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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 27, 2011

Noda under tax hike pressure

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda faces escalating pressure to secure support for higher taxes after the budget plan for fiscal 2012 revealed the government's record dependence on borrowing.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

Overhaul job-hunting system

After a recent trial job interview, my interviewer told me that "company recruiters generally are bored because they have to handle such a large number of students, and most students use the same approach in making themselves appealing."
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

Resentment by a new generation

I am an Australian who donated to the Japanese tsunami relief fund. I am disgusted that the Japanese fisheries agency is using [¥2.3 billion from an extra budget for tsunami reconstruction] to fund the hunting of whales. In Australia it has taken a long time for the Japanese to lose the World War II...
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

Ridiculous antinuclear claims

What Japanese actor Taro Yamamoto — the subject of the Dec. 22 Kyodo article, "Actor uses lessons learned overseas to fight nuclear energy" — ignores is that, in Germany, children are indoctrinated to hate nuclear energy. German children don't become interested in politics at a young age; they are...
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

Global warming trend beyond us

Regarding Ivor Paul Kaplin's Dec. 22 letter, "Humans behind climate change," the acknowledgment of the human contribution to global warming is so common now that people overlook the details of the situation. Yes, human activity is contributing to global warming. But human activity is not the "primary...
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

As mysogynistic as monotheism

In his Dec 19 article, "Why are monotheisms so sexually obsessed?," writer Gwynne Dyer seems to make the common mistake of comparing Western monotheistic religions, with which he is familiar, with less familiar Asian traditions.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

Misconceptions about college

Takamitsu Sawa's Dec. 19 article, "Motivation for college study," shows us what is wrong with the educational system in Japan. The comments made by a university president that are not based on knowledge or statistics are quite shocking. I started out hoping to learn more about motivation and ended up...
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2011

The earthquake year

The year of the earthquake and tsunami is how 2011 will be remembered in Japan. No bounen-kai (forget-the-year party) has passed without thoughts of those who lost so much in the triple earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster on or after March 11. The powerful 9.0-magnitude earthquake devastated the northeast...
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2011

Fiscal health deteriorates despite Noda's pledges

On paper, the draft of the fiscal 2012 budget appears to indicate Japan has found a way to trim about ¥2 trillion in spending compared with the current year, but in reality the national debt is snowballing as bond issuance will exceed tax revenues for the third year in a row.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 24, 2011

Tokyo's bookworms find readers' paradise in used bookstores

First of two parts
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2011

Vaclav Havel, eternal dissident

The death of North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong Il, has obscured the passing of a truly heroic figure: Vaclav Havel. The Czech writer and dissident who became his country's first postcommunist president died Dec. 18. Mr. Havel was Mr. Kim's worst nightmare — an incorrigible and irrepressible dissenter,...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 24, 2011

Politeness beyond words

We all know the Japanese are "very polite." But being polite goes beyond just saying excuse me or thank you or holding the door open for someone. Let's start with the word "teinei," or "polite," in Japanese. Teinei goes beyond the English word "polite" because it applies to far more than just people...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 24, 2011

Terry's future with England in doubt

The season of goodwill? I don't think so. Happy New Year? I doubt it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Dec 23, 2011

2011 trends: Korean boom spreads to a new generation

The love of all things Korean continued to grow in 2011, and along with it, a bit of a backlash.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Dec 23, 2011

Western Conference squads enjoying success on road

If this season's first 20 games have proven anything, there's no such thing as home sweet home for the Miyazaki Shining Suns. Nor is there a home-court advantage for coach Koto Toyama's team.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 23, 2011

"Ueda Souko: Busho Chajin no Sekai Ten"

During the feudal times of the Momoyama Period (1573-1615), samurai culture had come under the influence of the then growing Zen Buddhism. Buddhist art in the form of rock gardens, the tea ceremony and ikebana thus became an important part of samurai life.
COMMENTARY
Dec 23, 2011

