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Reader Mail

Jul 13, 2013

Not yet primed for probation

The July 9 editorial "Reducing rate of recidivism" reminds me of American detective movies. Some scenes are very strange for Japanese people. In these films we see narcotic drug users who were made to work in zoos or parks to look after small animals as a means of getting straight, and we learn well...

Reader Mail

Jul 13, 2013

Alternative muse for video game

Robert McKinney should be applauded for stretching the meme "Get off my lawn!" into a complete letter to the editor (July 7, "Dumbing down 'The Road").

Reader Mail

Jul 13, 2013

The old man and his reputation

While telling us of the important contributions he has made to the consumption of whiskey in Japan, both by his own efforts in that direction and by the good advice he says he gives its makers, C.W. Nicol, in his July 7 article 'Water of life' helps to keep spirits up," also refers to "good old Bill...

Reader Mail

Jul 13, 2013

New Zealand for whale-watchers

We welcome tourists to our land, but for now we're asking people to please stop coming to New Zealand from Japan. This is our place, we live in the Southern Ocean.

Reader Mail

Jul 10, 2013

Overboard on fear and loathing

I always enjoy Robert J. Samuelson's commentary pieces, but his July 3 article, "Beware the Internet and the danger of cyberattacks," is a rare miss for an otherwise insightful journalist.

Reader Mail

Jul 10, 2013

Post-Fukushima masquerade

The Japan Times July 3 editorial "DPJ ruins chance at power reform" perfectly summarized Japan's farce of cardboard cut-out clowns masquerading as a political process.

Reader Mail

Jul 10, 2013

The risks of exporting a disaster

These days I'm really shocked by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policy of exporting Japan's nuclear technology to foreign countries. The reason is that the problems at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have not yet been resolved.

Reader Mail

Jul 10, 2013

Tepco allows curious spectacle

Regarding the July 5 editorial "Irrational reactor restart plan": I get another strange feeling. Japanese society is traditionally famous for esteeming calmness, orderliness and smoothness and for not wanting to show footage of strife, discord and disputation.

Reader Mail

Jul 10, 2013

Doubts about assault percentage

Regarding the June 22 AP article "One-third of women worldwide have been assaulted by partner": While I do not discount that domestic violence happens, "one-third" stretches the imagination.

Reader Mail

Jul 10, 2013

Abnormal way to run a workday

I don't get the whole working overtime thing that the Japanese have going. The June 25 article "Unpaid overtime excesses hit young" and Keisuke Akita's July 7 letter, "The dreams of young workers," don't teach me anything except that people are mules.

Japan Times

MULTIMEDIA

Jul 8, 2013

[SLIDESHOW] Row, row, row your tub: Matsukawa Tarai-nori Kyoso

Reader Mail

Jul 6, 2013

Dumbing down 'The Road'

Regarding the June 25 article "Finally, 'The Last of Us' [video game] is here": How could anyone compare a simple-minded video game to the literary genius of Cormac McCarthy and his Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Road"?

Reader Mail

Jul 6, 2013

The boys are back in town

Here in Nagoya many sumo stables graciously allow visitors to the morning workout, and I made my first, fascinating visit last Sunday. Men of varying ages and weights practiced in a regimented routine not unlike a ballet class or scales for a musician.

Reader Mail

Jul 6, 2013

Don't sell out basic services

Regarding the June 20 article, "Dilemma: How to shed white elephants' red ink?": The word "reform" sounds good, but if corporations become a permanent fixture in government functions, we will simply be exchanging "government corruption" for "corporate greed."

Reader Mail

Jul 6, 2013

The dreams of young workers

The headline "Unpaid overtime excesses hit young" for the June 25 article by Ayako Mie is misleading. The problem is not just the unpaid overtime; companies are ruining young recruits' lives by abusing them as a matter of routine — within the regular workday and after 5. And the problem isn't limited...

Reader Mail

Jul 6, 2013

Luxury train a new beginning

The June 23 editorial "All aboard the luxury train" conjured up the allure of travel by train in Japan. It is true that Japan's train system is the envy of the world and has been symbolized by the Shinkansen with its safety, punctuality and speed. But I believe that the bullet train system lacks a certain...

Japan Times

CULTURE / Music

Jul 3, 2013

The best albums of 2013 (so far)

The year in music so far has been filled with comeback albums that "hype" their way to the top. After the Twitter hashtags subside, though, such artists also seem to leave the minds of the public. (Is anyone still talking about David Bowie? Justin Timberlake? ... Daft Punk?) The fast-paced industry of...

Reader Mail

Jul 3, 2013

Counting on Japanese solutions

I realize that agriculture is a sensitive topic in Japan. After living in Japan for almost 11 years, I became so appreciative of Japan and its people that I've encouraged my youngest son to return to Japan to study the language, deeply. He will attend International Christian University in Tokyo starting...

Reader Mail

Jul 3, 2013

Mistaking preference for a fetish

In his June 25 feature article, 'Yellow Fever' and the fantasy of the Asian female," writer Nicolas Gattig asks "what are the fantasies driving 'yellow fever,' the fetish for Orientals [by white men]?" The question he should be asking is to what extent preconceptions of race and racial normalcy predispose...

Reader Mail

Jul 3, 2013

Brazen proposal on Okinawa

On a June 10 news talk show, Kevin Maher, the former U.S. Consul General Okinawa and chief of the Japan Desk at the U.S. State Department, said the suggestion by the Chinese People's Liberation Army deputy chief of staff that the Senkaku Islands issue be shelved for now is like a thief proposing a condition....

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

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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