Regarding Roger Pulvers' July 3 article, "Murakami puts a bomb under his compatriots' atomic complacency": In his acceptance of the International Catalunya Prize, author Haruki Murakami came down on not only on Tokyo Electric Power Co. but also on those Japanese who are apathetic toward politics and public issues.
Nothing has basically changed in Japan since my youth almost three decades ago. Bullying has gotten smarter and more sinister. One feature of modern bullying is anonymity. We can read defamations on websites, but can't normally find out who wrote them. The workplace also nurtures harassment. In many companies, a few full-time workers dominate many contract workers. In this hierarchical society, the lowest class workers, "freeters," have been thoroughly demoralized.
This is not the young generation's fault, but rather mine and Murakami's. His remarks in Barcelona showed his repentance.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.