tested positive at a meat inspection center in Hokkaido, even as the source of infection in the first case, confirmed in September in Chiba Prefecture,...

EDITORIALS

Nov 23, 2001

Another U.S. role in Afghanistan

The Taliban regime has collapsed. The citizens of Kabul apparently welcomed the incoming Northern Alliance troops and feted their "liberation" from five years of oppression.

EDITORIALS

Nov 22, 2001

Be more flexible, Mr. Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, in a "town meeting" with Tokyo residents on Sunday, called for a package privatization of Japan Highway Public Corp. and three other road-related government-affiliated entities. He also proposed a review of the tollway expansion project and an end to the 300-billion-yen-a-year...

EDITORIALS

Nov 21, 2001

An ambiguous SDF dispatch plan

The Cabinet's approval last Friday of a basic Self-Defense Forces deployment plan, designed to provide noncombat support for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, opened the way for the first "wartime" mobilization of SDF troops overseas. The government emphasizes that the plan is within the framework...

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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