Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
Erkki Hietalahti, 53University professor (Finnish)Obama should be re-elected, because he saved a bad situation, even though many initiatives were blocked by the Republicans. Obama is a better choice than Romney, who seems to flip his opinions, so who knows what he’d do in office? ...
Dear people of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, I hope this letter will be accepted in the spirit it was written, with a deep respect for the Japanese people. I do not wish to attack Taiji, nor its people. I write this in the hope that ...
Readers’ responses received to the Sept. 11 Hotline to Nagatacho column, “Stop the annual Taiji dolphin massacre, make your children proud” by Deb Bowen-Saunders, and letters published on this subject on Oct. 9 (“Call to stop dolphin hunt in Taiji makes waves,” Have Your ...
Patrick Coulon, 33Environmentalist (French)I think he has impressed more than disappointed. For the French, it seems like he is trying to create a solid social security system like we have in France, but that is really the only thing I know about his first ...
Japan must play by the rules Re: Edward Moreno’s letter “Bring back the Black Ships?” (Have Your Say, Oct. 2) in response to “Our mixed-race children deserve better than this, so why bother with Japan?” by Colin P.A. Jones (Zeit Gist, Sept. 4): Moreno ...
Sho Hara Translator, 42 (Japanese) Nagoya. The food is terrible; they use miso in every dish, and I really don’t like that. Other than that cuisine, they only have eels. And the grid-style layout of the city provides no shade when it comes to ...
Some of the many readers’ letters The Japan Times received in response to the Sept. 11 Hotline to Nagatacho column, “Stop the annual Taiji dolphin massacre, make your children proud” by Deb Bowen-Saunders: Dolphins are not people My response to Deb Bowen-Saunders will mirror ...
Dear Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Around the time of the recent anniversaries in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I began reading writers’ accounts and treatments of the atomic bombings. I came across Hisashi Inoue’s play “The Face of Jizo.” Inoue was born in Yamagata Prefecture. In ...
Sayuri Nakajima Student, 24 (Japanese) I think it would have to be Takarazuka, as kabuki and noh are from so long ago, and are a lot more traditional, while Takarazuka is better advertised, so more people have heard of it. I’ve never seen kabuki ...
Arudou’s writing still needed Most of the readers who indignantly criticize the writings of Debito Arudou seem to share the same outlook. Arudou, they say, should shut up and accept the good with the bad. This reminds me of myself 20 years ago, after ...
A recipe for ‘Hashism’? Re: “How did we end up here, in ‘Hashimotopia,’ 2022?” by Christopher Robinson and Ben Stubbings (Light Gist, Aug. 28): I believe that (Osaka Mayor) Toru Hashimoto’s flip-flops are part of an ingenious political strategy. Hashimoto claimed to be opposed ...
Luis Martin Padro Violin maker, 34 (Argentinian) Contradiction, strength, food, beauty, craziness, peacefulness, healthy, spirituality, interesting, happiness David Woo Freelancer, 21 (Chinese) Salaryman culture spirit Fukushima innovation kimono conveyor-belt sushi technology electric toilets mountains Anna Nagy Model, 18 (Australian) Friendly noisy crowded exotic foods ...
