Readers' responses to Debito Arudou's last Just Be Cause column, "For nikkei immigrants in Japan, it doesn't have to be a bug's life" (Aug. 7):
As a former nikkei resident of Japan, I, as well as my community colleagues, must express strong disapproval of The Japan Times' decision to publish Debito Arudou's racially offensive piece comparing our community to cockroaches.
Arudou thinks can get away with writing about controversial topics if he uses amateur gimmicks like mimicking Franz Kafka or evoking Jonathan Swift. Unfortunately, you need to be a good writer and you need to understand your subject matter to do this effectively.