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 ...
Narumi Watanabe Restaurant worker, 18 I think it would be good if Tokyo got the Olympics, although I don’t usually watch sports so I have no real interest in the competition. But I do think the effects of the games going to Tokyo will ...
To the mayor and people of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, I implore you to read all of this very important message. Japan has recently undergone horrific natural disasters and the rest of the world has rallied to help you. Please don’t let their trust in ...
Mieko Sasaki Housewife, 72 From the start nothing was managed properly. I’m upset that nothing has been resolved, even though I am 50-60 km away from (radiation) hot spots. I’m worried for the next generation but I want to say thank you to people ...
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): Arudou of the Occident As a former nikkei resident of Japan, I, as well as my community colleagues, must ...
Jeff Windham Translator, 31 (American) He has some good ideas, but sometimes they are a bit extreme. He has a good chance of succeeding, but if he goes too far, people will turn against him. Hirotaka Takeshita Company employee, 37 (Japanese) I think Toru ...
Uncompetitive Japan Inc. Not being a Japanese person employed in a private Japanese company, it is hard for me to imagine the hardship experienced by the writer of the July 17 Have Your Say letter (“Working employees to death”). I can, however, say with ...
Isabelle Provost Human resources, 32 (French) I didn’t watch it that much but I watched some men’s and women’s judo. I was impressed by the faces of the athletes, like when (Kaori) Matsumoto got the gold; she had so much determination on her face. ...
Marion Addo Japanese student, 29 (French) I’m here for only a month to learn Japanese, so I want to experience the typical Japanese lifestyle. During Obon I’ll visit Tokyo to get a different taste than Osaka. I’ll visit Akihabara, Harajuku, Shibuya, etc. — I ...
Readers’ responses to Debito Arudou’s last column, “In formulating immigration policy, no seat at the table for non-Japanese”: Outrageous claims need rebutting In his July 3 column, Mr. Debito Arudou makes gratuitous mention of my name and says that in my articles for The ...
This past weekend marked the 10th anniversary of the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, so The Japan Times took to the streets to pick cosplayers’ brains about why they choose to devote hours upon hours of their lives to designing, making and — finally ...
Chiharu Matsui Housewife, 31 (Japanese) The women, as it will be impossible for the men to win considering the strength of the other nations they will be playing against. Ian Yates Teacher/translator, 31 (Canadian) The women’s team, because it would be something I could ...
Belated readers’ responses to “Parents, please keep your kids away from me at feeding time” by Christy Bridgeman (Hotline to Nagatacho, May 22) and J. Bradley Bulsterbaum’s letter on the subject, “Cut gaijin-gawking children some slack — it’s how they learn” (Have Your Say, ...
