What is LDP official trying to do? Regarding the Dec. 6 article "Aso Cabinet said on 'edge of cliff' ": It is quite frankly incredible that a high-profile Liberal Democratic Party official such as the party's acting secretary general, Nobuteru Ishihara, should choose to ...

As you know, people in the Fukui Prefecture city of "Obama" are delighted at the prospect of an American president with the same name and are already using this happy coincidence to promote local attractions. There is a nice family at my ...

The Sept. 20 article "Tainted rice scandal swallows Ota" highlights a few things: • Either regulations cost too much to implement, or company officials really don't care about humanity. • Government food safety and inspection officials are getting paid to do nothing. With Japan's bureaucracy, taxpayers ...

Recent articles and related correspondence regarding biofuels show a lot of ignorance about this topic. First of all, when ethanol is manufactured, it is virtually only the corn syrup that is pressed out and used as fuel. The remainder, containing proteins and carbohydrates, is ...

The attitude of Wilson Hartz toward the teachers who were punished for refusing to stand for "Kimigayo" is disturbing. I fail to see how simply excusing the dissenting teachers from public functions would do anything to settle the matter one way or the other, ...