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Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

Religious debate is not personal

In her April 26 letter, "Why are nonbelievers distressed?," Jennifer Kim questions my emotional and personal reasons for criticizing Kevin Rafferty's April 11 article, "The pope's leadership crisis." Personally, I am unconcerned about Rafferty's private religious beliefs, but I do think they are open...
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

The chance to remake one's life

Nicholas Williams' insists that "prison should only be about rehabilitation" (April 29 letter, "Prison is about rehabilitation"). My biggest argument with "rehabilitation" lies with its confusion of punishment with absolution. After fully serving their sentences, offenders remain guilty. That is irrevocable....
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2012

Curse of not paying a woman what she wants

What happened in Cartagena, Colombia, with U.S. Secret Service seems unsavory to me, but not for the reasons you might think.
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2012

Modest steps at the IMF

The biannual meetings of the world's leading financial institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, are generally pretty staid affairs — after all, how riled up can gatherings of central bankers and finance officials really get? In recent years, the answer is "pretty much."
JAPAN
May 2, 2012

Fatigue problem for bus drivers: poll

Years before Sunday's fatal highway bus crash in Gunma Prefecture killed seven, a survey conducted by the internal affairs ministry illustrated that the sector was not immune to severe accidents, especially if drivers are fatigued.
JAPAN
May 2, 2012

Okuda to lead JBIC in new direction

Upon assuming the presidency of Japan Bank for International Cooperation on April 1, Hiroshi Okuda told reporters that Japan today is lagging behind the rest of the world in both politics and economy by a wide margin.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2012

Let's just say it: Republicans pose an extreme problem

U.S. Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, was recently captured on video asserting that there are "78 to 81" Democrats in Congress who are members of the Communist Party. Of course, it's not unusual for some renegade lawmaker from either side of the aisle to say something outrageous. What made West's...
JAPAN
May 1, 2012

Sky Tree holds drill against terror attack

Some 1,900 people took part Monday in a terrorism-response drill at Tokyo Sky Tree based on the assumption that a toxic liquid like sarin was released on the 350-meter-high main observation deck.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 1, 2012

It's just because . . . foreigners know best

You seldom see the sight these days of pairs of crew-cut white males in pressed white shirts and ties pedaling around cities in Japan. The sight is from a bygone age, largely relegated to history: The white man with a burden to educate and enlighten the natives, in this case about the one true religion,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
May 1, 2012

Who you buy a home from can make a big difference in price

We met the real estate agent at Honda Station on the Sotobo Line in Chiba Prefecture. As we drove to the property we talked about the area. Though a typically cramped Japanese bedroom community, it's a bit older than most, so the houses were more varied in shape and size, with wider spaces between them,...
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2012

Academics eye global cooperation

The presidents and vice presidents of 14 universities in 10 countries and areas around the world gathered in Tokyo on Sunday to discuss how to nurture globally minded citizens in today's changing world.
BASKETBALL
Apr 30, 2012

Albirex finish regular season with rout of Broncos

After a one-point triumph in the series opener, the Saitama Broncos reverted to form in a lopsided loss to the Niigata Albirex BB to close out their seventh consecutive non-winning season since the bj-league's inception in 2005.
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Dogma gets in the way of joke

After enduring Sarah Mulvey's righteously indignant April 22 letter, "Disheartening stereotyped role," I decided to reread Thomas Dillon's April 7 column, "Texting in the proper context," to see what inspired Mulvey's diatribe. Dillon made no sweeping generalizations about all Japanese women. Mulvey...
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Know why you dislike Obama

I usually don't talk politics, but with all of the Barack Obama-hating rhetoric flying my way, I just have to say something. What really matters is whether America's president is knowledgeable and wise enough to represent the country in foreign and domestic matters, and can put the utmost effort into...
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Ground and waterway radiation

Regarding the April 24 Jiji article "Fukushima air to stay radioactive in 2022": This type of reporting is valuable. The radiation content in the air near Fukushima will remain dangerous. Other things that need to be discussed is the amount of radiation in the ground and in the waterways of Japan.
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Prison is about rehabilitation

George Will's April 24 column "'Cruel and unusual' punishment of teenagers" is correct in two important ways. To say the least, young people, who are the most likely to commit criminal acts of theft and violence statistically, are not at their most rational stage of development. Childhood has been left...
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Give all energy-savers a break

Regarding the April 26 Jiji article "Government to roll out new energy-efficiency system for homes": In the future most energy- efficient homes will be located far from downtown urban centers simply because land prices are more affordable the farther you move away from the congested and highly commercial...
Japan Times
Features
Apr 29, 2012

Konami staffer's victory not a game-changer

There is no shortage of laws in Japan stating that working women should be given the same employment protection and rights as their male counterparts.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Apr 29, 2012

Hot-shooting Kawabe sparks Hannaryz in win over Rizing

Taizo Kawabe came off the bench and scored a season-high 22 points on Saturday, leading the Kyoto Hannaryz to an 82-67 victory over the host Rizing Fukuoka.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 29, 2012

Reversing Japan's rising sex aversion may depend on a rebirth of hope

"If young people's aversion to sex continues to increase at the present rate, the situation of Japan's low fertility rate and rapid ageing will rapidly worsen. ... The Japanese economy will lose its vitality even more than now. If this happens, this nation might eventually perish into extinction."
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 29, 2012

Japanese families on endangered list

The family is humanity's oldest and most universal institution. But its shape, size, aims and ideologies seem infinitely variable. Japan's families down the ages have been polygamous and monogamous, multigeneration and single-generation, swarming with children or comparatively, if not entirely, devoid...
CULTURE / Books
Apr 29, 2012

Portraits and memories of those who survived the horrors of war

FROM ABOVE, by Paule Saviano. Contents Factory, 2011, 256 p.p., ¥8,000 (hardcover) The twentieth century had, among other things, the dubious distinction of being one of the bloodiest, deadliest times in world history. Wars, genocide, mass murders, etc, aided by the best technology available at the...
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 29, 2012

Otosan, Japan's top dog

Upper House election night, 2010. All over the country people are watching television and waiting to see if there will be an upset as the results from polling stations slowly trickle in.
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

The level of corporate ineptitude

Regarding the April 24 Kyodo article "Plant used bad breaker for decades": I have to say that I do not understand this level of corporate ineptitude, incompetence and failure of due diligence. Tokyo Electric Power Co. probably should not be allowed to run nuclear power stations, and one wonders if they...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2012

Manila envoy cites caregiver snags, 3/11 dispatch

The Philippine ambassador to Tokyo hopes bilateral labor exchanges expand — in particular nurses and other caregivers coming to Japan under a free-trade accord — as part of the efforts to deepen economic relations.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 28, 2012

Manchester derby for all the marbles

Since Manchester City became potentially the richest club in the world following their takeover by the Abu Dhabi-based business group, each time it plays Manchester United these days it is billed as "the biggest derby ever."

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years