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Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2012

Panetta should worry about U.S.

Regarding the Sept. 18 article "Panetta tells Japan, China to resolve Senkaku row peacefully": U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has a lot of nerve telling Japan and China what to do.
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2012

China's rage was orchestrated

Regarding the Sept. 20 editorial "Cooler heads needed over islet row": In my opinion, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's dream of destabilizing Japan to promote his son's political ambitions — at the risk of provoking war with China — is coming true. The bitter old man is a symbol of Japan's past, which...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 23, 2012

No trusting those who descend from heaven

Just for fun, try this whimsical little experiment: search the Japan Times website for "regain trust." It's an expression that recurs so often, and has such a long history, you'd almost think it meant something.
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2012

Benefits of joint development

When a conflict of opinion over ownership of something makes it impossible for either side to give up its claim, why not propose that both sides share the thing equally? The whole issue with the Senkakus is the value of the gas reserves, so it's about money.
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2012

Dancing to the governor's tune

It was with little surprise that I heard of the Noda government's decision to nationalize three of the five Senkaku islets. Rightwing nationalists like Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara may be a minority, yet they seem to punch above their weight in terms of influence.
Japan Times
LIFE
Sep 23, 2012

Antidancing law out of step with Japan's youth culture

Many in Japan's large and lively dance community centered on hip-hop, house and other styles are becoming increasingly upset at what appears to be a police crackdown on an essential part of their lives.
BASKETBALL
Sep 23, 2012

Veteran star Arnold joins Lakestars

Sharpshooter Wayne Arnold, one of the top all-around performers for the Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix during the past three seasons, has joined the Shiga Lakestars. The move became official late Saturday night.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 23, 2012

Japan's nuclear phaseout: Is it all smoke and mirrors?

On Sept. 14, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration announced that Japan would end nuclear-power generation by 2040. Five days later his Cabinet failed to endorse the new policy; but on the same day, Sept. 19, Trade Minister Yukio Edano insisted that the government would still act "based on"...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 22, 2012

Freedom of speech, blasphemy and violence

Violent attacks on U.S. diplomatic outposts across North Africa and the Middle East have once again raised the question of how to respond when Americans and other Westerners engage in provocative expression that others consider blasphemous. Though the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 22, 2012

Japanese as a second body language

Continuing a lifetime study of how the Japanese can be so darn polite, today we look at body language.
BASKETBALL
Sep 22, 2012

Japan tops Qatar, advances to FIBA Asia Cup final

Entering the FIBA Asia Cup, Team Japan set a goal of advancing to the semifinals. Well, the last four is good, but at the same time it sounds like a compromising goal.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 22, 2012

Filipino filmmaker-writer captures the stories of Asians on the fringe

Rey Ventura's prose startles with the subtle force of cinematic images: From the "rustling leaves" that signal the return of the rebel forces to the Aeta hill tribes in the Philippines to the "standing men" or day laborers populating the alleyways of the Kotobukicho district of Yokohama. As both filmmaker...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Sep 21, 2012

Yorozuya Okagesan: Michelin-starred food tastes better by the bottle

The entrance to Yorozuya Okagesan is, to put it mildly, discreet. The modest sign is set back so far from the sidewalk you'd never spot the steps unless you knew to look. And you'd never go down them anyway unless you had a reservation since, politely but inevitably, you would be turned away.
Reader Mail
Sep 20, 2012

China's famous revisionist efforts

Jeff Kingston's Sept. 16 article, "The long tradition of sanitizing history" (which is a book review of "Ways of Forgetting, Ways of Remembering" by John W. Dower), is a timely reminder of the self-defeating nature of historical revisionism.
Reader Mail
Sep 20, 2012

India a natural partner for Japan

Regarding the Sept. 17 Kyodo article "Anti-Japan protests a double-edged sword": India and its people would welcome the Japanese moving their factories from China to India.
Reader Mail
Sep 20, 2012

Government arrogance to blame

Regarding the Sept. 18 front-page article "China warns anti-Japanese demonstrators against further violence": We have the arrogant Japanese government to thank for the current situation between Japan and China. You can't tell me that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda didn't know that demonstrations would...
SOCCER / J. League / J. LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Sep 20, 2012

Urawa eyeing immediate reward for improved season

Urawa Reds would have settled for a step in the right direction after escaping relegation by the skin of their teeth last season, but with a first J. League title since 2006 in sight with only nine games left to play, hopes of an unlikely triumph are gathering steam.
Reader Mail
Sep 20, 2012

Ineligible corporate governance

Regarding the Sept. 17 AP article "Head of nuclear disaster investigation defends report": Columbia University professor Gerald Curtis misses the point when he criticizes the report issued by Kiyoshi Kurokawa's Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission.
COMMENTARY
Sep 20, 2012

Territorial row is a ticking time bomb for Asia

As the struggle to control disputed islands and valuable offshore resources has intensified in the East and South China Seas over the past few years, the United States has said repeatedly that it does not take sides in the disagreements among Asian countries over who has ownership rights.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 20, 2012

'It' girl Rola welcomes Jepsen to Japan

It's a meeting of the memes. Inside one of Shibuya's biggest clubs, Japan's happy-go-luckiest talent perches eagerly and wide-eyed on her high stool awaiting the arrival of Canada's most cheerful pop star.
Reader Mail
Sep 20, 2012

Fear-mongering over fuel rods

Regarding the Sept. 8 article "Global help urged to avert reactor 4 pool fire": I was very disappointed to read such a blatantly fear-mongering story. The engineer cited in the article, Arnie Gundersen, is a well-known anti-nuclear activist whose neutrality on nuclear safety matters is suspect to say...
Reader Mail
Sep 20, 2012

Let Israel identify its own lines

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently called on the international community to lay down some "red lines" regarding Iran's nuclear program.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2012

Relisting just starting point for rejuvenated JAL

Japan Airlines Co. will return to the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section Wednesday, two years and eight months after filing for bankruptcy in one of the country's biggest corporate failures.
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2012

Japanese companies become protest targets in China

As anti-Japan protests in China rage with no end in sight, Japanese businesses there are seeing their operations disrupted, while government officials seek to limit the damage to economic ties.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Sep 18, 2012

Work-rules verdict jars with laws aimed at leveling playing field for employees

We live our lives bound by rules. As a student, my teachers scolded me to comply with school regulations, which were Draconian by modern standards: "Skirt hems must reach down to within 5 cm above the knees," "Boys must shave their heads" and other meaninglessly strict school regulations were the rule...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / ZEIT GIST: UPDATE
Sep 18, 2012

U.S. judge dismisses rapist's bid to halt case over Yokosuka assault

Australian Catherine Fisher is one step closer to seeing justice done after a Milwaukee Circuit Court judge decided earlier this month to hear the case against former U.S. serviceman Bloke T. Deans, who raped her in Japan in 2002.
LIFE / Language
Sep 17, 2012

Going with the flow, in water we trust

In the Tokyo area, August was a month of hideri (日照り, brutal sunshine), the effects of which were accelerated by the setsuden (節電, energy-conserving) mood. Many of us trudged through the streets under a blazing sun, clutching a towel in one hand and a water bottle in the other.
Reader Mail
Sep 16, 2012

Vaccinations against pneumonia

Regarding the Sept. 9 editorial "Upper hand on pneumonia": To protect people from community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), strategic use of pneumococcal vaccination is essential. The central and local governments need to enlighten the public on who is at increased risk of CAP and when they should be vaccinated....

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