My son is a fourth grader at a local school in Yokohama. I've been eager he learn the father tongue, but have been frustrated in this regard, because I've precious little time to teach him and can't afford to send him to an international school, where annual fees can rival those of a private university in the US. So I was pleased to hear of a plan to make English a compulsory subject from the fifth grade at public grade schools. The timing was perfect...

In our January 21st editorial giving business predictions for the year, we commented about Nikko Cordial's JPY18bn (and rising) window dressing scandal, and in contrasting it with the Horie-Livedoor scandal, we wondered why the Nikko guys were getting off with just a fine and a slap on the wrist? Well it appears that...

Got up this morning and was struck by a headline in the paper: 'Diet Adopts Resolution Calling for US Apology for Enslavement of Blacks.' I nearly spilled my coffee. Nevertheless, I plunged into the article: 'On February 20 the Diet adopted a resolution calling for the US President to make an official apology to America's 35 million blacks for violation of their ancestors' human rights by the system of slavery.'...

On a recent trip to Hakone we got off the bus at the graves of the Soga brothers, Juro and Goro. Their father was killed by one Ito Sukechika over an inheritance dispute. Eighteen years later the brothers avenged their father by killing Sukechika during a hunt near Mt. Fuji in 1193...