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June 08, 2025
 

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Reader Mail
Apr 9, 2014
Kidnapping parent deserves life
In Tomohiro Osaki's April 5 article, "Child abduction agreement too late for many parents," Miho Watanabe, divorced from an allegedly abusive American husband, is portrayed as the kind of Japanese woman whom the government has always protected in these international child custody situations: A victim...
Reader Mail
Apr 9, 2014
Shock and awe over portraits
Regarding the April 6 AP article "Portraits by George W. Bush go on display": I wonder if former U.S. President George W. Bush is very happy with the self-portrait he did [displayed with the portraits of other world leaders in an exhibit at the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Dallas]....
Reader Mail
Apr 9, 2014
Peer reviews considered rude
Regarding Daishi88's April 6 letter, "Woman 'thrown under the bus' " [about the negative press that Dr. Haruko Obokata has received since her method for producing pluripotent cells came under suspicion]: The fact is the world doesn't care; China and Russia make bigger headlines. A mix of U.S. strategic...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Apr 7, 2014
A dog named Harp: Music to your ears
The gentle Harp was found abandoned in a hot springs area. Concerned staff from a hotel fed her bread and, eventually, she got up the courage to come nearer and was caught. Luckily her destination was ARK.
Reader Mail
Apr 5, 2014
A hyped story never trumps truthful report
Regarding Michael Hoffman’s March 30 Big in Japan column titled “The truth is, we have gotten too used to lying” [which concerns the media frenzy over the suspicion that Dr. Haruko Obokata manipulated data in her research papers describing a new, simple method for producing pluripotent cells]:...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 5, 2014
A 'black company' comedy and a stock market drama; CM of the week: Takarakuji
The new Fuji TV series, "Black President" (Tues., 10 p.m.), is not about Barack Obama. It's about a man named Mitamura (Ikki Sawamura), an entrepreneur who has turned his apparel company into a national success, mainly by oppressing his workers, which is why his enterprise is called a burakku kigyo (black...
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014
Homework for Japanese leaders
Regarding the March 27 front-page article "Abe, Park focus on North to stop ties going south": If it had not been for the urging of U.S. President Barack Obama, the meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit, probably...
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014
Remember the Syrian conflict?
I wonder why the Group of Seven nations have concerned themselves only with Ukraine's problems recently without any mention of Syria. If they talk about world peace, how can they leave out Syria?
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014
Rebirth of a devastated area
The other day I had the opportunity to visit the vicinity of Sendai Airport, an area devastated by the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami. Two things that came to my attention immediately were the Hill and the new cemetery.
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014
Recent death sentences in Egypt
Regarding the March 27 AP article, "Anti-Islamist fervor prompts harsh Egypt court sentences": Commenting on reactions from foreign quarters to a Minya criminal court decision referring death sentences against 529 defendants, implicated in acts of sabotage, to the Mufti of the Republic for his opinion,...
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014
Most restaurants still don't get it
Regarding the March 31 article "Airports eager to cater to Muslims' needs": It is good to see that Japan is catering to Muslims at airports and a few other places. But as a regular visitor to Japan, I am astounded that Japan is doing nothing for the millions of global tourists who are used to enjoying...
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014
The death rattle of colonialism
In his March 27 letter, "Fascism worse than imperialism," Jim Makin claims that I contended in my March 20 letter, "Worst lay ahead for Asia," that "white" imperialism was worse than the Japanese variety. While the worst did lay ahead for much of Asia under the tenure of the white imperial powers after...
Reader Mail
Apr 2, 2014
Right response to soccer banner
Kudos to the Urawa Reds soccer team for taking action against the "Japanese Only" banner displayed at the team's first game played at home this season.
WORLD
Mar 29, 2014
Alabama candidate shoots ‘Obamacare’
A congressional candidate in Alabama is taking aim, literally, at the Affordable Care Act in a new campaign ad in which he fires rounds from several weapons into a paper copy of it.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Mar 29, 2014
Eye of the needle
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 29, 2014
'Anne of Green Gables' translator's life dramatized; celeb sports feats; CM of the Week: Hotto Motto
L.M. Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables" is the most popular young-adult novel in Japan, at least among girls. The original was published in Canada in 1908, and was translated into Japanese by Hanako Muraoka. NHK's new morning drama, "Hanako and Anne" (NHK-G, M-F, 8 a.m.; NHK Premium, M-F, 7:30 a.m.)...
WORLD / Politics
Mar 27, 2014
Hearts blossom for Crimea's new attorney general
A viral video of Natalia Poklonskaya's charmingly shy first press conference inspires enough otaku artists to produce a shrine of manga-style illustrations.
Reader Mail
Mar 26, 2014
Fascism worse than imperialism
In his March 20 letter, "Worst lay ahead for much of Asia," Paul de Vries again carps about how the white man was so much worse than the Japanese [during World War II]. I'd like to turn the question around and ask exactly what gives de Vries the right to lecture Chinese and other Asians from on high...
Reader Mail
Mar 26, 2014
Unique sense of being victimized
Last week I watched an NHK documentary on student nurses in Okinawa who committed suicide rather than surrender to American forces at the end of the war. The whole production was awash in pathos, but completely lacking any reflection upon why young girls would willingly kill themselves instead of surrender....
Reader Mail
Mar 26, 2014
Curious caller on Anne Frank
Regarding the March 25 Reuters article "Abe hails 'lessons of history' on visit to Anne Frank house": A couple of factors need to be addressed.
Foreign tourists with unpaid medical bills in Japan to be denied entry
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during ministerial meeting meeting on foreign residents in Japan on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.
Japan won’t wait for G7 summit for possible U.S. trade deal
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top negotiator in tariff talks with the U.S. speaks to reporters at the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Friday.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
What can Kenji Yanobe’s cosmic cats teach us about humanity?
Kenji Yanobe’s spacesuited cats are the main characters of “Ship’s Cat Island,” the inaugural exhibition at Hyper Museum Hanno in Saitama Prefecture.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy
Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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