More Editorials Articles - The Japan Times

January 21, 2025

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

EDITORIALS

Oct 16, 2005

The latest battle of Trafalgar

I t doesn't sound like the kind of thing you'd take your children to see: a 3.5-meter-high, gleaming marble statue of a naked woman who is not only eight-plus months pregnant but also physically deformed, with no arms and stunted legs. Yet just such a statue was installed in London's refurbished Trafalgar...

EDITORIALS

Oct 15, 2005

Reining in medical expenditures

The Japanese spent 31.4 trillion yen for medical services in fiscal 2004, or about 246,000 yen per person, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year. The figure of 2 percent may be a small and acceptable growth, requiring no stricter lid on the rise of the nation's medical spending. But Japan's...

EDITORIALS

Oct 14, 2005

Nuclear program raises issues

The Atomic Energy Commission is expected to adopt a long-term nuclear program by the end of the month. In its draft, the commission has stated its desire to continue its policy of establishing a nuclear-fuel cycle that reprocesses all the spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium for future use as nuclear...

EDITORIALS

Oct 13, 2005

Nobel prize for fighting proliferation

Mr. Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear watchdog agency that he leads, are the winners of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. The award underscores the critical significance of the work done by Mr. ElBaradei and the IAEA. But given the events of the last year, it...

EDITORIALS

Oct 12, 2005

Diminishing role of LDP factions

Factionalism has often been said to be the hallmark of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled the nation for most of the past 50 years. The LDP landslide in the Sept. 11 Lower House election, however, has dramatically altered the party's internal structure. In particular, its factional politics...

EDITORIALS

Oct 10, 2005

Help for victims of asbestos

The government has drafted an outline of a bill to provide financial aid to sufferers of asbestos-caused cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the membranes surrounding the lungs, and to bereaved family members of victims. The government hopes to have the Diet enact the bill next year.

EDITORIALS

Oct 9, 2005

Nine numbers and 81 squares

Human beings are a famously diverse lot. We come in different colors and sizes, speak a Babel of tongues, worship a pantheon of gods or no god at all, eat our foods bland or spicy, vote or not, and are sorely divided over the value of poetry. But those distinctions pale compared to the big one: the gulf...

EDITORIALS

Oct 8, 2005

EU opens its doors to Turkey

After taking negotiations to the brink, the European Union this week agreed -- as promised -- to open talks with Turkey on its membership in the union. The last-minute decision is typical of EU behavior these days, but Ankara's accession raises fundamental questions about the EU. This week's agreement...

EDITORIALS

Oct 7, 2005

Breaking the cycle of hatred

The suicide bombings that devastated three crowded restaurants on the Indonesian resort island of Bali over the weekend come as a chilling reminder that the world has yet to break the cycle of terrorist violence. The coordinated attacks reportedly killed at least 22 people, including a Japanese tourist,...

EDITORIALS

Oct 6, 2005

Iran must heed the call

The 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) late last month adopted a resolution that criticized Iran's response over its nuclear development problem and, although postponing referral to the United Nations Security Council, warned that the issue might be referred in the future....

EDITORIALS

Oct 5, 2005

When numbers don't add up

of a Japanese unit of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Group were arrested last month on suspicion of falsifying accounting reports of Kanebo Ltd., a maker of sundries, food products and pharmaceuticals. If these CPAs are found guilty of violating the Securities and Exchange Law, the credibility of the nation's...

EDITORIALS

Oct 4, 2005

Strengthening public safety

Sixty years after the end of World War II, Japan has attained a high level of affluence and convenience. On the other side of the coin, though, concern is spreading about the safety of our daily lives.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports