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February 01, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Jul 13, 2010

A setback for Mr. Kan

In Sunday's Upper House election — the first national poll that the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has contested under the leadership of Prime Minister Naoto Kan — voters demonstrated their lack of faith in the DPJ by taking away the ruling coalition's majority in the chamber of the Diet.

EDITORIALS

Jul 12, 2010

Russian games up north

The Russian military carried out a drill July 3-4 on Etorofu Island, off Hokkaido, ignoring a July 2 demand by Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada that it refrain from doing so there. Japan calls Etorofu and three other islands (including one islet group), northeast of Hokkaido, the Northern Territories,...

EDITORIALS

Jul 11, 2010

Motive for clean energy

Up to 9.5 million liters of oil continue to spew daily into the Gulf of Mexico since BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. U.S. President Barack Obama has called the oil spill "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced."

EDITORIALS

Jul 11, 2010

Tough call on sumo for NHK

The Japan Sumo Association, which has been rocked by the gambling scandal, was dealt more blows last week. On Tuesday, NHK decided not to provide live television coverage of the 15-day Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. On Wednesday, police raided Onomatsu and other sumo stables for evidence of suspected...

EDITORIALS

Jul 10, 2010

The kindling in Kyrgyzstan

There is blame enough to go around for the hellish situation that has descended on Kyrgyzstan. Forces loyal to former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev are said to have provoked the violence that has affected 8 percent of the country's population. The government's response has been ham-fisted and there are...

EDITORIALS

Jul 9, 2010

Startup to toll-free driving

The government on June 28 started making part of the nation's expressway system toll free. The trial — which is being carried out along 50 sections of 37 routes mainly in the countryside, and covers 1,652 km or about 20 percent of the expressway system — could eventually lead to an entirely toll-free...

EDITORIALS

Jul 9, 2010

'The Cove' screenings on course

Six movie theaters — in Hachinohe (Aomori Prefecture), Sendai, Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and Kyoto — on July 3 started showing "The Cove," a documentary film about dolphin hunting in the whaling town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture. There have been no reports of big disturbances.

EDITORIALS

Jul 8, 2010

Scrutinizing party goals

The Upper House election is Sunday. The election represents a chance for voters to give their verdict on the performance of the Democratic Party of Japan-led administration, which began in mid-September 2009 after a historic Lower House election ended decades of Liberal Democratic Party rule.

EDITORIALS

Jul 8, 2010

Flexibility needed on whaling issue

The International Whaling Commission decided June 23 in Agadir, Morocco, to postpone a final decision on a 10-year compromise proposal and to have a one-year cooling-off period before reviving talks. While it is unfortunate that the 88-member body failed to reach a compromise, a cooling-off period is...

EDITORIALS

Jul 7, 2010

Getting serious on debt reduction

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's call for supra-partisan discussions on a consumption tax raise and the government's long-term fiscal management plan announced shortly before the G20 summit show that the Kan administration has become serious about reducing the national debt. As a deflationary trend continues,...

EDITORIALS

Jul 7, 2010

Sumo punishment meted out

The Japan Sumo Association in an extraordinary executive meeting on Sunday decided to punish wrestlers and stablemasters involved in illegal gambling on professional baseball games. It fired the two central figures in the gambling scandal — ozeki Kotomituski and stablemaster Otake. Kotomituski will...

EDITORIALS

Jul 6, 2010

New era for cross-strait relations

Officially, it is called the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), but it is potentially much more. The trade deal signed by China and Taiwan early last week could transform the relationship between the two governments. It deepens the integration of the two economies, opening the door to closer...

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

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