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June 08, 2025
 

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Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2014
Doubts about today's morality
On the basis of new NHK chief Katsuto Momii assertion that the use of "comfort women" only seems wrong by "today's morality," one might infer that there exists some shred of international morality in today's Japan and that there was no recognizable human morality here whatsoever in the past.
Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2014
Statement will haunt NHK chief
It is regrettable that the new NHK chairman made such a controversial statement about "comfort women" during the war.
Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2014
Who'll rein in a leader's words?
Most world leaders know what their two main works are: diplomacy and defense. They recognize that no country can exist only on its own; all countries in the world are interrelated in some way or other today.
Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2014
'Efficient' language acquisition
In my letter of Jan. 16 ("Recreational reading will score"), I suggested that investing in libraries and promoting recreational reading would help English language development in Japan.
Reader Mail
Jan 29, 2014
Cogeneration involves waste heat
The Jan. 24 editorial "Can't bury the nuclear issue" recommends a few things in the field of energy that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government can do, including "using waste heat to generate electricity." This is probably incorrect.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jan 28, 2014
Abe's deceptive rice reform
On Dec. 9 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared that his government has abolished the subsidy system for reductions in rice acreage, yet subsidies for growing rice as animal feed will greatly increase.
Reader Mail
Jan 25, 2014
Critical thought in class slipping everywhere
Regarding the Jan. 19 letters by Kyushuphil ("U.S. censorship of books, tests documented") and by Roan Suda ("Notable absence of 'nationalists"): Suda takes exception to "Western commentators," but it's usually Japan's Asian neighbors who have the gall to actually hold Japan accountable for its past....
Reader Mail
Jan 25, 2014
Pleasure reading presents hurdles
Having the esteemed professor emeritus Stephen Krashen contribute to the ongoing question of English education in Japan is always pleasurable. However, his letter of Jan. 16, "Recreational reading will score," raises more questions than it answers.
Reader Mail
Jan 25, 2014
Little respect for the oceans
I am outraged by the annual brutal slaughter of dolphins and whales that takes place in Japan. The images of bloody red water clearly show the world that Japan has little respect for the world's oceans and for the conservation of the marine resources it claims to support.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 25, 2014
A double dose of Fumiyo Kohinata; arson attack survivor featured on "NHK Special"; CM of the week: Ajinomoto
Well-known character actor Fumiyo Kohinata not only gets a rare opportunity to star in a two-hour drama, but stars twice — playing twin brothers in the mystery "Twins: Saotome Kyodai no Suiri Nisshi" ("Twins: The Saotome Brothers' Deductive Diary"; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.)
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2014
Avoiding the nuclear debate
Regarding the Jan. 17 Kyodo article "Fukushima No. 1 engineer's warning to Taiwan: Nuclear power unstable": So now we know that the government — the Liberal Democratic Party, that is — was not only clearly informed of the likelihood of a nuclear disaster but has been deliberately covering up this...
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2014
Aging society tops all issues
The most problematic issue for Tokyo today is how to deal with the various effects of the aging society.
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2014
Get going with tidal energy
We're students from Yokohama International School. We were assigned to spread awareness of tidal energy in Japan. From the recent rallies in Tokyo, it is evident that many are going the anti-nuclear route, and some suggest alternative energy sources to gradually replace nuclear power plants.
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2014
Better remedy than income taxes
I agree with Keisuke Akita's opinions in his Jan. 8 letter, "A simple remedy for inequality," except for his assertion that economics is not a science. There are no indisputable laws in economics comparable to Newton's laws in physics, but much of the pure sciences is based on theories, and theories...
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2014
Ideas for an English education
About 10 years ago while motorcycling in Fuji-Hakone National Park, I met a Japanese motorcyclist who had just returned from a two-year work/study program in Australia. He spoke English very fluently and had landed a job teaching his second language at a junior high school in Izu and was very excited...
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2014
A source of Japanese democracy
This year marks the 130th anniversary of the Chichibu Incident in Saitama Prefecture. Of the more than 10 "peasant" uprisings that occurred in Japan in 1883 and 1884, the Chichibu Incident (November 1884) was the largest and most violent. The people who participated in it were mostly farmers. Some were...
Reader Mail
Jan 18, 2014
Japanese seek Asian friendship
Regarding the Jan. 12 Kyodo article "Abe Yasukuni trip aim not lost on U.S. leaders": It is extremely regrettable that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a surprise visit to the war-related Yasukuni (Dec. 26). He said it was not his intention to hurt the feelings of Chinese and Koreans, but the visit did...
Reader Mail
Jan 18, 2014
Peace-restoring role for Emperor?
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Yasukuni Shrine was an act of mischief by a peacock of patriotism. Two Japan experts who live on the East Coast of the United States seem less alarmed than distantly concerned.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jan 18, 2014
Child stars stud orphanage drama; new fantasy series features ninja vigilante; CM of the week: U-Can
An orphanage is the setting for the new Nippon TV drama series, "Ashita, Mama ga Inai" ("Tomorrow, Mama Will Be Gone"; Wed., 10 p.m.), which stars the two hottest child actors in Japan right now, Rio Suzuki and Mana Ashida.
Reader Mail
Jan 15, 2014
For starters, an encouraging word
Any foreigner who has lived in Japan for any length of time and struggled to learn Japanese knows that the language barrier looms large here. Those of us chipping away at it as English teachers know that our students often feel the same way, but one thing I've noticed is the power of a positive message....
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

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Longform

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How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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