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EDITORIALS
Apr 12, 2012

Ill-advised hiring cuts

The Noda administration has decided to reduce the number of recruits by government ministries and agencies for fiscal 2013 by 56 percent from the fiscal 2009's level — that is lower than the 70 percent average reduction Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada asked the central bureaucracy to achieve. The...
COMMENTARY
Apr 11, 2012

Why Japan and U.S. should ban the death penalty

Japan's decision to hang three prisoners after nearly two years without executions has been severely criticized by Amnesty International, which calls it a "retrograde step." Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa authorized the executions of three men, stating that this was his "duty" as minister. "Justifying...
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2012

Gender equality starts at the top

Regarding the April 4 Kyodo article "Limits eyed for female Imperial branches": The Japanese Imperial system should allow not only female branches but also a future female emperor. As the U.N. charter for human rights postulates the same rights for men and women, I think the Emperor, as the head of society,...
Reader Mail
Apr 8, 2012

Sunny pipe dream in the storm

Regarding the April 5 front-page Kyodo article "Softbank plans huge Hokkaido solar plant": This project sounds wonderful in theory. In reality, the promised minimum output won't be under Softbank's control; it will depend 100 percent on weather conditions. And Hokkaido really isn't suitable for the project....
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 8, 2012

Takeda blanks punchless Marines as Fighters notch third straight victory

Masaru Takeda gave the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters everything he had. In the ninth inning, they finally gave him a helping hand.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2012

Toyota ups U.S. sales forecast on higher consumer optimism

Toyota Motor Corp. has increased its 2012 industrywide forecast for U.S. sales of cars and light trucks to the 14 million unit range from 13.6 million, citing rising consumer confidence.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2012

First glaciers in Japan recognized

Scientists have found three glaciers in Toyama Prefecture, the first recognized in Japan and the southernmost in East Asia.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2012

Strontium from No. 1 plant taints Pacific

Kyodo About 12 tons of water contaminated with radioactive strontium are feared to have leaked from the Fukushima No. 1 plant into the Pacific Ocean, Tepco said Thursday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 6, 2012

Brazell hands spotlight to Ando as Tigers down Swallows

Craig Brazell certainly earned the right to share the stage with teammate Yuya Ando, he just didn't feel up to it.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2012

Sony to use commercial products to bolster consumer unit

Sony Corp. will use the technology of its business-use products to help revive its consumer-products unit, Kazuo Hirai said in his first public address as company president on Thursday.
Reader Mail
Apr 5, 2012

Ill effects on bilateral relations

Klaus Herrle, in his March 29 letter, "Painful to see payoffs to U.S.," gets straight to the point of criticizing Washington's demand that Japan pay an additional $1 billion for transferring U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam and elsewhere.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 3, 2012

Keene should engage brain before fueling 'flyjin,' foreign crime myths

Congratulations to Donald Keene, who was granted Japanese citizenship last month with great media fanfare. At 89 years young and after a lifetime contributing to world scholarship on Japan, he truly deserves it.
Reader Mail
Apr 1, 2012

The failure to tend to animals

Regarding the March 28 front-page Kyodo article "Noda draws on Fukushima lesson": I would like to add to the series of flashy remarks made by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Mar 31, 2012

Swallows' Ishikawa stifles Giants in opener

Masanori Ishikawa often makes runs hard to come by. On this night, the Yomiuri Giants should feel fortunate to even have gotten on base.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past