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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 4, 2009

Party offers a third way: happiness

As a historic general election looms on Aug. 30, Japan's long-suffering electorate faces a clear choice: vote for the conservative party that has virtually monopolized power since 1955, or opt for its more liberal but untested rival, which promises long-awaited reform. For those with a taste for the...
Reader Mail
Aug 2, 2009

Constant death wish toward Israel

Cesar Chelala's July 27 article, "Threats against Iran feed off modern myths," does not reveal anything new to anybody with the faintest interest in politics. The world has known for years about the pros and cons of the topics dealt with in the article. Moreover, while explaining his point of view on...
Reader Mail
Aug 2, 2009

Questions fly over arrest of tourist

Brian Hedge's July 28 letter, "Pocket knife lands tourist, 74, in lockup," presented in the Hotline to Nagatacho column, relates what seems to be an unfortunate incident stemming from police being overly zealous to enforce a new law. However, the article also raises a number of questions.
COMMENTARY
Jul 29, 2009

Don't waste good intentions

When I read former Vice Foreign Minister Ryohei Murata's remarks in the newspaper, disclosing a secret agreement on port visits by U.S. ships carrying nuclear weapons, I was excited and hopeful that there would be new developments on this issue.
Reader Mail
Jul 26, 2009

For a more beautiful fortification

I have just read Alice Gordenker's July 16 column — "So, what the heck is that?" — about ishigaki construction at Japan's castles. The article conveyed interesting information about engineering design, but I think that the castle expert quoted in the article, Yasuhiro Nishigaya, has been misled about...
Japan Times
JAPAN / PARTY POWERS
Jul 23, 2009

SDP's Fukushima plays up differences with DPJ

With the campaign kicking off soon for the Aug. 30 election, Social Democratic Party President Mizuho Fukushima said Wednesday her party intends to appeal to voters by upholding its long-held positions — even if this keeps the SDP from joining a ruling bloc with the predicted winner, the Democratic...
Reader Mail
Jul 19, 2009

Japan's 'qualitative' contribution

I think Kazuo Ogoura's July 14 article, "Why is Japan introverted?," is hard to understand. The main topic is why Japanese people prefer not to study or work abroad, yet the article finishes with the statement that Japan needs to increase its international appeal. The conclusion is unrelated to the beginning...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2009

Remembering McNamara

NEW YORK — I first met U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who presided over the U.S. buildup in Vietnam, in the summer of 1967. I had just returned from a trip to South Vietnam, where, as a reporter for The New Yorker, I witnessed the destruction, by American air power, of two provinces, Quang...
Reader Mail
Jul 12, 2009

Unbelievable remark on religion

Just read part of the first paragraph of Jan-Werner Mueller's July 5 article "The return of religion to Europe." Unfortunately, I could not continue after reading that "religion played virtually no role during the last American presidential election."
Reader Mail
Jul 12, 2009

Japan's 'greatest' gift to the West

Thank you for Damien Okado-Gough's June 27 article, "Zen Buddhist monk aids peace efforts in native Belfast," which is about Paul Haller, my Zen teacher. In addition to visiting Ireland a couple of times a year to lead sesshin, he keeps in touch with students through interviews and classes on Buddhism...
Reader Mail
Jun 28, 2009

The frustrating hunt for goat meat

It was interesting to read the June 19 article on the promotion of goat meat consumption in Okinawa ("Okinawa trying to get goat back on the menu") and on the efforts to reinvigorate what is apparently a traditional industry there.
Reader Mail
Jun 25, 2009

Enjoying what surrounds us

Regarding Tomoko Otake's June 18 article, "The safety nets for would-be suicides": I am very happy to learn of the advances on this important issue in Japan. Legal progress and the increasing number of advocates and safety networks are really the way to improve this unbearable situation. Coming from...
Reader Mail
Jun 21, 2009

Position that should be refuted

Regarding Paul de Vries' May 26 article, "Expat life in Japan: the good, the bad and the meaningful": I have a number of concerns with this article's position that racial discrimination can be acceptable. First, "misbehaving Russian sailors" were not the ones barred from Otaru bathhouses, though that...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 16, 2009

'Discontinuous minds' block progress on discrimination

On the final day of the Golden Week holiday this year, I found myself face to face with a young Japanese man who had let himself into my apartment, presumably with the intention of robbing the place. The intruder, who was standing in my living room looking around, fled when disturbed. A chase ensued,...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jun 16, 2009

Re: 'The good, the bad and the meaningful'

Following are some readers' responses to Paul de Vries' May 26 Zeit Gist article "Expat life in Japan: the good, the bad and the meaningful":
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2009

Anything goes in virtual pornography

Should abusing a virtual teenage girl be outlawed?
COMMENTARY
Jun 12, 2009

The deficits of democracy

LONDON — Britain and Japan have prime ministers who have not been endorsed by the electorate in a general election. Both are hanging on to power and argue that it is their right as prime minister to choose the date for the next election. Under our constitutions this is a valid claim, but is it in accordance...
Reader Mail
Jun 11, 2009

Taiwan's Chinese characteristics

In her June 4 letter, "Careful whom you call 'Chinese,'" June Dreyer contradicted the claim in my May 27 article, "Cross-strait gap narrows," that most Taiwanese think Chinese, speak Chinese and are Chinese like any other Chinese people.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 7, 2009

What price heroism for indoctrinated fighters in unjust wars?

What makes a hero in war? If that war is unjust, do the soldiers involved deserve to be treated as heroes? And what is the civilian role in these heroics?
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL: KEYES' POINT
Jun 3, 2009

Back to basics: The choice of seihin or kinben

"You're up very late," says Reiko.
Reader Mail
May 31, 2009

Adult manga has 50-year history

The May 26 article " 'Manga': heart of pop culture" has to be one of the most poorly researched articles I've ever had the misfortune to read in The Japan Times. The Japanese comic magazine industry's targeting of the adult audience has nearly 50 years of history. Titles targeting salarymen are published...
JAPAN / YOKOHAMA AT 150
May 29, 2009

Yokohama — city on the cutting edge

Last in a series
Reader Mail
May 28, 2009

Funny way to protect identity

Regarding the brief May 25 article "Yamagata teen shot by crow hunter": This (Kyodo) article made me laugh because it says the name of the victim was withheld, yet it identifies her as the "eldest daughter of Keishi Konno 47, a local farmer."
Reader Mail
May 28, 2009

Fine points of dispute with Russia

Allow me to reply to the four points that Thomas Schoenbaum says, in his May 21 letter ("Positions on Kurils not binding"), were "inaccuracies" in my May 12 article ("Northern Territories dispute"). First, while Dean Acheson was U.S. secretary of state at the time of the negotiations with Japan on the...
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2009

An offer Pyongyang can't refuse

Past U.S.-North Korea negotiations on nuclear issues can be roughly classified into two types.
Reader Mail
May 21, 2009

Positions on Kurils not binding

Gregory Clark's May 12 article, "Northern Territories dispute lives on self-righteous deadlock," contains some inaccuracies:
Reader Mail
May 3, 2009

Too expensive to get around

Regarding Steve Hesse's article "Ignorance of 'sustainability' is not an option": Has Hesse ever lived in the countryside in Japan? I have for 10 years, and am sick of being isolated by high train prices, high highway tolls and sky-high gasoline prices — still about $4 per gallon. For example the...

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