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February 01, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Jul 1, 2009

United front against North Korea

Prime Minister Taro Aso and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak agreed in their Sunday meeting in Tokyo that North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs pose a grave threat, and that Japan, South Korea and the United States must closely cooperate to counter it. The two leaders also agreed...

EDITORIALS

Jul 1, 2009

Waste not, want not

The Fair Trade Commission has ordered Seven-Eleven Japan Co., the nation's biggest convenience-store chain operator, to stop preventing its franchise stores from selling food products at discount prices. The antimonopoly watchdog decided that the company took advantage of its dominant position vis-a-vis...

EDITORIALS

Jun 30, 2009

A need to nurture scientists

Last year, four Japanese scientists, including one who became a naturalized American, received Nobel Prizes. Unfortunately, however, their achievements do not reflect the current state of science in Japan. The government's 2009 science and technology white paper shows that the foundation for basic science...

EDITORIALS

Jun 30, 2009

Taxing way to save pensions

The Diet has enacted the revised National Pension Law, under which more tax money will be used to cover part of the public pension's base tier. The coverage by tax money will be raised from the current 36.5 percent of the base tier to 50 percent. In view of the graying of the population and the low birth...

EDITORIALS

Jun 29, 2009

Sundown on the merger era

A panel of the internal affairs ministry has submitted a recommendation to Prime Minister Taro Aso that the mergers of municipalities carried out at the initiative of the government in the past decade end by March 31, 2010. The mergers were aimed at using financial resources efficiently and streamlining...

EDITORIALS

Jun 29, 2009

Preparing for disasters

The government's 2009 white paper on natural disaster prevention shows that 62 percent of people surveyed feel that the risk of death or injury in Japan during natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes has increased. In this Internet survey, conducted in February and March and covering 1,500...

EDITORIALS

Jun 28, 2009

Those maddening economists

For most mortals, economics is a dark and deeply confusing topic. The vocabulary is dense, the relationships contorted. Economists are notorious for offering two — contradictory — opinions on most topics. So forgive us if we are confused at the most recent forecasts of the global economic outlook....

EDITORIALS

Jun 27, 2009

Reformatory violence

Four teachers at the Hiroshima Juvenile Training School were arrested June 9 on suspicion of using violence against residents. If the allegations prove true, their actions are extremely deplorable. The purpose of the school is to reform minors who have committed crimes so that they can become productive...

EDITORIALS

Jun 27, 2009

Japan Post faces the music

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Tsutomu Sato has approved the retention of Mr. Yoshifumi Nishikawa as president of Japan Post Holding Co. And now, with Prime Minister Taro Aso's endorsement of Mr. Sato's decision, the political turmoil over whether Mr. Nishikawa should remain in his position...

EDITORIALS

Jun 26, 2009

Guidelines on fiscal 2010 budget

Since the days of the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, financial reconstruction through reform of revenue generation and spending has been the core government policy. But the basic budget guidelines adopted by Prime Minister Taro Aso's administration represent a virtual scrapping of...

EDITORIALS

Jun 26, 2009

Truth behind false charge

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday decided to retry a 62-year-old man who served 17 years of a life sentence until a new DNA test suggested he was innocent. Mr. Toshikazu Sugaya was arrested in December 1991 for the May 1990 kidnapping and murder of a 4-year-old girl in Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture. Although...

EDITORIALS

Jun 25, 2009

Political clash in Iran

The situation in Iran is tense as security forces have clashed with protesters over the June 12 election whose results — announced within two hours after the polls closed — gave incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the win over Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the moderate reform candidate.

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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