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Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 5, 2013

Yingluck seeks constitutional change amid court challenge

Thai lawmakers moved to change parts of the country's military-backed constitution after its highest court agreed to hear a case that may block them from doing so, signaling a renewed round of political tension.
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2013

Japan Restoration Party platform

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) flies dangerous colors at its first party convention, calling for constitutional revision of the no-war principle.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Apr 2, 2013

When remodeling isn't quite a home improvement

A year ago we looked at a 20-year-old apartment after it had just gone on sale in the city where we live, which is about an hour from Tokyo. It was large and sunny, but the walls needed to be re-papered and the floors replaced. The realtor told us that the ¥11.6 million asking price included the cost...
COMMUNITY / Voices / COMMUNITY CHEST
Apr 2, 2013

Using 'Richard Parker' pseudonym to excuse terror, fear is most apt

Whoever wrote "Right or wrong, corporal punishment can produce winners" (The Foreign Element, March 12) picked an excellent pseudonym.
Reader Mail
Mar 31, 2013

Parental effectiveness irrelevant

Regarding the March 28 Washington Post article published in The Japan Times under the headline "Effects of same-sex parenting debated": When logically evaluating an argument, it is good practice to first eliminate irrelevant assertions.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 31, 2013

As rural rail lines close bus travel gets a makeover

If you live in the Tokyo metropolitan area, you have access to the greatest network in the universe, but if you don't you may find your local transportation options dwindling.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 27, 2013

Technology that works for prose is still a curse for verse

Washington poet and literary activist E. Ethelbert Miller insists there is a difference between his poem "Before Hip Hop" when it is shown like this:
Reader Mail
Mar 14, 2013

The scoop on cherry blossoms

Just a short note of appreciation for The Japan Times columns of Kaori Shoji and Thomas Dillon (When East Marries West). The insight, humor and wit from both are an absolute balance on the daily news from North Korea, Iran, Middle East, Africa, etc.
Reader Mail
Mar 10, 2013

'World policeman' won't help

On Jan. 26, 2008, Hugh Cortazzi wrote an article for The Japan Times titled "Democracy is not a panacea," but now that the United States has seen the first term of a Democratic president rather than a Republican one (the lack of distinction between the two parties' foreign policies notwithstanding),...
Reader Mail
Mar 10, 2013

Compassion for real people

Regarding Michael Hoffman's March 3 article, "Solution to bullying lies in 'resetting' culprits": The views of the Catholic novelist and thinker Ayako Sono, which are cited in the article, are a classic example of the kind of anti-human thinking that seem all too common in the devout the world over....
Reader Mail
Mar 10, 2013

Don't rely only on 'reputation'

Readers should be careful when evaluating the rather biased Times (magazine) Higher Education World Reputation Rankings of the world's top 100 universities, which were reported in the March 6 Kyodo article "University of Tokyo maintains reputation as top institution in Asia: survey." As stated in the...
Japan Times
WORLD / Society
Mar 9, 2013

'Kony2012' and the fight for truth in the Internet age

A year ago, Jason Russell was a nobody. Not a nobody, precisely, but just ordinary. Normal. He was a healthy father of two, living in San Diego, and was happy in his work as a director for Invisible Children, a nonprofit organization he'd helped found.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 7, 2013

Uniqlo not as different as its workers thought it would be

Japan's most coveted work environment isn't what it's cracked up to be.
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2013

A blow to the weapons exports ban

The Abe administration's decision to let domestic firms participate in producing the U.S. F-35 fighter violates the spirit of Japan's weapon exports ban.
Reader Mail
Mar 7, 2013

'Remorse' shouldn't be a factor

Two articles printed in The Japan Times in less than a month show a very troubling feature of the Japanese criminal justice system.
Reader Mail
Mar 3, 2013

Skip the reference to James Bond

The Feb. 28 Kyodo/AFP article "125,000 lethal doses of sodium cyanide leaked in Iwate" mentions writer Ian Fleming's fictional secret agents who were issued cyanide capsules to kill themselves if they were captured. Referring to James Bond in an incident that endangered the lives of thousands of people...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / CHUBU CONNECTION
Feb 23, 2013

Women see, touch war-era paper again

Three former students who were involved in making paper balloon bombs at a Nagoya school during the war saw and touched the "washi" (traditional Japanese paper) used to make the balloons for the first time in 68 years on Feb. 16.
Reader Mail
Feb 21, 2013

Celebrate Japan's diverse look

Regarding the Feb. 28, 2008, article "Why's Japan grown so ugly?": I was struck by how amazingly naive this article seems; this approach to town planning is part of why I fled Britain.
Reader Mail
Feb 21, 2013

The North Korean perspective

Regarding Ralph Cossa's Feb. 8 article "Breaking past the tired old plot with Pyongyang": Cossa rails against North Korea's attempt, in the face of U.S. threats, to enhance its security by conducting missile and nuclear tests. He then details North Korea's sins and, in one fell swoop, mocks the efforts...
Reader Mail
Feb 21, 2013

The North Korean perspective

Regarding Ralph Cossa's Feb. 8 article "Breaking past the tired old plot with Pyongyang": Cossa rails against North Korea's attempt, in the face of U.S. threats, to enhance its security by conducting missile and nuclear tests. He then details North Korea's sins and, in one fell swoop, mocks the efforts...
Reader Mail
Feb 17, 2013

Shortsighted plan for languages

The Jan. 30 Kyodo article "U.K. plan to limit Japanese worries language teachers" reports on a plan to minimize the teaching of Japanese in U.K. schools. As a result, Japanese may disappear from GCSE exams (for 16-year-olds) by September 2014.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 17, 2013

Judo scandal casts doubt on Olympic bid

News stories don't exist in a vacuum. What often makes them "news" is a confluence of factors that provide a context of interest. Though the public thinks the current story about 15 female judo athletes (jūdōka) demanding fundamental changes to the way the national team is structured and run is a self-contained...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Feb 8, 2013

Japanese attorneys throw their nets farther out

Big city lawyers are moving to the sticks to drum up business.
Reader Mail
Feb 7, 2013

Qualified to ride on the road?

As a daily cyclist in the suburbs of Tokyo and as a regular cyclist when I lived in England, I can comment on the Feb. 5 Japan Times article "Cyclists who flout the law face charges."
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2013

Abe presses ahead on collective self-defense

Japanese corporate executives doing business with China as well as diplomats stationed in Japan and neighboring countries are probably breathing a sigh of relief now that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has dialed down his hawkish stance from the campaign trail in December and has instead focused on stimulus...

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan