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June 07, 2025
 

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Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2013
Mayor's unconvincing retort
The May 28 front-page article "Hashimoto looks to deflect sex slave blame" seems to suggest in some way that Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto has a valid point, when it should be made clear that he does not.
Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2013
Wrong address on student letters
Regarding the May 29 Kyodo article "Nagasaki youths key to hibakusha message": Rather than sending their signatures to the United Nations Office in Geneva, the students collecting signatures for the abolition of nuclear weapons should be sending their petition to Washington.
Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2013
The American energy revolution
The oil and gas revolutions have become the cause of an emotional debate in the United States, and the debate grows more polarized by the day. Depending on which side of the media you follow, there are pictures of oil-slicked birds, communities in economic despair and mothers fighting for their children's...
Reader Mail
Jun 2, 2013
A history of political stupidity
The Japanese have a place in their hearts for politicians who say outrageous and stupid things. There is a long history of it. First, the Japanese seem to confuse constitutional freedom of speech with the freedom to say absolutely anything with impunity. Hence there is a disposition to admire leaders...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
May 27, 2013
Cannes jury prize goes to Koreeda's 'Like Father, Like Son'
The Japanese film "Like Father, Like Son (Soshite Chichi ni Naru)" directed by Hirokazu Koreeda, received the Prix du Jury at the 2013 Cannes International Film Festival on Sunday.
Reader Mail
May 23, 2013
Not for impressionable men
Regarding the May 16 front-page article "Hashimoto sticks to guns on sex slaves": The cruel and insensitive statements from Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto about encouraging the U.S. military to make use of Japanese prostitutes and his apologism for wartime Japanese soldiers' enjoyment of serial-sex with...
Reader Mail
May 23, 2013
Embarrassing for the Japanese
Many of us who are of Japanese descent, but who are now citizens of foreign countries by birth or emigration, are totally in shock and disbelief over the continuous stream of distortions of history that emanate from Japanese politicians. For what the world community describes as rape, kidnapping, slavery...
Reader Mail
May 23, 2013
Use of 'force' was the difference
Perhaps I am in a rare position to comment, from almost firsthand experience, on the statements [about the inevitability of wartime prostitution] made by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara.
Reader Mail
May 23, 2013
Hitler cited his religious faith
While there does seem to be some disagreement among historians about the degree of Adolf Hitler's religious beliefs, I think it's inaccurate for Jennifer Kim, in her May 16 letter, to claim his Catholicism was abandoned in his youth.
Reader Mail
May 23, 2013
Perfect material for bullying
Regarding Kaori Shoji's May 13 article, "It ain't easy being a bilingual girl": I agree that bilingual Japanese face obstacles today as they did 30 years ago.
Reader Mail
May 23, 2013
Inventors of human rights?
Jennifer Kim, in her letter of May 16, seems to be doing a bit of an Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto special. She appears to be suggesting that the mass murder of heretics [Cathars] was necessary at the time. She seems to take the apparent wrongness of their teaching — which supposedly took the anti-life...
Reader Mail
May 23, 2013
Watching what the church does
It is instructive to parse Jennifer Kim's May 16 letter, "Catholic link to human rights," to see what she is really saying:
Reader Mail
May 19, 2013
Where do these guys come from?
Regarding the May 15 front-page article "Hashimoto takes flak for sex slave rationale" and related media stories: Why would a system of government-sponsored brothels be considered inappropriate, not to mention criminal, in this day and age?
Reader Mail
May 19, 2013
Floatable cars for tsunami
Regarding the March 6 Kyodo brief "Tsunami 'Noah's Ark": It would be a great idea for the infrastructure ministry to make special lifeboats for evacuation during tsunami. But we could save many more lives if car companies would make a new car or adapt an existing model to float for many hours or even...
Reader Mail
May 19, 2013
Nonsecular take on a rebellion
Regarding the Washington Post article by Jackson Diehl, which ran in The Japan Times on May 8 under the headline "Putin's hand in radicalizing a secular rebellion": The writer would appear to have little knowledge of Chechnya or Russia; nor does he seem to understand the meaning of the word "secularism."...
Reader Mail
May 19, 2013
Turning logic upside-down
Regarding the May 12 editorial, "Who's to blame in Bangladesh?": Globalization will inevitably proceed no matter what we want, but why must we hastily remove the boundaries that restrict the movement of money when borders prevent us from saving millions of people from abuse by their governments.
Reader Mail
May 19, 2013
More serious than their parents
I notice that a lot of senior employees of traditional Japanese companies often bemoan the fact that their daughters cannot easily find desirable husbands these days. Some people describe Japanese young men today as "grass-eating boys" who are too timid to find girlfriends. Others say today's parents...
Reader Mail
May 16, 2013
Sincerely clueless in Tokyo
The thing that struck me about Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose's Muslim-slurring remarks (May 1 front-page article "Inose apologizes for slurring Muslims") is his apparent clueless obliviousness.
Reader Mail
May 16, 2013
Chinese versus U.S. corruption
Regarding the April 6 article "Can China's new government end corruption?": China's corruption can be solved by simply taking a page from the United States and legalizing it.
Reader Mail
May 16, 2013
Catholic link to human rights
Barry Andrew Ward's Catholic-bashing letter of May 9 ... falsely portrays the Cathars as an innocent, wrongfully persecuted religious minority. In fact they held that the world was fundamentally evil, that suicide was admirable, that marital intercourse and reproduction were abhorrent, and other teachings...
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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

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