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Reader Mail
Jun 7, 2012

Constitutional worries misplaced

Regarding the allegation in the June 2 editorial "Naval exercise tweaks Constitution" that Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) participation in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise violated Japan's Constitution: This could only be stated by people completely unfamiliar with naval exercises....
COMMENTARY
Jun 7, 2012

Thirst for energy driving China's foreign policy

The United States and China, the world's top users of energy, are heading in opposite directions. It is a trend that has major geostrategic implications for the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2012

Tsunami-spoiled pics given new life

Of all the many and varied recovery and repair efforts now under way following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, few would be as fiddly as the Rikuzentakata Disaster Document Digitalization Project.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 7, 2012

Nagasawa quiets down for 'Seven'

Some musicians simply ooze self-confidence. They walk into the room like they own it, flashing a smile that instantly melts a thousand hearts. But Tomoyuki Nagasawa is not one of those musicians.
COMMENTARY
Jun 6, 2012

Europe faces a grim choice

Europe is at the abyss — again. Its turmoil is rattling global stock markets and stoking fear and bewilderment. The obvious question is, what's the solution? The answer is, there is no solution. Europe faces choices, some bad and others worse.
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Jun 5, 2012

NPB may not have seen last no-no

Japanese baseball went five full seasons without a no-hitter until the Hiroshima Carp's Kenta Maeda threw one against the Yokohama BayStars April 6.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Jun 5, 2012

At times, there's no getting away from the neighbors

The house we were inspecting in Shiroi, Chiba Prefecture, looked better and larger in the photos that the realtor had posted on its website. Those pictures had been taken with a wide angle lens at the eastern side of the house, which bordered a leafy promenade. To the north and south of the house, however,...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 5, 2012

Medical tourism — a boat to be on

So-called medical tourism is a growing market worldwide and high-tech Japan hopes to get a piece of the action.
COMMENTARY
Jun 5, 2012

Fighting peace for Taiwan

Four months after the presidential elections in Taiwan, there is a big difference when comparing the aftereffects of the elections in 2008 to those in 2012.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2012

Alliance between Sharp, Hon Hai tested by severe share-price drop

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the assembler of Apple Inc. iPads, may seek to renegotiate a planned ¥133 billion alliance with Sharp Corp. after the Japanese TV maker's shares fell to their lowest in 34 years.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jun 4, 2012

Ramirez still learning, producing on baseball diamond

History has seen lots of baseball players play for long periods of time — Chunichi's Masahiro Yamamoto, in his 29th season, and Jamie Moyer, still pitching in the U.S. at age 49, to name a pair — but no one has yet figured out how to play forever.
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2012

Value the people who can build

Regarding Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson's May 30 article, "It's time U.S. dropped the college-for-all crusade": It is indeed interesting to read that there are those in America now questioning the wisdom of "college for everyone."
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2012

Eternal tweaking of Tokyo Station

Regarding the May 28, Page 2, photo titled "RETURN TO GLORY": Anticipating the upcoming unveiling of the completed renovations of Tokyo Station and its reopening slated for October is exciting. However, not for a minute do I expect the completion of this project to be the end of unsightly scaffolding...
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2012

Myopic appreciation of history

I find Karen Forde's May 24 letter, "Monuments don't change history" — about the sex slave plaque in New Jersey — to be more than a little myopic. Forde says that since the United States had nothing to do with the "comfort women" of World War II, there shouldn't be any monuments on American soil...
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2012

Kan's response understandable

Regarding the May 29 front-page article "Kan tells nuke probe: 3/11 overwhelmed us": However former Prime Minister Naoto Kan is judged, to me his actions in the wake of the 3/11 Fukushima nuclear plant accidents were like those of a father desperate to protect his family facing an unimaginably enormous...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jun 3, 2012

Hashimoto: A man with a plan, or dictator with an agenda?

Thirty years ago, while a program director at NHK, Nobuo Ikeda oversaw a panel discussion on the merits of adopting a federated political system. Among the panelists were several influential politicians, including Morihiro Hosokawa, then-governor of Kumamoto Prefecture and later prime minister, and Takahiro...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 3, 2012

Bashōfu culture weaves its spell in Kijoka

White-caps beat steadily against the northwestern shore of Okinawa's main island. Winds have stirred up the seas, yet the water looks as cerulean and inviting as ever. I should be paying more attention to this enviable vista but I'm preoccupied, indifferent. The circuitous coastal road requires more...
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2012

Talk about a drag on the economy

Regarding the May 31 Kyodo article "Aging population a drag on economy: Shirakawa": Isn't Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa forgetting something? The very same aging demographic whom he bemoans for being a "drag" on the economy built a world-class economy during the 1960s and 1970s!
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2012

The tattoo nonsense must stop

All this tattoo discrimination nonsense is driving me crazy. Why is this being allowed to happen? Discrimination at hot springs was bad enough, but now it's in public offices (Osaka), my public gym and concert halls. A former employee of Nakano Zero Hall told me that they got a letter from the police...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jun 2, 2012

Sugiuchi usually at his best in month of May

Toshiya Sugiuchi is a former Pacific League MVP and Sawamura award winner and has been among NPB's elite pitchers for years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 2, 2012

A 100-mile race — it keeps you runnin'

Paul Walsh has just finished running 156 km. For fun. Around the bottom of Mount Fuji.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2012

AirAsia enters LCC fray via ¥5 flights

The surprise discount campaign announced by AirAsia Japan Co. on Wednesday has been an instant success and drawn much media coverage.
Reader Mail
May 31, 2012

Feeling for bankers is gone

Kevin Rafferty's May 29 article, "Frustrated financial dreams," is excellent. I am an ex-banker and feel the same! It's a shame that the trust in banks has gone. That's why worldwide protest movements like "Occupy" have reasons to exist. Politicians behave like they were endorsing greedy bankers returning...
Reader Mail
May 31, 2012

Eternal separation from God

In his May 27 letter, Scott Mintz cites three Gospel verses that appear to cast Jesus as a "dictator" who threatens people with "torture chambers" if they don't "fall in line." Mintz fails to mention that all three verses appear in Jesus' parables, which are metaphorical, not literal, descriptions of...
COMMENTARY / World
May 31, 2012

Why nuclear weapons don't make any sense

Nuclear weapons are terror weapons, and basically unusable.
Reader Mail
May 31, 2012

Logical deterrence for Pyongyang

Regarding Ralph Cossa's and Brad Glosserman's May 24 article, "Beijing's North Korea policy only emboldens Pyongyang": In presuming to tell China how to deal with North Korea "in its own interests," the authors display astounding arrogance and bellicose bias. It is quite logical for North Korea to strive...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’