Search - u_times

 
 
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2011

China's ruthless water strategy

Brahma Chellaney's insightful piece on the rise of China as Asia's hydro-hegemon (Oct. 19) brings out China's resource-grab strategy.
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2011

Save now, pay later

In response to the Oct. 19 article "Our children's future no longer looks so bright," surely, the young people whom the burden should be placed on are those very people who become the elderly. At least, that's how I've been structuring my life for the last 30 years.
Reader Mail
Oct 23, 2011

Reserve judgment on TPP

Suddenly, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which the United States has been pushing for some time now, has become a very hot topic ("Noda puts TPP back on radar", Oct. 12).
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 23, 2011

Rich can afford to jump Japan's sinking ship

If Shukan Bunshun and Shukan Diamond are both right, Japan is in serious trouble.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 23, 2011

Tying up the loose ends of gaijin life

A ROOM WHERE THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER CANNOT BE HEARD: A Novel in Three Parts, by Levy Hideo. Translated by Christopher D. Scott. Columbia University Press, 2011, 115pp., $19.95 (hardback) One is certain that more than a few reviewers of Levy Hideo's "A Room Where The Star Spangled Banner Cannot Be Heard"...
Japan Times
LIFE
Oct 23, 2011

One woman's Hyakumeizan

As I thumb through the tattered pages of my decade-old hiking guidebook, a sense of satisfaction coupled with disbelief takes over.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 22, 2011

Time for Manchester City to show mettle

There are defining moments in every season and the winning goal scored by Manchester City's Sergio Agüero against Villarreal last Tuesday is one of them for 2011-12.
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Japan's genuine heroes

In answer to the Oct. 8 article by Thomas Dillon ("Where have all the heroes gone?"), there is no shortage of heroes in Japan. The actions and cooperation of those families and individuals in the region impacted by the tsunami, the families that took in family members who lost everything, the many volunteers....
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Recalling Sony's halcyon days

In regard to the Oct. 14th article "Sony recalls 1.6 million Bravia TVs worldwide," it seems a little ironic to me.
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Hope springs in time of change

If Robert J. Samuelson's prognosis in the Oct. 19 article "Our children's future no longer looks so bright" is correct, then there is probably no better time to feel better about the future than when things look so dim.
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

U.S. and postwar Okinawa camps

In his Oct. 16 letter, "Setting Futenmna's record straight," Joseph Jaworski says: "There is no record of any kind of systematic brutalization of the Okinawan people by U.S. forces in World War II." That is quite true. In fact, the invading U.S. forces treated captured locals unexpectedly humanely, defining...
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Okutama is no Chernobyl

I commend Giovanni Fazio in his letter of Oct. 16 for drawing attention to the fact that Okutama, with some of the highest radiation levels in Tokyo, is also a major source of drinking water for its 13 million people. However, he overstates his case when claiming "Tokyo tap water comes from an area with...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2011

Hossam Ramzy's drum tells tales going back to Ancient Egypt

Given the ongoing popularity of bellydancing in Japan, the signature sound of the Egyptian darbuka drum, has become far more familiar. While it may not have the ubiquitous hippie drum-circle presence of the djembe, this smaller-but-brash hand drum has developed quite a following of its own. Local groups...
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Understanding Occupy Tokyo

It is hard to understand how in the Oct. 16 article "Hundreds turn out to Occupy Tokyo," a reporter could write: "In addition to decrying the widening wealth gap between the nation's haves and have-nots, demonstrators spoke out on a variety of unrelated topics ranging from nuclear power to the Trans-Pacific...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / IN THE RECORD
Oct 20, 2011

KOSS

Sapporo's Kuniyuki Takahashi, aka KOSS, has the ability to deliver an unmistakable fusion of culturally diverse and soulful soundscapes with his own organic take on deep house and techno. The Japan Times took a look inside his record bag.
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Resourceful China sets example

In regard to Brahma Chellaney's Oct. 19 article, "China's unparalleled rise as a hydro-hegemon," China has set a template for holistic development of natural resources that its peers would do well to emulate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2011

Kido dials up the romance

I'm told Ryuto Miyake, the artist who sketched the portrait in front of me over hamburgers near his university in Tokyo, shares the same ideas about the music industry as the "real" Yoji Kido now sitting opposite me; mainly a desire to strip away labels and to cross genre-boundaries. A cliche maybe,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2011

"Good Design Exhibition 2011"

Design Hub, Tokyo Midtown Closes Nov. 13
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 20, 2011

Japanese arts course opens door to English speakers

There is a small slither of land in Tokyo's Kita-Aoyama district that is wedged between the rolling grounds of the grand, neo-Baroque-style Akasaka Palace state guesthouse and the equally expansive, tree-lined grounds of the granite-constructed Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery. Given the nature of the...
CULTURE / Music
Oct 20, 2011

BBQ Chickens "Crossover and Over"

Ken Yokoyama must be feeling rather nostalgic these days. One of Japan's more prominent punk figures, in September the guitarist reunited with his 1990s band, Hi-Standard, and this month he's put out new music with his early noughties project BBQ Chickens. Formed shortly after Hi-Standard's demise, BBQ...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 19, 2011

Luxury mart ending four-year slump

Japan's luxury market is set to grow for the first time in four years as status-conscious consumers help rebuild the economy, encouraging expansion by Gianni Versace SpA and Mulberry Group PLC.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Oct 19, 2011

NBA owners won't give in

Wherever NBA games are played, there are thousands of people who depend on related opportunities to pay the bills, including those employed at the arena, nearby restaurants and hotels and game-day staff.
COMMENTARY
Oct 18, 2011

Time is running out to avoid civil war in Syria

Back in 1989, when the communist regimes of Europe were tottering, almost every day somebody would say "There's going to be a civil war." And our job, as foreign journalists who allegedly had their finger on the pulse of events, was to say: "No, there won't." So most of us did say that, as if we actually...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 18, 2011

Fuji Five Lakes: What are your thoughts on hiking prices on everything from food to utility bills in the wake of the 3/11 disasters?

Robin Lawrentz, 34Yamanashi local government (American)It will be a greater burden in rural Japan where the economy is already struggling. There it will just take more out of money out of people's hands. But people will get used to it unless the change becomes drastic.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 18, 2011

Sexless marriages, ineffective police

Some readers' responses to Debito Arudou's Sept. 6 Just Be Cause column, " 'Sexlessness' wrecks marriages, threatens nation's future":
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2011

Insulation maker working to meet growing demand

Mag-Isover K.K., the Japanese unit of French building-material conglomerate Saint-Gobain, is ready to meet growing demand for insulation in the disaster-hit Tohoku region and elsewhere and expects the nation's energy-saving efforts to continue for years to come.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2011

Auditor hired by fired Olympus chief smells rotten acquisition

Olympus Corp. should investigate payments made to advisers in connection with an acquisition, according to an external auditor's report.
COMMENTARY
Oct 17, 2011

Worrisome link between diabetes, Alzheimer's

In 1999, the Rotterdam Study uncovered the strong association between diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. In this landmark study carried out in the Netherlands, 6,370 elderly men and women were followed for an average of two years. In what was perhaps one of the first reports on this issue, they found...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Why U.S. won't apologize

Given President Barack Obama's past remarks, it's clear he feels strong guilt for Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Oct. 8 article "Hiroshima mayor not pressing for Obama apology"). Unfortunately, it might be a little bit different from the opinion of ordinary American people.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb