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January 21, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Oct 3, 2005

Winning doesn't make him right

The Osaka High Court on Friday found unconstitutional Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's three visits to Yasukuni Shrine from 2001 to 2003. The court said the visits violated Article 20, Section 3, of the Constitution, which prohibits religious education and any other "religious" activity by the state...

EDITORIALS

Oct 2, 2005

Theory, antitheory and folk tale

A t the end of "A Brief History of Time," his 1988 best-seller about the latest scientific thinking on the cosmos, the British physicist Stephen W. Hawking posed a tough question in deceptively simple terms. "Why," he asked, "does the universe go to all the bother of existing?"

EDITORIALS

Oct 1, 2005

Teach our children well

The nation's boards of education have finished their selection of textbooks to be used at junior high schools from April 2006 for the next four years. The process gained widespread attention because among the candidate textbooks was a controversial revisionist history textbook published by Fusosha Publishing...

EDITORIALS

Sep 30, 2005

Extending the SDF missions

The government has opted to extend by one year the Maritime Self-Defense Force mission to supply fuel in the Indian Ocean to ships of the U.S. Navy and allied nations engaged in antiterrorist activities related to security in Afghanistan. A law specifying a duration of two years -- enacted after the...

EDITORIALS

Sep 29, 2005

Can a watchdog watch itself?

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's plan to go public in fiscal 2005 (ending next March 31) seems unlikely to go smoothly as the Financial Services Agency opposes the plan. At issue is a debate over whether the bourse can continue to properly execute its public role as a watchdog over the stock market after going...

EDITORIALS

Sep 28, 2005

Now for some bold reforms

With the resounding victory of the Liberal Democratic Party in the general election, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi can now boldly kick-start the stagnant process of structural reform. Utilizing the strong leadership consolidated in the triumph, Mr. Koizumi must set about breaking up the LDP cliques...

EDITORIALS

Sep 27, 2005

Worthy of the term 'opposition'?

As the Democratic Party of Japan, which suffered a crushing defeat in the Sept. 11 Lower House election, begins a rejuvenation effort under its new leader, Mr. Seiji Maehara, the No. 1 opposition party must solve difficult problems to turn it into a party capable of seizing power.

EDITORIALS

Sep 26, 2005

Avoiding a spinout over oil

It's as if a new oil shock had arrived. Prices of crude oil futures, which once hit $70 a barrel, have not come down enough, still hovering above $60 a barrel -- more than three times the prevailing level of three years ago.

EDITORIALS

Sep 25, 2005

No face-off, please

Medical controversies have a way of making fence-sitters of even the most opinionated among us. Assisted suicide, life support, late-term abortions: We listen to the practical and ethical pros and cons on such issues and end up incapable of holding a view for longer than 10 minutes.

EDITORIALS

Sep 24, 2005

Inconclusive poll in Germany

I n Germany's general election Sunday, described as the most inconclusive in the country's postwar history, voters refused to give a clear-cut majority to any party. Earlier in the campaign, the opposition alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union...

EDITORIALS

Sep 23, 2005

Belfast's Protestants say 'enough'

Belfast, Northern Ireland, has once again been bloodied by protest. This time, however, it is Protestants that have clashed with British forces. This outbreak of violence poses a new challenge to the embattled peace process in Northern Ireland: Protestants make up the majority in the province, and they...

EDITORIALS

Sep 22, 2005

Social assistance for crime victims

To become the victim of a crime is a tragic experience that can cause lasting physical, psychological or financial damage. In the past, crime victims and their family members have not received much help from society. Last December, however, the Diet passed the Basic Law for Crime Victims, which recognizes...

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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