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June 07, 2025
 

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Reader Mail
Jun 13, 2013
Some dare call it 'economics'
When reading the paper or listening to the news in English, some of us may be inclined to think that "Abenomics" has something to do with economics or even sound economics. But when you listen to members of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party talk about it in Japanese, they call it "Abe no mikkusu," de-stressing...
Reader Mail
Jun 13, 2013
No offense taken to 'that guy'
When I spotted the June 9 letter titled "An offensive religious reference" and noticed that Amy Chavez's June 1 column, "Everyone's own path to enlightenment," was mentioned, I wondered if I had slipped into another dimension.
Reader Mail
Jun 13, 2013
Resourceful ways to kill time
Regarding the June 11 article "Wait a sec: Smartphones helping more in Japan deal with irritatingly long waits, survey says": This survey is weird and interesting. I am amazed at the startling ingenuity of the surveyors concerning the subject matter.
Reader Mail
Jun 13, 2013
Don't suppress children's voices
I would like to give my opinion on the June 4 AFP-JIJI article "Hey kids, keep it down — graying Japan annoyed by children's noise": I am a Japanese-language consultant who has visited Japan five times and been in regular touch with Japanese for 18 years. I keep getting information about concerns that...
Reader Mail
Jun 13, 2013
Hashimoto's distracting hoopla
Regarding the June 7 front-page article "Hashimoto to Abe: Fly Ospreys at Yao" by Eric Johnston: Yao Airport is a general aviation airport (a second-class airport under Japan's aviation law) with two runways that intersect, one 1,490 meters in length and the other 1,200 meters. An aerial photograph shows...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jun 11, 2013
Please, prime minister, just let me be a father
Dear Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,
Reader Mail
Jun 9, 2013
Predations on a livelihood
Kathleen Weller's June 6 letter, "Collection of unpaid ward taxes," refers to a different case of ward office brutality. The woman I wrote about earlier does not know Ms. Weller. The woman did partially pay her ward taxes over the last five years — ¥20,000 to ¥30,000 every few months. She was explicitly...
Reader Mail
Jun 9, 2013
Vital info for men and women
According to the newspaper, the central government planned to distribute an information booklet about pregnancy and childbirth only to women for the purpose of raising the nation's low birthrate.
Reader Mail
Jun 9, 2013
Cooperation among past enemies
The June 4 AFP-JIJI article "South Korean president gets baptism by fire" is interesting for many reasons. I lived in a small town in North Korea until the end of 1950. I remember colonial life before 1945.
Reader Mail
Jun 9, 2013
Conditions for a global education
I read with interest Masaaki Kameda's May 29 article, "Education panel touts more global approach." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's exhortation that Japanese universities establish super-global universities by recruiting faculty staff from overseas, establishing partnerships with overseas universities and...
Reader Mail
Jun 9, 2013
An offensive religious reference
Regarding Amy Chavez's June 1 column, "Everyone's own path to enlightenment": Chavez should be ashamed of herself.
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013
Avoiding corporal punishment
Regarding the June 2 article "Severe sports training methods became taibatsu in time": The writer concludes: "The trick is to determine in modern society where hard training ends and assault or violence, which is and always has been a criminal offense in Japan, begins. And that is not an easy thing."...
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013
Revisionist who lost credibility
The recent exchanges among various readers regarding religious matters have been interesting, but Thomas Clark's May 30 letter on the subject, "The power of ideas over time," brings up a most important point that readers should bear in mind — namely, in every war, be it secular or religious, there...
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013
Collection of unpaid ward taxes
Regarding Joseph O'Leary's June 2 letter, "What's causing the train suicides?": If the woman of retirement age whom he refers to is the same woman I know in Tokyo, the ward office has impounded her salary because she hasn't paid her ward taxes for the past five years. National taxes have been deducted...
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013
Memories of a Pakistani village
The May 31 AFP-JIJI article "India's Africans keeping ancient customs alive" brought back memories of my visit to two Shidi villages in Sindh province, Pakistan, some years back.
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013
Looking for the shining example
I find it quite curious that Thomas Clark cites anti-Semite and Holocaust denier David Irving to rebut my claim of Hitler's Catholicism. His calling Irving's history "masterful" is an interesting choice of adjective, too.
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013
'Agony till the end of the world'
In defense of Jennifer Kim's May 16 letter, "Catholic link to human rights," on the subject of what Barry Andrew Ward calls the church's "blood-stained history" (May 23 letter, "Watching what the church does"), I would draw attention to the fact that Catholic Church history covers two millennia and many...
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013
Sense of brotherhood toward all
I was most interested to read Paul de Vries' scathing comments (May 30 letter, "Myth of the 'willing' prostitute") about my "insensitivity" on the "comfort women" controversy. He says my comments "may provide a reason to believe that Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is not the most insensitive resident of...
Reader Mail
Jun 6, 2013
Trained to just put up with it
I am a 53-year-old Japanese man who went though this system. Many of us recipients of taibatsu (corporal punishment) might say years later that it was good for us. But please note that saying otherwise would be to admit that we were physically and emotionally abused for nothing and didn't have the guts...
Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2013
What's causing the train suicides?
Because of the large number of suicides, the Chuo train line (in Tokyo) has become a quite unreliable mode of transport. But what is it about Japanese society that is causing so many of its members to take their lives?
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.
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.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
Trump and Musk trade barbs on social media as alliance crumbles
The trouble between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk started brewing days ago, when Musk denounced Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
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.
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.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.

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

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