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January 28, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Oct 19, 2008

Something wrong with the MSDF

A series of notorious events raise questions about the credibility of the Maritime Self-Defense Force. The latest is the death of a petty officer 3rd class following a martial-art-style "training fight" at the MSDF's First Service School in Etajima, Hiroshima Prefecture. The training fight very likely...

EDITORIALS

Oct 19, 2008

Tainted frozen green beans

A housewife in Hachioji, Tokyo, fell sick when she ate green beans that were imported from China and then sold at her local supermarket. Two more people in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, also came down with similar symptoms after eating green beans from packages with the same lot number as those in the Hachioji...

EDITORIALS

Oct 18, 2008

Winning in Afghanistan

Seven years after coalition forces invaded Afghanistan and drove the Taliban from power, the war slogs on. The initial euphoria from the "victory" has dissipated. Officials are increasingly concerned about the Taliban's resurgence and the durability of the government of President Hamid Karzai. The North...

EDITORIALS

Oct 17, 2008

The high road or no road

Annual newspaper week started on Oct. 15. The Japan Newspapers Publishers and Editor Association marked the start of the week with a two-day convention in Sapporo. The week is designed to promote more popular interest in newspapers and renew newspapers' determination to properly perform the public functions...

EDITORIALS

Oct 17, 2008

Stepping up to the bench

Oct. 15 was the deadline for municipal election management commissions to submit lists of citizens who might serve as lay judges in district courts under a new system that starts next May. Six lay judges will sit with three professional judges in trials dealing with serious crimes such as murder, arson...

EDITORIALS

Oct 16, 2008

Swashbuckling in Somalia

'We just want the money." That is the honest sentiment of the pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian freighter loaded with weapons off the coast of Somalia. Were it so simple. What was intended to be the mere "ransoming" of a ship has become an international standoff between oceangoing bandits and the world's...

EDITORIALS

Oct 15, 2008

Japan as a tourist destination

Japan's newly formed Tourism Agency, whose formation was announced Oct. 1, will have a lot of work to do. Even with the variety of appealing and fascinating sites nationwide, establishing a tourist infrastructure is no easy task. Most other countries in Asia have long since built a network for tourism,...

EDITORIALS

Oct 15, 2008

Off the list and counting

The United States has removed North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism after the North agreed on terms for verifying its nuclear programs. The U.S. made the decision in order to advance the stalled six-party talks on the North's denuclearization. The decision is a concession on the part...

EDITORIALS

Oct 13, 2008

'People's Democrats' in name

The political situation in Thailand continues to deteriorate. After forcing the resignation of one prime minister, the opposition has stepped up its fight to unseat the government in Bangkok and take power. This has resulted in the worst violence in nearly two decades, which has left at least one person...

EDITORIALS

Oct 12, 2008

Urgent and exceptional action

An action plan agreed Friday in Washington by finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven major economies states that they will "take decisive action and use all available tools to support systemically important financial institutions and prevent their failure." The plan calls...

EDITORIALS

Oct 12, 2008

Refugees in Japan

This year the number of applicants for refugee status in Japan has increased to its highest level ever — nearly 1,000 people — according to the Japan Association for Refugees. This indicates an improving system and an expanding view of how to handle refugees coming to Japan. Last summer the government...

EDITORIALS

Oct 11, 2008

A secret kind of control

The Defense Ministry on Oct. 2 dismissed a 50-year-old colonel of the Air Self-Defense Force for allegedly passing a "defense secret" to a Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reporter more than three years ago. The information was about a Chinese submarine that had surfaced in the South China Sea and was adrift....

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

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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