Learning about dignity

On Dec. 19 the United Nations General Assembly, meeting in New York, adopted a historic new U.N. Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 23, 2011

'Restless'

Gus Van Sant's "Restless" is a film about love, an ode to doomed but pure teenage infatuation. But it's also about love of a film, in this case Hal Ashby's cult classic "Harold and Maude." It's one of those cases where the lift (or "homage") is so overt and massive that it's hard to consider "Restless"...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 23, 2011

Even to his people, Kim Jong Il was a mystery

In an age of connection, it's both refreshing and sobering to think that most North Koreans have probably heard Kim Jong Il's voice only once. In 1992 he stood next to his father, then-President Kim Il Sung, and shouted the words "Glory to the heroic soldiers of the Korean People's Army!"
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

Lesser views of Gen. MacArthur

Regarding David Valley's Dec. 8 letter, "MacArthur pre-empted disaster": In his book "American Caesar", William Manchester relates how U.S. Marines, not sharing Valley's awe-struck view of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, dubbed him "dugout Doug." As MacArthur directed the New Guinea campaign from the safety...
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

Settle 'comfort women' claims

Regarding the Dec. 15 Kyodo article "Statue of 'comfort woman' erected outside Japanese Embassy in Seoul": Japan did compensate South Korea with a lump-sum payment in 1965. At that time, comfort women were not on the political agenda. Now they are and the issue is for Japan to do the right thing and...
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

Comparison mania muddies issue

As far as I can tell, Donald Feeney, in his Dec. 15 letter, "Arguments that invite criticism," has failed to explain what is hypocritical about Hiroaki Sato's Nov. 28 article on American immigration policies. Hypocrisy is the espousal of an ethical standard that is contrary to one's own behavior. If...
CULTURE / Music
Dec 22, 2011

Natural disasters rock year in music

The year 2011 in Japan was undoubtedly defined by the triple disasters of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent nuclear crisis. The impact of those catastrophes was also felt across the entire entertainment world. The industry pretty much put itself on hold for the remainder of March...
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

Humans behind climate change

Regarding Charles Ainsworth's Dec. 18 letter, "Rein in yen for shaking science," I suggest Ainsworth review the findings of the U.N. International Panel on Climate Change, or those of The National Academy of Sciences, or The Royal Society paper "Climate Change: A Summary of the Science," or perhaps the...
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

Doubts about a declared miracle

Regarding the Dec. 18 article "Daunting tasks await despite declaration of cold shutdown": The declaration of safety by various authorities is merely a matter of timing and saving face. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's optimistic declaration of nuclear plant stability has angered people both at home and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 22, 2011

Seeking solace in artistic responses to March 11

What can art do? What role can it play when the whole world seems suddenly unstable, unsure?
EDITORIALS
Dec 22, 2011

Water, water, everywhere ...

It is estimated that some 60 million people depend on the 4,900-km-long Mekong River and its tributaries for their lives and livelihoods — food, water and transportation. It is the world's largest inland fishery; an estimated 1,000 species of fish live in the Mekong, making it the second-most biodiverse...
JAPAN
Dec 22, 2011

Exiting South African envoy says economic ties can grow deeper

Departing South African Ambassador Gert Johannes Grobler said Wednesday that economic ties between his country and Japan have grown rapidly in recent years but can expand more.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2011

Putin hasn't lost his political touch

Speculation is growing that Vladimir Putin will have to ease his grip on power if he wants to remain Russia's leader. His approval rating, at 80 percent a year ago, has been driven to 60 by, among other things, an uncertain economic future, critics exploiting the Internet's increasing popularity and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 22, 2011

Japan's dramatists take on the 'nuclear village'

The place to start when reviewing this year's highlights in contemporary Japanese theater, has to be The Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11. That day led to a nation in mourning, an ongoing nuclear crisis and an awakening among dramatists, who saw the importance of their role to stimulate debate...

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