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January 28, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Oct 27, 2008

China feels the pinch

For most countries, 9 percent growth is a reason to celebrate. In China, it sets alarm bells ringing. For a government whose legitimacy rests on its ability to deliver increasing prosperity to citizens, an economic downturn can have dramatic and dangerous repercussions. Moreover, China's slowing economy...

EDITORIALS

Oct 26, 2008

Japan's election as a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council in mid-October means that Japan will again be able to make positive marks around the world. Though this is the 10th time for Japan to serve, the current problems in the world mean that Japan's interactions with foreign countries...

EDITORIALS

Oct 26, 2008

Mobile phones take over

Japan has become a nation of mobile-phone talkers, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication reported this month. More people now talk on mobile phones in Japan than on fixed-line phones; total talk time on mobile phones reached an astonishing 1.9 billion hours in 2007. That's a lot of metal...

EDITORIALS

Oct 25, 2008

Deeper Indo-Japanese ties

Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Indian counterpart Mr. Manmohan Singh issued a joint statement in Tokyo this week expressing their desire to deepen bilateral economic relations. This is quite understandable and reasonable since India is the third-largest economy in Asia — after Japan and China —...

EDITORIALS

Oct 24, 2008

Help your elderly neighbor

A declining birthrate and an aging population are changing the composition of Japanese households. A 2007 survey by the health and welfare ministry shows that the percentage of households comprising elderly people alone has risen while the size of the average household has shrunk. The trend points to...

EDITORIALS

Oct 24, 2008

Iceberg of misused funds?

The Board of Audit has found that 12 prefectures misused subsidies from the central government worth some ¥550 million over five years from fiscal 2002 through fiscal 2006. The subsidies were mostly from the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries...

EDITORIALS

Oct 23, 2008

Boom and bust in oil

If there is anything resembling a silver lining to the economic turmoil that has ensnared the world, it is the prospect of falling energy prices. The price of crude oil has fallen by more than 50 percent since setting a record high this past summer. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC),...

EDITORIALS

Oct 22, 2008

Fiscal health check

The internal affairs ministry has disclosed the financial health of the nation's local governments gauged by four indicators based on a 2007 law to prevent bankruptcy of local governments. All 47 prefectural governments have passed the test based on their fiscal 2007 account settlements. But the cities...

EDITORIALS

Oct 22, 2008

Needs of the Afghan people

The Lower House Tuesday passed a bill to extend by one year the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean — a sign of Japan's commitment to international efforts to contain terrorism. The opposition-controlled Upper House will vote down the bill. But the Lower House is expected...

EDITORIALS

Oct 21, 2008

Mandate to cope with crisis

The Diet has passed a ¥1.808 trillion supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 with the support of not only the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito but also of the Democratic Party of Japan and two other opposition groups. Japan, however, is about to face difficult times, as the financial crisis...

EDITORIALS

Oct 21, 2008

Law hinders press freedoms

A revision of the Code of Criminal Procedure enacted in 2004 prohibits lawyers and defendants from showing or handing copies of evidence they have received from the prosecution to third parties. It also prohibits posting such copies on the Internet. When the revision bill was submitted to the Diet, the...

EDITORIALS

Oct 20, 2008

Reviewing medical treatment

The trial of an obstetrician of a Fukushima prefectural hospital, where a 29-year-old woman died of blood loss during a Caesarean operation in December 2004, serves as a reminder that doctors' efforts to save lives sometimes lead to death. As the level of medical treatment advances and becomes more complex,...

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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