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January 22, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Feb 12, 2006

The case for a baby princess

No wonder the Crown Princess gets depressed. The spectacle of the chasm between the Imperial family and the 21st century has long been enough to depress anyone. But then, just when the princess must have thought the gap might be closing a bit, given the prime minister's efforts to win the right of succession...

EDITORIALS

Feb 11, 2006

A pension for their thoughts

The Diet last week passed a bill, effective in April, to abolish the controversial pension system for members of the national legislature. Proposed by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, it is a halfhearted measure because it preserves, although in a reduced form, special...

EDITORIALS

Feb 10, 2006

The world according to the Pentagon

The U.S. Department of Defense has released its vision of the world, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). The four-year review of U.S. military strategy provides the Pentagon's assessment of global trends and its responses to them. The QDR receives a lot of attention, but it is important to remember...

EDITORIALS

Feb 9, 2006

Iran tests the United Nations

Iran seems intent on confronting the world. Remarkably, the international community has mustered a unified response to the Tehran government's seeming determination to build a nuclear weapon. But brinkmanship continues: Last weekend Tehran said it was ending its commitment to the Additional Protocol...

EDITORIALS

Feb 8, 2006

The dark side of reform

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration, which had been sailing smoothly until a few months ago, now faces strong head winds amid a series of scandals. The first scandal to hit was the disclosure late last year that a certified architect had falsified building data on earthquake resistance....

EDITORIALS

Feb 7, 2006

Enough of make-believe bidding

The arrests last week of senior officials of the Defense Facilities Administration Agency (DFAA) confirmed that bid-rigging on public-works projects remains an entrenched practice in Japan. What happens, basically, is that a contract is awarded at a price higher than if it were put out to bid through...

EDITORIALS

Feb 6, 2006

Pinch of censorship vs. pile of trouble

There's a good reason why censorship sparks so many squabbles, as developments in both China and the Muslim world this past week have reminded us. It's a slippery concept. We who favor openness and transparency think we know exactly where we stand on censorship: We think it's bad. Right? Freedom of speech...

EDITORIALS

Feb 5, 2006

A tradition not yet finished

The bad news just keeps on coming for fans of conventional cameras. Nikon Corp. will stop manufacturing most of its film cameras, and Konika Minolta Holdings Inc. will completely withdraw from the camera and film business. The sad thing is that these makers have long contributed to Japan's photographic...

EDITORIALS

Feb 5, 2006

Soldier for human rights

He was there, in court most of the time, when the human rights of Korean residents in Japan were at issue -- denial of pension rights, forced fingerprinting of foreign residents for immigration registration, and blocked promotions of Korean nationals working for local governments. He also served in a...

EDITORIALS

Feb 4, 2006

End of an era at the Fed

Mr. Alan Greenspan ended his 18-year tenure as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board this week, stepping down after the Fed raised interest rates to their highest level in nearly five years.

EDITORIALS

Feb 3, 2006

A way of looking at profits

Mr. Takafumi Horie, the 33-year-old maverick businessman who built the Livedoor Co. empire from scratch, has entered the most difficult phase of his life, confined to sleep in an unheated, three-mat cell in the Tokyo Detention House -- a world apart from his posh Roppongi Hills residence. The criminal...

EDITORIALS

Feb 2, 2006

Leading in science and technology

The government will launch a five-year science and technology development plan with the start of fiscal 2006 in April. The plan is based on the "third basic plan for science and technology" that the General Council on Science and Technology submitted to the government late last year spelling out the...

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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SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

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