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January 24, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Oct 4, 2007

Raise the bar at law schools

Results of the second national bar examination held under a new system were announced Sept. 13. Just 1,851 graduates of the law schools established under the system passed for a success ratio of 40 percent — down eight percentage points from last year. This suggests that the quality of law school students...

EDITORIALS

Oct 3, 2007

Mr. Fukuda's good intentions

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda made his first policy speech in the Diet Monday. Although Mr. Fukuda's speech lacked freshness and bold proposals, it shows that he correctly grasps what worries people have about today's politics. But the question is whether he will come up with concrete policy measures and...

EDITORIALS

Oct 2, 2007

New experiences for Japan Post

A difficult path lies ahead the Japan Post group companies' 10-year privatization process, which started Oct. 1. They have to make profits to survive but not at the expense of services. This is especially critical for the postal service, which has earned the people's trust over the past 130 years through...

EDITORIALS

Oct 2, 2007

Enough time to find shelter

On Monday, NHK started a broadcast service for earthquake warnings (kinkyu jishin sokuho), with private broadcast stations to follow suit. Rather than predict when and where earthquakes will strike, the warnings will tell how many seconds it will take tremors from a major earthquake to reach specific...

EDITORIALS

Oct 1, 2007

Coping with the doctor shortage

As pregnant women, children and rural residents in Japan face a crisis in getting medical treatment, the government has decided to increase the quota for medical schools. This is a welcome move. It is urgent that the government take well-thought-out measures to deal with specific problems responsible...

EDITORIALS

Sep 30, 2007

The real stakes in Taiwan

There was never any doubt about the outcome of Taiwan's bid to regain a seat in the United Nations. For the 15th time in as many years, the U.N. rejected Taipei's call to return to the world body. The application did not even make it to the General Assembly agenda, having been blocked by the General...

EDITORIALS

Sep 29, 2007

Stemming the violence in Myanmar

The situation in Myanmar has become ugly as the country's security forces mount a violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators. Already more than a dozen people have died, including Buddhist monks and a Japanese journalist. It is the first such shedding of blood since prodemocracy demonstrations in 1988,...

EDITORIALS

Sep 29, 2007

Land prices bear watching

Recent land-price rises in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya merit scrutiny to determine whether real estate investment in these cities has peaked. On the other hand, land-price movements in the countryside indicate that measures are needed to bolster economic activities, although some areas have seen higher land...

EDITORIALS

Sep 28, 2007

Death during 'training'

The death of a young sumo wrestler is shaking Japan's sumo world, which is still reeling from the yokozuna Asashoryu scandal. Tokitaizan, a 17-year-old wrestler, died shortly after a practice session, apparently because of exhaustion and a beating he received from his stable mates.

EDITORIALS

Sep 28, 2007

Prioritizing the budget

Moving toward the goal of compiling the government's fiscal 2008 budget by the end of December, government agencies and ministries will be busy with their negotiations with the Finance Ministry. But the work to compile the budget will face difficulty because of the opaque political situation.

EDITORIALS

Sep 27, 2007

Bracing against the opposition

The lineup of the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership and the Cabinet under new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda testifies to Mr. Fukuda's eagerness to create a whole-party setup that can overcome the offensive from the opposition forces, which now control the Upper House.

EDITORIALS

Sep 26, 2007

Rise of urban populations

The 2006 revision of U.N. population estimates and projections made public earlier this year showed that the world's population, now 6.67 billion, will reach 9.19 billion in 2050. Calling attention to the aging of the world population, the United Nations said that in the more developed regions, the percentage...

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

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.

Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go

By Kazuaki Nagata and Richard Meyer

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