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January 21, 2025

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EDITORIALS

Feb 1, 2005

Flying high over the Taiwan Strait

The victory of the opposition Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan elections last December was widely seen as a rebuke of President Chen Shui-bian and an opportunity for the People's Republic of China. In theory, a democratic check on Mr. Chen allows Beijing to retake the initiative...

EDITORIALS

Jan 31, 2005

Clarifying a whale of an impact

The Diet has begun debating postal services reform, the most important issue of its current regular session. The question at stake is how best to privatize the mammoth system that provides savings, insurance and mail services. It is a question that will deeply affect financial markets in Japan as well...

EDITORIALS

Jan 30, 2005

Not just rhetoric anymore

Nine days ago, U.S. President George W. Bush delivered his second inaugural speech, a rousing, 21-minute address in which, among other things, he extolled liberty and proclaimed "ending tyranny in our world" the ultimate goal of U.S. policy. God himself backed this policy, Mr. Bush said. Wasn't it in...

EDITORIALS

Jan 29, 2005

Airbus queuing up for a future

A irbus, the European plane maker, recently unveiled the Airbus A380, a superjumbo jet designed to transform the way people fly. The plane is a technological masterwork. It is the world's largest commercial jet, and accommodating it will be no small task for airports around the world. The decision to...

EDITORIALS

Jan 28, 2005

Better use of talented people

Ms. Chong Hyang Gyun, a second-generation South Korean resident who is a public-health nurse for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, has been fighting a legal battle the past decade to take up a managerial post. The 54-year-old civil servant has argued that the metro government's rejection of her request...

EDITORIALS

Jan 27, 2005

Trimming a lifetime perquisite

The Japanese public has expressed anger over the fact that members of the Diet are entitled to such fat pensions. In response, a parliamentary panel has recommended that there be at least a 70-percent increase in premiums and a 30-percent cut in payouts. These proposals probably will take effect in fiscal...

EDITORIALS

Jan 26, 2005

A reason for long-term unity

The World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held last week in Kobe under the auspices of the United Nations, has produced concrete results, notably the Hyogo Framework for Action, a 10-year global action plan for reducing disaster risks, and an agreement to build a tsunami early-warning system in the...

EDITORIALS

Jan 25, 2005

The fewer bond issues, the better

It has been a long time since Japan's bubble in stock and land prices collapsed. Now, however, there is concern that a new kind of bubble -- a "bond bubble" -- may be forming. Financial markets are already "saturated," according to analysts, with massive amounts of bonds that the government issues each...

EDITORIALS

Jan 24, 2005

Tracking sex-crime offenders

The Justice Ministry, concerned about the growing incidence of sex offenses against children, is set to launch a tracking system for convicted sex criminals, perhaps by the end of March. The idea is to try to reduce the possibility of their repeating similar offenses by having them keep the National...

EDITORIALS

Jan 23, 2005

Ignoble moments after the tsunami

The tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people (according to the latest count) in southern Asia last month stirred what seemed like the whole gamut of emotions, from horror and pity through frustration to admiration and relief. At times, one felt a twinge of cynicism, as when some foreign governments...

EDITORIALS

Jan 22, 2005

A man before his time

Zhao Ziyang, former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), died last weekend at the age of 85. Zhao headed the CCP in the spring of 1989, when demonstrators filled Tiananmen Square in Beijing. He was dismissed days before tanks rolled in to crush the protests, and spent the remaining...

EDITORIALS

Jan 21, 2005

Picking up where he left off

U.S. President George W. Bush is beginning his second term of office (Thursday, Washington time). Having outlined an aggressive agenda for the next four years, he has said he intends to use the political capital accumulated during his first term to accomplish his objectives. That will require spending...

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

Challenging spirit and teamwork keep ANA flying high

Challenging spirit and teamwork keep ANA flying high

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