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Reader Mail
Sep 14, 2008

Commitment to Mindanao peace

Regarding the Sept. 1 editorial, "Stab at peace comes up short" -- about the Philippine government's peace initiative in Mindanao: Notwithstanding recent acts of violence perpetrated by lawless elements and constitutional issues cited by the Supreme Court of the Philippines that prevented the peace agreement...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 2, 2008

Solutions demand end to nation-state myth

NEW YORK — This fall, thousands of college students will be taught a myth presented as fact. It is a myth that has helped fuel wars and may hinder finding solutions to the world's biggest problems. Though the origin of this myth is cloudy, science has proven its falsity, and a globalized world has...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Sep 2, 2008

The 'gaijin' debate: Arudou responds

Last month's column (Aug. 5) was on the word "gaijin." I made the case that it is a racist word, one that reinforces an "us-and-them" rubric toward foreigners and their children in Japan. It generated a lot of debate. Good. Thanks for your time.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2008

Redress eludes non-U.S. internees

LIMA — Augusto Kague was only 12 when the U.S. government reached far south to his Peruvian farming town and tore his family apart.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 19, 2008

Be prepared for the 'Big One'

'How can we be prepared?' BJ writes in the wake of the recent spate of earthquakes. "Our family is increasingly concerned about what we can do if an earthquake or some other calamity strikes. We live in an apartment. Will we be OK? What kind of resources are there and what should we do in case of a disaster?"...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 19, 2008

Readers respond: Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'?

The Community Page received a large number of responses to Debito Arudou's last Just Be Cause column on the use of the word "gaijin." Following is a selection of readers' views.
Reader Mail
Aug 14, 2008

Getting people to understand

I don't think Debito Arudou has ever been called a "nigger." I have. I have also been called a "gaijin" by every conceivable age group in Japan. I am also a Japanese citizen. You have to start with your own community and be visible as a member of the community to make people understand the word is wrong. ...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 13, 2008

New hope for Aborigines

SYDNEY — The richest man in Australia has come up with the first solid plan to get "lost" Australians off welfare dependence and into dignity-rewarding jobs. It's a breakthrough that has been 200 years in the making.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Aug 5, 2008

Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'

Gaijin. It seems we hear the word every day. For some, it's merely harmless shorthand for "gaikokujin" (foreigner). Even Wikipedia (that online wall for intellectual graffiti artists) had a section on "political correctness" that claimed illiterate and oversensitive Westerners had misunderstood the Japanese...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 5, 2008

Schools aim to cultivate returnee students' 'second culture'

Yuki, 7, zooms around the school lounge in her neon T-shirt, hugging teachers, gesturing wildly, making jokes and chattering away in perfect English. Yuki is Japanese and learned English when her family lived in Los Angeles for two years. She is affectionate and expressive, or at least she is on Saturdays...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2008

In memory of dreamer Bronislaw Geremek

WARSAW — When a friend dies unexpectedly, we recall his face, his smile, the conversations forever unfinished.
Reader Mail
Jul 27, 2008

Belarus girds for warming fight

There are probably very few people nowadays who have not heard of the Kyoto Protocol. On the other hand, not so many know that there exists only one amendment to this document -- to Annex B to be exact. It basically sets my country's commitments regarding the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions between...
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2008

Another victory for justice

Mr. Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most-wanted war criminals, has been arrested. After a 13-year manhunt, Mr. Karadzic was found, living openly in Belgrade. The arrest is one more indication that there is no refuge for those who commit atrocities and crimes against humanity. It also validates Europe's...
COMMUNITY
Jul 22, 2008

Diet member Fujita responds to reader's criticisms on 9/11

L ast week the Community Page published a selection of readers' responses to to John Spiri's June 17 Zeit Gist article on Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukihisa Fujita. Following is Mr. Fujita's response to one reader's criticisms of the Diet member's stance on the Sept. 11 attacks.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / JAPAN TIMES BLOGROLL
Jul 19, 2008

My Life as a Gaijin, Kimono Reincarnate

My Life as a Gaijin and Kimono Reincarnate are two different blogs written by Melanie Gray Augustin. The former centers around the experiences of an Australian native living and teaching English in a foreign land, while the latter offers a taste of her artistic interests and entrepreneurial efforts...
COMMUNITY
Jul 15, 2008

Lawmaker takes 9/11 doubts global: readers' responses

A number of readers wrote to the Community Page in response to John Spiri's June 17 Zeit Gist article on Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukihisa Fujita. Following is a selection of the responses.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 6, 2008

Hillman aims for Sapporo-like success in K.C.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Last November at his sayonara party in Tokyo, I semi-promised outgoing Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager Trey Hillman I would travel to Kansas City in 2008 to see him in action as skipper of the American League Royals. Last month, I made good on that promise.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2008

Creation of low-carbon societies demands wholesale changes on national, global level

"In pursuit of Japan as a low-carbon society" was the theme of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's speech at the Japan Press Club on June 9. The following is an abridged excerpt from a translation of his remarks.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 1, 2008

Society's role in Kato's crime

'The clicking sound of my cell phone echoes emptily in my room. . . . If only I had a girlfriend, I wouldn't have to live so miserably.'
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jul 1, 2008

July forecast: rough, with ID checks mainly in the north

I have suggested before (Zeit Gist, Dec. 18, 2007) that Japan shouldn't host major international events. Unfettered police power and insufficient media scrutiny create a virtual police state, inconveniencing everyone.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
Jun 28, 2008

Blair shifts focus on climate to Copenhagen conference

The Group of Eight leaders gathering next month in Hokkaido should not attempt to resolve all climate issues up to 2050 or even 2020, but instead focus on setting a clear course for an agreement at next year's U.N. conference in Copenhagen, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Friday in Tokyo....
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2008

Meguro to air five-language radio program

Tokyo's Meguro Ward will launch a five-language radio program Tuesday in an effort to better inform its foreign residents about daily subjects, a ward official said.
EDITORIALS
Jun 24, 2008

More people dying alone

Many elderly people die alone these days. The breakup of the extended family structure amid the march of urbanization as well as, possibly, the accompanying economic decline in rural areas may be responsible for weakening human bonds. To discuss the issue of dying alone, four government bodies — the...
LIFE / Language
Jun 24, 2008

Building bridges across continents and cultures

Twelve Japanese elementary-school students gathered at Yoyogi Elementary School in central Tokyo on Saturday, May 10, to play games, cooperate with and learn a little about a similar group of students at an elementary school in Seoul, South Korea via Webcam on the Internet.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2008

Building an eco-friendly society

The government's 2008 white paper on the environment deals with the transition to a low-carbon and recycling society. In view of the expiration in 2012 of the Kyoto Protocol, it stresses the need to build a post-Kyoto framework under which all major greenhouse gas-emitting countries strive to curb emissions....

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight