Internal Submission - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

Meta

Internal Submission

Reader Mail

Nov 13, 2013

Gap between school and life

Seeing a school play for the first time in many years, I noticed a preposterous phenomenon. The play comprised six acts, but the character of the protagonist was played by a different student for each act, so it was very hard for me to grasp the story line.

Reader Mail

Nov 13, 2013

For a more opaque government

Regarding Yuriko Koike's Nov. 9 article, "Abe's security bill aims to shutter 'spy's paradise' ": What utter nonsense! Koike acts like Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's most obedient lapdog.

Reader Mail

Nov 13, 2013

An energy future with thorium

Regarding Pankaj Mishra's Nov. 10 article, "Nuclear power: India shouldn't buy what Japan is trying to sell": In 1974, India began receiving nuclear plants and related technologies from the Soviet Union. Since 1992, it has gotten them from Russia and, to a limited extent (just one power plant), from...

Japan Times

MORE SPORTS

Nov 12, 2013

Ishii guides Japan volleyball squad to four-set triumph over Russia

Yuki Ishii's match-high 22 points led host Japan to a four-set victory (25-20, 26-28, 25-16, 26-24) over Russia at the World Grand Champions Cup on Tuesday night.

Reader Mail

Nov 9, 2013

Ichihashi film categorized as mere spectacle

Regarding the Nov. 3 TimeOut feature by Jun Hongo, titled "Killer on the run": There was a sickening feeling of frustration in Tokyo's foreign community at the time of the Lindsay Ann Hawker murder investigation. Many foreign residents felt that the Chiba police were simply not too keen on catching the...

Reader Mail

Nov 9, 2013

Lock-step ways of doing business

Regarding the revelations of food misrepresentations on restaurant menus: It is astonishing how these masquerades come to light one after another. It's as if a few people had interpreted the practice as a traditional way to do business and others followed lock-step. This mentality seems matched by a...

Reader Mail

Nov 9, 2013

Pioneers turning in their graves

Regarding the Nov. 3 editorial "Women's plight getting worse": Poet and feminist Akiko Yosano (d. 1942), novelist Fumiko Hayashi (d. 1951) and novelist Sawako Ariyoshi (d. 1984) are just some of the great female voices that Japan has had in the modern era. There are more who yet live — all evidence...

Reader Mail

Nov 9, 2013

104 countries outclass Japan

It's hard to believe that life for women in Japan could get any worse, but the news released by the World Economic Forum last month (as cited in the Nov. 3 editorial) won't be happy reading for anyone in Japan.

Reader Mail

Nov 9, 2013

Some choosing work over sex

Regarding Jake Adelstein's Nov. 3 article, "Can Japanese really be such cold sushi in the sack?": I don't feel that long working hours are the real cause of sexlessness. Rather, some people perhaps are choosing to spend longer hours at work because they have lost interest in intimacy, sex, family, dating...

Reader Mail

Nov 6, 2013

Imperialism tally goes off point

Shatruntapa Patel's Nov. 3 letter, "History defines China and Japan," is just one inaccurate China bashing attack after another. If Patel wishes to compare the histories of China and Japan, it would be beneficial if an accurate history was given.

Reader Mail

Nov 6, 2013

Living costs drift relatively lower

Regarding William Pesek's Oct. 29 article, "The lust beneath Japan's sex drought": I agree with Pesek's myth-busting analysis that Japan's low birthrate is the result of the economy — not the lack of sexual desire. That said, I would like Pesek to reconsider another myth: that the cost of living in...

Reader Mail

Nov 6, 2013

Diminishing returns of the palate

Regarding the Oct. 31 Kyodo article "More restaurants tied to food fraud": Why would someone want to pay extra for something that he cannot distinguish — by taste, appearance, size, smell — from something less expensive? Is just spending money desirable?

Reader Mail

Nov 6, 2013

The deadly side of job hunting

Regarding Tomoko Otake's Oct. 18 article, "Job hunt stressing students, making them suicidal (poll)": Is that true? It is beyond tragic that an estimated 149 young people in their early 20s took their own lives because of job-hunting frustrations.

Reader Mail

Nov 6, 2013

An unforgettable conference trip

I have just returned from my first-ever visit to Japan (for the 20th ITS World Congress), and I'm so impressed with the country, its people and culture.

Reader Mail

Nov 6, 2013

Lawmaker's brave public action

Regarding Reiji Yoshida's Nov. 1 article, "Lawmaker under fire for letter to Emperor": Upper House lawmaker Taro Yamamoto's action in giving a letter about the health of Japanese children suffering the effects of radiation was a necessary act. It was also brave in a country where such an action is thought...

Reader Mail

Nov 6, 2013

Reconciliation attempts impaired

Emily Thorne on the TV show "Revenge" said: "Truth is a battle of perceptions." Where Japan and China are concerned, this is certainly true. In that regard, I take issue with the following points in Shatruntapa Patel's Nov. 3 letter:

Reader Mail

Nov 6, 2013

Cheap shots at T-shirt English

The other day, just before leaving for work, I was watching one of the national morning shows. They had a segment on how many Japanese wear clothing adorned with English wording, and how the wearers have no idea what it means.

Reader Mail

Nov 2, 2013

Perma-deficit, underclass in Japan's future

When I came to Japan 35 years ago, this country seemed the most equitable and egalitarian place in the world. Unemployment was negligible, illiteracy was zero, everybody was entitled to health insurance, the gap between the rich and poor was not so big, and most people believed they were happy with their...

Reader Mail

Nov 2, 2013

Denial indicates Big Brother's here

I can’t believe Japan, America’s strongest ally in the Asia-Pacific region, turned down the offer and isn’t already spying on China, North Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Reader Mail

Nov 2, 2013

Decent record in guarding privacy

Regarding the Oct. 27 Kyodo article "NSA asked Japan to tap regionwide fiber-optic cables in 2011": This is not the first time that the Japanese government has backed away from creating a surveillance state.

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

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports