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Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2012

Good reasons to stay at home

I object to the content of Cary Elcome's Nov. 29 letter, "Loath to live in a new culture."
Reader Mail
Dec 2, 2012

What's wrong with avoidance?

According to Hugh Cortazzi (Nov. 28 article, "Failures in market economies"), "When people and companies enjoy the benefits open to all in Britain. ... [yet] do all they can to avoid paying tax, their behavior is immoral."
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 2, 2012

Abe's rightism: Campaign ploy or governance plan?

The main election slogan of the Liberal Democratic Party, which polls say will prevail in the Dec. 16 general election, is "Restoring Japan," underlining its determination to reclaim the power it lost three years ago.
CULTURE / Books
Dec 2, 2012

The ever-evolving digital movie world

JAPANESE CINEMA IN THE DIGITAL AGE, by Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano. University of Hawaii Press, 2012, 178 pp., $47 (hardcover) The world film industry, including Japan's, is now completing a changeover from traditional film stock to digital substitutes.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 1, 2012

Vows DPJ made to get in sounded too good to be true

Goshi Hosono, the handsome policy chief of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, is one of the few politicians who has retained his popularity despite predictions the party is headed for a crushing defeat in the Dec. 16 Lower House election.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 1, 2012

Transit firms offering themselves up as movie, TV locations

Public transit firms in the Chubu region are getting stars in their eyes as they turn to a new strategy to attract customers.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 1, 2012

DPJ's promise to change the system failed

The Democratic Party of Japan rode to power in 2009 and ended decades of Liberal Democratic Party rule by promising to turn politicians into the true decision-makers and end the practice of bureaucrats calling the shots on behalf of ministries instead of the people.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 1, 2012

Media grill party chiefs in televised debate

With campaigning for the Lower House election set to kick off in a few days, the leaders of 11 parties gathered for a televised discussion Friday that saw most of the questions thrown at Liberal Democratic Party chief Shinzo Abe, whose party leads the opinion polls.
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2012

EU challenges require fundamental solutions with fiscal, energy unity

The ultimate solution to the debt crisis in the European Union will not only need a banking union but also have to involve some element of a fiscal union and a major shift of power from the national level to the European level. On the other hand, the EU budget to finance the union's key common needs...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Nov 30, 2012

Oita defaults on player salaries, asks league to intervene

The Oita HeatDevils assembled one of the league's top rosters, a smart collection of veterans, and produced nine victories over their first 14 games, fewer wins than only one club in the 10-team Western Conference — the perennial powerhouse Ryukyu Golden Kings. More of the same appears impossible....
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2012

Expertise on climate is a terrible thing to waste

Doha, the capital of the oil state of Qatar, might be regarded as the most appropriate host for the climate change talks that have started, given that it is a living, breathing testament to the oil and gas-guzzling modern economy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / FOOD MATTERS
Nov 30, 2012

Japan can learn from the Nordic kitchen

Food production in Japan is not in great shape. For decades, rural populations have dwindled and local farmers have been undercut by imports, at both the cheap and luxury ends of the market. Current plans to open up Japan's famously closed farming market through free-trade pacts sound like a death knell...
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2012

Export weakening to drag down yen, expert says

The deterioration of Japan's exports will be the driving force behind weakness in the yen, according to Alan Ruskin, global head of Group of 10 foreign-exchange strategy at Deutsche Bank AG in New York.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2012

BOJ should cede right to set inflation target: Abe adviser

The government should be the entity that sets the nation's inflation target and should hold the Bank of Japan governor accountable if the goal is missed, according to a former aide and economic adviser to opposition leader Shinzo Abe.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 29, 2012

2.5D wants to change how you see Japan

A crowd much smaller than solo-guitarist Miyavi is accustomed to has gathered to hear an intimate set at the 2.5D studio in Shibuya's Parco Part 1 building. About a third of the 80 or so people have gathered around the stage so close that they can almost touch the artist. They don't try, of course,...
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Opportunists pervert ideologies

Jennifer Kim's Nov. 25 letter, "Core element of communism," seeks to conflate communism, atheism and totalitarianism into one, indistinguishable ideology, and makes the inference that one must be religious to be a good person. This is nonsense to anyone with knowledge of religion, political theory or...
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Better elementary schools

While studying in the United States as a 2011 Fulbright visiting scholar, I strongly felt that there was an urgent need for Japan to create a new elementary school environment of progressive education with skilled teachers. As Japan's global presence has diminished, "the nurturing of global human resources"...
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Storm brewing in the classroom

The Nov. 25 editorial "Throwaway workers" could have been written about gaijin English teachers — perhaps the most expendable workforce in recent memory. What irony that young Japanese employees now face the same arrogant cavalier attitude of feckless profit-motivated employers that most foreign-language...
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Damping workers' discontent

Many Japanese young people are keen on switching workplaces because of dissatisfaction with their jobs. As the number of temporary workers continues to increase, the financial problems of such employees become severe.
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

An arrogant take on Fukushima

Gwynne Dyer's Nov. 26 article, "Anti-nuclear madness doesn't jibe with concern about global warming," expresses another narrow viewpoint that essentially assumes that "death" is the only damage that needs to be considered in a nuclear accident.
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Loath to live in a new culture

I totally agree with the Nov. 18 editorial "Students staying in Japan." The nervousness of young Japanese people at the prospect of traveling overseas to study is considerable. It is heightened amid all the pressures mentioned in the editorial.
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2012

Ishihara's mysterious appeal

Regarding the Nov. 21 front-page article "Ishihara rattles saber against China": Poor Shintaro Ishihara (Tokyo's former governor). It seems that the grumpy old man realizes he is in the twilight of his political career and has been working feverishly in past months to destroy Japanese-Chinese relations...
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 28, 2012

Kyushu Basho: Harumafuji less than impressive as Baruto demoted

In the days leading up to the Nov. 11-25 Kyushu Basho in Fukuoka, much of the talk in sumo circles centered on the ozeki trio of Baruto, Kotoshogiku and the forever injured Kotooshu being able to maintain their rank come the January tournament back in Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Nov 27, 2012

Ishihara talks up weapons exports as deterrent

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) leader Shintaro Ishihara said Monday that Japan should produce arms for export overseas so its advanced military technology can act as a deterrent.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Nov 26, 2012

Russian pair triumphs at NHK Trophy

Russia's Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov won the pairs with a steady performance in the free skate on Sunday at the NHK Trophy.
Reader Mail
Nov 25, 2012

Never too old for an attitude

Regarding the Nov. 21 front-page article "Ishihara rattles saber against China": Isn't former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara old enough to know what such an attitude leads to?

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear