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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 27, 2009

Half, bi or double? One family's trouble

It may not matter for inanimate objects, incapable of altering their own sweet smell, but for humans a name becomes part of our identity. My voice rises slightly as I warm to my argument: It may not be a tangible part of a person, like a hand or foot, but what others call us — and how we name ourselves...
Reader Mail
Jan 25, 2009

Teachers ready to use English

Regarding the Jan. 12 editorial "English taught in English" and Willie Taylor's Jan. 11 letter, "Education methods don't work": While I laud Taylor's efforts in espousing some (non-Japanese) views of Japanese teaching practices, I can't agree with either his or The Japan Times' view that Japanese teachers...
Reader Mail
Jan 22, 2009

Insulting depiction of foreigners

What a load of hot air! I have lived in Japan for over 10 years and have greatly enjoyed the (bathhouses) and many other benefits of living in a safe modern society. Gregory Clark However, it is also a racist and xenophobic society and to paint non-Japanese as having an allergy against discrimination...
COMMENTARY
Jan 22, 2009

China plays maritime chess

The start of Chinese patrols in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden is intended to extend China's naval role and presence far from its shores while demonstrating, under United Nations rules of engagement, a capability to conduct complex operations in distant waters.
Reader Mail
Jan 18, 2009

Risky shakeup for students

Regarding the Dec. 23 article "English classes face a shakeup": I disagree that high school English classes should be taught primarily in English (from 2013). Some students who are not good at English won't understand what's going on and may misunderstand what teachers say.
Reader Mail
Jan 18, 2009

Lackluster TV serves a purpose

In his Jan. 11 letter, "Digital won't make it better," Simon Foston is correct to state that the switch to digital TV won't improve Japanese TV standards. It's not meant to; it is merely a new higher-quality means to transmit the same old garbage.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2009

Che Guevara revived for a movie revolution

As the Cuban revolution celebrates its 50th anniversary, it's hard to recall the enmity that led the United States to threaten and embargo its small neighbor for all these decades. Oh, right, Cuba is a communist regime, so we can't trade with them, just like, uh, China?
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jan 13, 2009

Digital 'big switch' is big con

Visit any electronics shop and you cannot escape reminders that in July 2011, Japan will end analog TV broadcasts and switch over to digital. After that time, existing analog TV sets will require adapters, but over the next 2 1/2 years most people are expected to discard their set for a digital model....
EDITORIALS
Jan 12, 2009

Final curtain for tuna?

It may be the year of the ox, but if the first auction of the year at Tsukiji fish market is any indication, it might also be the year of bluefin tuna, though not in a positive sense. On the first fish-buying day of the year, a 128-kg fish went for an amazing ¥9.63 million — the highest price paid...
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2009

Europe gets the shivers

Europe has been in the grip of a new cold war. This struggle has not been fought with militaries, but rather with energy exports. Yes, Russia and Ukraine are having their annual tussle over natural gas exports, and Europe has felt the effects. It is tempting to see the fight as a geopolitical faceoff...
COMMUNITY
Jan 10, 2009

Former J. League coach still dreams of life in Japan

EXETER, England — Steve Perryman is as London as you can get — born in London, grew up in London, played soccer in London (Tottenham Hotspur). But now, he lives in Exeter in the southwest of England and dreams of Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2009

Israel's response to Hamas' zero-sum game

MELBOURNE, Australia — Imagine your next-door neighbor — with whom you have had a long and bloody feud — pulling out a gun and shooting into your windows, from his own living room, which is densely packed with women and children. In fact, he's holding his daughter on his lap as he tries to target...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 6, 2009

Lessons from when the bubble burst

With the current global financial crisis, there is much talk in the international economic communities about how to prevent the kind of prolonged slump that hit Japan after the end of the bubble economy years.
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2009

Diet reopens; relief package main focus

Diet convened Monday for a regular 150-day session, with debate to focus on immediate economic relief measures mapped out in the second extra budget bill for fiscal 2008.
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2009

Prophet of world-culture clashes is dead

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A giant died early last week. His name was Samuel Huntington, a Harvard professor whose gigantism was intellectual. His ideas left huge footprints on our intellectual landscape, the way giant storms impact the Earth. Minds were shaken, sometimes stirred, and never left untouched....
Reader Mail
Jan 4, 2009

Learning to live with each other

A couple of months ago a letter writer stated that she agrees with a government policy under consideration to raise cigarette prices. She thinks smokers are selfish; therefore, the policy seems rational and good for smokers' health. I don't agree with her.
JAPAN / THE MANY FACES OF CITIZENSHIP
Jan 4, 2009

Multinationalism remains far from acceptance in Japan

Third in a series
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CLOSE-UP
Jan 4, 2009

Japan's 'Mr. Television'

Picture the world's busiest television presenter, and imagine yourself squinting through the glare of high-wattage celebrity, struggling to breathe in air perfumed with pampered showbiz egos.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 4, 2009

Monta Mino: Japan's 'Mr. Television'

Picture the world's busiest television presenter, and imagine yourself squinting through the glare of high-wattage celebrity, struggling to breathe in air perfumed with pampered showbiz egos.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2009

Small parties play up 'big' role in national politics

Political parties with fewer than 20 Diet seats face an identity crisis as the legislature moves closer to a two-party system following the huge gains made by the Democratic Party of Japan in the July 2007 Upper House election.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2009

Aso set to lead LDP's last stand?

In 2007 it was Shinzo Abe. In 2008 it was Yasuo Fukuda and in 2009 it is Taro Aso.
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE MANY FACES OF CITIZENSHIP
Jan 1, 2009

Debate on multiple nationalities to heat up

First in a series
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2008

Persistence of superstition

I read with great interest David Klinghoffer's Dec. 17 commentary (originally printed in the Los Angeles Times) "Appeal of the otherworldly remains strong." While I agree that a great interest in the otherworldly is pervasive in America and the world, I find that this hardly indicates the reality of...
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2008

Moderate our fish consumption

Regarding the Dec. 19 article "Singing the bluefin tuna blues": Most of the blame has been heaped on Japan, which reportedly consumes about three-quarters of the world's bluefin. But could that just be the truth according to Greenpeace? I think it's closer to the truth to say that the global spread of...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Dec 25, 2008

People Tree products pioneering fair trade in Japan

The hand-knit sweaters and scarves and hand-woven bags with an ethnic look are nothing like the products sold to the masses of consumers in most big shopping malls.
Reader Mail
Dec 21, 2008

Language skills needed at stations

Articles this fall have suggested that Japan needs to work harder to become one of the top tourist countries. One report said Japan needs to focus on language and "consider how to present itself" to reach the top. I agree, but I still believe that Japan's tourism agency is progressing.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan