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Reader Mail
Sep 29, 2011

Satisfying anti-corruption fast

In his Sept. 21 article, "Game show challenge in India," writer Kevin Rafferty calls the anti-corruption fast of Anna Hazare a tamasha, a rural word for a classical drama. It is used generally in a negative sense. We Indian citizens watched this high drama unfold, and in my opinion, it did not go down...
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2011

Divining the will of a Russian puppet master

"He took off the Kremlin dog collar," said a friend of Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's third-richest man, as the political party Prokhorov had founded to run against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the December elections blew up in his face this month.
EDITORIALS
Sep 23, 2011

To the brink of worst case

More than six months since the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant started, people not directly affected by it appear to be gradually losing their acute concern about the crisis.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2011

Game show challenge in India

India's government survived a challenge last month from an unexpected source, a frail 74-year-old former army driver with no formal political power base, who nevertheless brought the powerful politicians to their knees with his campaign against corruption.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2011

Japan trying to repair ties with U.S.

The new government is trying to earn back trust from the United States, its most important ally, by showing support for initiatives that recent prime ministers have let languish.
COMMENTARY
Sep 19, 2011

A Vatican option for the Palestinian U.N. quest

"We will go to the United Nations (to request the recognition of Palestine as a state) and then we will return to talks," said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas early this month.
BASKETBALL
Sep 18, 2011

Big Bulls beaten in franchise's first game

The Iwate Big Bulls dropped their first-ever game on Saturday afternoon, falling 72-61 to the visiting Niigata Albirex BB as the bj-league teams began the preseason portion of their 2011-12 schedule.
EDITORIALS
Sep 17, 2011

Accelerate reconstruction

Six months after the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated the Tohoku Pacific coastal areas on March 11, people there are continuing to rebuild together their lives. In Fukushima Prefecture, people have suffered not only from the natural disasters but also from the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2011

March 11 disasters a turning point for Japanese civil society

When the earthquake and tsunami hit the coast of Japan on March 11, it was clear the scale of this disaster, compounded by the nuclear crisis in Fukushima, was unprecedented — even for natural disaster-prone Japan, where some 20 percent of the world's earthquakes occur.
Reader Mail
Sep 15, 2011

No other city can beat Tokyo

Regarding Satoshi Sato's Sept. 11 letter, "Tokyo doesn't get a enough respect": As an Englishman who has visited both Tokyo and Osaka, it is my honest opinion that not only is Tokyo Japan's No. 1 city; it is also the world's No. 1 city.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2011

More than a little help from Gadhafi's Western friends

With Col. Moammar Gadhafi's regime in ruins and Gadhafi himself on the run, it is time to ponder just how he survived in power for so long. Greed for markets and money, it seems, often trumped the West's supposed concern for basic human rights.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 13, 2011

The loneliness — or otherwise — of the long-distance foreigner

The Japan Times received a large number of readers' emails in response to Debito Arudou's Just Be Cause column published Aug. 2, headlined "The loneliness of the long-distance foreigner." Here, belatedly, are a selection.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2011

Six months on, few signs of recovery

After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami destroyed everything from houses to street lights, the town of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, has been so dark and quiet at night it's unnerving.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2011

Refusal to talk threatens Suzuki-VW tieup

A tiff that started over Volkswagen AG's description of Suzuki Motor Corp. in its annual report has escalated into a spat threatening to unravel the two automakers' planned alliance before the partnership ever gets going.
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2011

West's motives for helping Libya

Regarding the Sept. 1 opinion article "Libya's next fight: the West": Surely writer Ramzy Baroud has read a few too many conspiracy novels, or believes the worst about the United States and any Western government. After reading further and following the link to the website he writes for, I think his...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2011

Nuclear reform will be uphill slog

In a bid to restore public confidence, the government has unveiled plans to reform the nuclear regulatory agency, separating it from the ministry in charge of promoting atomic power.
COMMENTARY
Aug 31, 2011

China's economy not a model for emulation

At a time when the United States and Europe are beset by economic crises, it is natural that the Western model of economic development, including a democratic political system, should be viewed with some skepticism while China's growth model is greatly enhanced.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Aug 29, 2011

The feudal lords of power

The inherently arrogant nature of the electric power industry in Japan came to light recently when Kyushu Electric Power Co. tried to influence a public hearing on whether to allow the company to resume operation of its Genkai nuclear power stations in Saga Prefecture. Kyushu Electric urged its employees...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

U.S. response will cause chaos

Regarding Barry Eichengreen's opinion article, "What can take the dollar's place?": The naivete of the American consumer and the greed of international corporations allowed the accumulation of dollars in Japan and China, which were used to further the economic needs of those outside the United States...
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2011

Mr. Maehara enters DPJ race

Former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara decided Tuesday evening to run for the Democratic Party of Japan presidential race to choose a successor to Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Mr. Maehara, sure to become a strong candidate, should present a clear future vision of Japan and a direction it will take because...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2011

India scores a wrong-sided goal — again

Presented with a golden opportunity to rise and shine, India has an unmatched capacity to look prosperity firmly in the face, turn around, and walk off resolutely in the opposite direction.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2011

New foreign policy for Obama

When President Barack Obama announced the beginning of a drawdown of U.S. forces from Afghanistan last month, he offered a memorable justification: "America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home."
COMMENTARY
Aug 22, 2011

Lessons from the affairs of Cuban crocodiles

The recent finding that the seriously endangered Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) has been hybridizing in the wild with the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) offers a sobering lesson. It shows that there is no real antagonism between Cuban and American crocodiles, something that policymakers...
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2011

No country for Asian refugees

Regarding the July 6 article "UNHCR exec lauds refugee strides, urges more": In the 1970s, Japanese vessels in the South China Sea rescued a lot of boat people who hoped to live in Japan. After several years, though, most of them left for the United States and other Western countries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 19, 2011

Pitt, Penn heap praise on Malick's 'real world'

Terrence Malick kicks off his new film, "The Tree of Life," with a bang. The Big Bang, actually. Over the next 138 minutes, the viewer witnesses a journey through history that ends up in a small town in Texas. Critics seem to agree that you'll either love it or hate it.
Reader Mail
Aug 14, 2011

Cracks in foreign press reports

If I had not been to China, I would probably agree with Brahma Chellaney's assessment of rising social unrest in Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia (Aug. 6 article, "Cracks in the Chinese wall").

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