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Reader Mail

Oct 22, 2014

Pleasant surprise in the big city

Recently I spent 10 days of vacation in Tokyo with my family. Before going, I was a little afraid. I come from a little city in Switzerland, and Tokyo, by contrast, is known to be a huge crowded town. But when I arrived, I was amazed.

Reader Mail

Oct 22, 2014

Nobel Prize's effect on a child

In the Oct. 9 front-page, wire service article "Nobel Prize shines light on sweeping impact of LEDs," there is a table of Nobel Prize winners from Japan. In the table, the first Japanese listed as receiving the prize is Hideki Yukawa, an expert in particle physics. But it was in 1949 — not 1940.

COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Oct 19, 2014

Abe's inner circle sprouting horns over next tax bump

A major battle appears to be brewing between the office of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Finance Ministry — the most powerful bureaucracy in Japan — over whether to raise the consumption tax from the current 8 percent to 10 percent next fall.

Japan Times

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Oct 17, 2014

Celebrating On Sunday's first anniversary

Reader Mail

Oct 15, 2014

Official ways for spreading Ebola

With fears about the spread of the Ebola virus in the headlines, I feel that it's important to point out that both the Japanese and U.S. governments have installed an excellent infection-spreading system at their borders.

Reader Mail

Oct 15, 2014

No justification for Islamic State

I am shocked that The Japan Times published the Oct. 10 AFP-Jiji article "Ancient prophecies of apocalypse give Islamic State jihadists hope." The article contains implied praise for Islamic State — the most horrifying terror group in the world. Carefully read, the article reflects a desperate attempt...

Reader Mail

Oct 15, 2014

Strange obsession with robots

Regarding the Oct. 8 article "Toshiba unveils a humanoid robot that could be a sign of the times": I find it ironic that as the human population continues to increase, we are trying our best to make robots do the work of humans, aiming to find substitutes for tour guides, companions, etc.

Reader Mail

Oct 15, 2014

Nuclear village fooling itself

Regarding the Oct. 14 Reuters article "As nuclear waste piles up, South Korea faces storage crisis": Duh?! When will all the nuclear-village idiots across the globe realize that radioactive waste from aging nuclear power plants will need safe storage for up to 100,000 years? Such waste cannot be collected...

Reader Mail

Oct 8, 2014

Protecting kids from predators

Regarding Tomohiro Osaki's Oct. 1 front-page article "Nation reflects on crimes against kids": While recognizing the existing cultural hurdles entrenched in Japanese culture — especially those which pertain to an ingrained work ethic that frowns upon fathers in particular playing a role in parenting...

Reader Mail

Oct 8, 2014

Okinawa's 'indefinite' burden

At the Oct. 1 plenary session of the Diet's Upper House, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe explained that U.S. Air Station Futenma on Okinawa must be relocated [further north] to Henoko because the air station must not remain fixed where it is forever.

WORLD / Science & Health

Oct 6, 2014

Experts see high risk Ebola will reach U.K. and France soon

Scientists have used Ebola disease spread patterns and airline traffic data to predict a 75 percent chance the virus could be imported to France by Oct. 24, and a 50 percent chance it could hit Britain by that date.

Reader Mail

Oct 1, 2014

Woman who took on 'dinosaurs'

Regarding the Sept. 28 article "SDP's Takako Doi, first female leader of major political party in Japan, dies at 85": I am sad about Takako Doi's passing probably because she was in her political prime when I arrived in Japan, and so her passing makes me reflect on my own age and mortality.

Reader Mail

Oct 1, 2014

Real learning with fewer tests

Hiroshi Noro makes sweeping generalizations in his Sept. 18 letter "Aim of annual achievement tests," beginning with the notion that the goal of the nationwide tests is ultimately for educators to improve students' abilities.

Reader Mail

Oct 1, 2014

What's Abe been crowing about?

Regarding the Sept. 25 article "20% of college dropouts cite financial difficulties as reason": It's a sad state of affairs when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has fun globe-trotting and lauding himself over what he claims are his great economic achievements while the reality at home becomes more desperate....

Reader Mail

Oct 1, 2014

Charity should begin at home

I'm afraid I cannot understand what the prime minister is doing abroad. He has promised Japanese financial aid for developing countries, and it's important to help each other, but he needs to look at the way things are in Japan.

Reader Mail

Oct 1, 2014

Recalling a quiet Afghanistan

Gwynne Dyer might have mentioned in his Oct. 1 article, "An imperfect Afghanistan," that before the intervention of major world powers, Afghanistan was not a perfect country but, as I and thousands of other visitors in the 1960s and the '70s can vouch for, it was peaceful and quiet — no land mines,...

Reader Mail

Sep 27, 2014

A feat Indians can cheer about

Regarding the Sept. 24 AP article "India joins elite club by putting spacecraft into Martian orbit": As an Indian, I'm very proud of this moment.

Reader Mail

Sep 24, 2014

A selective respect for justice

Nice to know the LDP has such respect for the International Whaling Commission. Does Japan only heed international commissions when it is convenient or in some way benefits Japan? So much for Japan's being internationally minded.

COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE

Sep 21, 2014

Rather than boon for Japan, U.S. shale oil is still rip-off

Japan's national wealth is draining away as its trading companies keeping paying premium prices for the oil on offer from the U.S. and the Middle East.

Reader Mail

Sep 17, 2014

Apart from right-wing ideology

Regarding the Sept. 9 AP article "Official history of late Emperor Hirohito dodges controversies": I think the key to understand its content lies in the following sentence from the article: "The practice of documenting an emperor's reign follows a Chinese tradition."

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.

How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

Looking ahead to Yokohama’s Green × Expo 2027

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