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January 28, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Mar 27, 2012

Rare earths dispute now before WTO

Japan has joined the United States and the European Union in filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization over China's restrictions on its exports of rare earths — which are indispensable in the production of such high-tech products such as hybrid and electric cars, air conditioners and smartphones....

EDITORIALS

Mar 26, 2012

Mr. Okada's pseudo-reform

Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada has directed government ministries to reduce the number of recruits for fiscal 2013 by an average of about 70 percent from fiscal 2009's level. This is a typical example of the pseudo-reform that the Democratic Party of Japan government often uses to dupe the public....

EDITORIALS

Mar 26, 2012

Promoting Tohoku tourism

"Destination Tohoku," the tourism campaign to help promote and revive tourism in the Tohoku region, started March 18. The Japan Tourism Agency and the local governments and tourism industry in the region hope that the campaign will bring tourists back to the region, which was devastated by the 3/11 earthquake...

EDITORIALS

Mar 25, 2012

Nuclear safety studies torpedoed

Of all the shocking revelations over the past year about nuclear power plants in Japan, the recent revelation that the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency canceled safety studies in 2006 is one of the most exasperating. The agency responsible for nuclear safety should have expanded the studies,...

EDITORIALS

Mar 25, 2012

Living alone in Tokyo

Tokyo is a lonelier place than ever. According to a recent report by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, more people live alone in Tokyo than ever before. This year, the number of people per household in Tokyo fell below two per household to 1.99 for the first time ever.

EDITORIALS

Mar 24, 2012

Time to review judicial panels

The Naha District Court on March 14 acquitted a stock investment firm president of fraud charges. The ruling was the first one on a case in which a person was indicted on the basis of a vote by a prosecution inquest committee — an independent judicial panel made up of 11 citizens. It should serve as...

EDITORIALS

Mar 24, 2012

Clarify radiation cleanup plans

The removal of radioactive contamination caused by Tokyo Electric Power Co's stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is an important and urgent task as Japan strives to push reconstruction efforts forward in areas struck by the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami. Decontamination will be carried out in...

EDITORIALS

Mar 23, 2012

Resistance to bigger pension roll

The Democratic Party of Japan has been calling for incorporating irregular workers into kosei nenkin (a pension scheme originally for permanent corporate workers) as a means of helping to stabilize their life. But the plan the government and the DPJ adopted March 13 shows that they bowed to pressure...

EDITORIALS

Mar 23, 2012

Diversifying LNG supply sources

As Japan's reliance on thermal power generation increases following the Fukushima nuclear crisis, and as the possible blockade of the Strait of Hormuz cannot be ruled out due to the conflict between the West and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, Japan must strive to diversify sources of liquefied natural...

EDITORIALS

Mar 22, 2012

Provocative rocket launch plan

North Korea on March 16 announced that it will launch a rocket mounted with an Earth observation satellite in mid-April. It insists that every nation has a right to pursue peaceful use of outer space. But given its nuclear weapons program, it is not far-fetched to suspect that the launch is really a...

EDITORIALS

Mar 22, 2012

Changing electric power policy

The catastrophe at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has demonstrated that the long-standing assertion by the power industry and the government that nuclear power is safe and cheap is sheer propaganda and a gigantic myth.

EDITORIALS

Mar 21, 2012

Painting a target on Mr. Kony

Mr. Joseph Kony is a nasty piece of work. The warlord is the founder of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an insurgent group that has been battling the government in Uganda for over two decades. Founded in 1987, the group was formed as a rebel group that fought for power and spoils against southern Ugandans...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.

Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

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