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June 08, 2025
 

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Reader Mail
Sep 14, 2013
Olympics to hurt reconstruction
I quite agree with the Sept. 11 front-page article "Abe's nuke assurance to IOC questioned." I am afraid to say that the leaked contaminated water can't be stopped by simply freezing because the Earth is getting warmer little by little.
Reader Mail
Sep 14, 2013
Make use of chemical conventions
Regarding the Sept. 12 article "Obama gives Syria diplomatic option to avoid U.S. strike": In a plan jointly developed just over a week ago with Dr. Gordon Thompson, who directs the Institute for Resource and Security Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts (before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's door-opening...
Reader Mail
Sep 14, 2013
Net addicts need proper treatment
Regarding the Sept. 3 editorial "Net addiction a growing problem": I get a strong anxiety about this problem and its ramifications. In my opinion, Japanese society is likely to dismiss such addiction as a trivial matter and make light of it, to be sure, but the editorial has pointed out that the number...
Reader Mail
Sep 14, 2013
No 'correct' view of history
Regarding the Sept. 5 article "South Korean text lauds Japan colonial rule": The call for Japan to accept the "correct" view of history is routinely heard from South Korean politicians and most alarmingly, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. This is the rhetoric of the uneducated or the autocrat.
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2013
Silence does not equal complicity
So just since Pope Francis did not vocally speak out against the regime, he is complicit: That's a non-sequitur! Since speaking out would result in crackdowns and misery all around, the church tended toward discreet and secret acts to try and alleviate suffering.
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2013
The rise and fall of Naoto Kan
Regarding the Aug. 31 interview "Naoto Kan speaks out": I have mixed feelings. During the time that the Liberal Democratic Party was dominating the politics of Japan until it lost power in 2009 and "the traditional triangular network" — or extremely strong ties with vested politicians, bureaucrats...
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2013
America's love of war
Regarding the Sept. 5 commentary by Henry Allen titled "Tragedy of America's 'good and virtuous wars' ": All wars are tragic, perhaps none more so than those fought in the name of civic virtue. The U.S. Navy's new recruiting slogan boasts that it's a global force for good! The American writer historian...
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2013
Hashimoto's typical perception
Regarding the Sept. 10 article "City of Glendale readies another resolution against Hashimoto": If Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is taking the position that the enslavement of "comfort women" for the needs of the Imperial Army is justified as much as the use of thousands of Japanese "comfort women" by forces...
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2013
Water treatment at Fukushima
Regarding the Sept. 6 editorial "No quick fix for Fukushima leaks": The water treatment, referred to as "ALPS" is simply an old technology using something called "ion exchange." This is not rocket science, and is similar to technology used in under the sink water filters, the kind that are used for a...
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2013
What 'evidence' on Pope Francis?
Regarding the Sept. 8 book review titled "The murky past of Pope Francis: Is he really so humble?": There are loads of things wrong with the allegations made against Pope Francis by Paul Vallely, author of the book "Pope Francis: Untying the Knots," and by Hugh O'Shaughnessy in his review of the book....
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2013
Low U.S. support for Syria action
Regarding the Sept. 7 commentary by Ted Rall titled "Breaking bad: Why a U.S. strike would be illegal": Most Americans are opposed. One poll I read only showed 6 percent positive support among registered voters for a strike, which is abysmal. Also, the U.S. is heavily in debt and just can't keep spending...
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2013
Same-sex marriage not inevitable
Regarding professor Jeff Kingston's Aug. 25 column titled "Gay marriage in Japan? Only over the reactionary LDP's cadaver": The theory that the dinosaurs died out because they were as stupid as they were huge has long been debunked, but the notion that human beings who resist social "progress" are to...
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2013
Take the stairs if you want to walk
I am writing to address the three online comments written on Aug. 23 in response to the Aug. 19 editorial "Wanted: better escalator manners."
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2013
Japan has much to do to raise FDI
Regarding Shinji Fukukawa's Aug. 31 commentary titled "Knock down barriers to FDIs": I agree completely with the views on foreign direct investments expressed by Fukukawa, who is one of the most perceptive and visionary of Japan's ex-government officials. He correctly points out three of the "structural...
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2013
Poisoned minds
Regarding the Aug. 30 article "Yokohama recalls texts describing 1923 'massacre' of Koreans": I wonder what's going through the minds of the folks at the Yokohama Board of Education. According to the story the city's board of education has recalled a junior high school textbook due to its "descriptions...
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2013
Repair harm from misbehavior
Regarding the Aug. 17 editorial "Spare the rod at school": The real issue is whether corporal punishment is effective in dealing with student misbehavior. The evidence is not encouraging.
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2013
Who's running Fukushima 'show'?
I'm looking at this from across the Pacific Ocean, but I have to ask, just who is running the show at Fukushima? How in the world can any company, regardless of size or influence, get away with doing what is being done at this site? Is there no shame?
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2013
Katakana-go a study handicap
Regarding Mark Schreiber’s Aug. 25 article, “When does one’s native language stop being native?”: Being bicultural myself, I grew up speaking and still do speak a mix of Japanese and English when among my bicultural friends.
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2013
Nuclear power credibility shaken
Regarding the Aug. 25 article "Tepco's tank leaks blamed on seals, reassembly": It doesn't really look as though Tokyo Electric Power Co. is paying proper attention to the finer details of their recovery work at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. How could 300 tons of water — close to 300 cu....
Reader Mail
Aug 31, 2013
The American ramen dream
Regarding the Aug. 23 Everyman Eats column, "The ramen burger that ate New York": I don't know, I'm a purist. I love a good American hamburger, cheeseburger with fries even better, and I love a fine bowl of gourmet ramen.
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

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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