December 22, 2014
For nearly seven decades since the end of World War II, survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been calling for a world without nuclear weapons. But their voices are still ignored, not by the international community but by the Japanese government.
December 20, 2014
Russia’s currency has tumbled, throwing the country’s economy into a tailspin.
December 19, 2014
Simultaneous accidents at multiple nuclear reactors could jeopardize the survival of the nation.
December 18, 2014
Regardless of the country in which they live, all children must be protected at any time. It is the responsibility of adults to protect them. Shockingly, however, children were the targets of a horrifying massacre in Pakistan this week.
December 17, 2014
“Cool and detached” seemed to summarize the general attitude of voters throughout the Dec. 14 Lower House election campaign.
December 16, 2014
The government expected the economy to start picking up again after a temporary slide caused by a rise in the consumption tax in April, which led consumer spending to tumble following a spike before the tax hike.
December 15, 2014
For Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the victory must have arrived just as he expected, nay more than he anticipated.
December 13, 2014
Takeshi Onaga, who won a landslide victory in last month’s Okinawa gubernatorial election, took office on Dec. 10. Onaga campaigned on a platform that opposed the central government’s plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the densely populated city of Ginowan to the less-crowded Henoko district in the city of Nago.
December 12, 2014
The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that a right-wing group that repeatedly blared discriminatory “hate speech” to harass a school for ethnic Koreans in Kyoto was guilty of “racial discrimination.”
December 11, 2014
Campaigning for the Dec. 14 Lower House election is now entering the home stretch, but we don’t hear much heated debate on the issue of nuclear power generation.
December 10, 2014
The state secrets protection law takes effect on Dec. 10.
December 09, 2014
Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and also the 50th anniversary of Japan’s diplomatic relations with South Korea.
December 08, 2014
After Prime Minister Shinzo Abe postponed the planned second stage of the consumption tax hike from October next year to April 2017, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, Komeito, said they will seek to introduce reduced tax rates for daily essentials. The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan is not opposed to the idea.
December 06, 2014
Over the past two years, the Abe administration has made “regeneration of education” one of its top policy priorities, along with economic revitalization.
December 05, 2014
Japan will likely lower the voting age for the first time in 70 years by enfranchising people 18 and 19 years old.
December 04, 2014
We wonder if the Cabinet decision in July to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense has opened the door to the Self-Defense Forces conducting minesweeping operations in the Strait of Hormuz before a cease-fire is reached in the region.
December 03, 2014
Since assuming office two years ago, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been pushing a drastic change of course for Japan that practically uproots the nation’s post-World War II national security policy.
December 02, 2014
The 12-day official campaign period for the Dec. 14 Lower House election starts on Dec. 2.
December 01, 2014
The Dec. 14 Lower House election, whose official campaign period starts on Dec. 2, has a special importance that sets it apart from past polls.
November 29, 2014
If a device that is supposed to protect the lives of people inside automobiles in case of accidents can actually take their lives, we have to change our basic assumptions concerning the safety of cars.