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Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 29, 2013

Ichinomiya uses manga to promote textile brand

A project to create costumes from the popular manga series "Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne" is under way in the textile hub of Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, which recently came up with the "Costume Town" concept to promote itself.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 28, 2013

Nippon Ishin pledges to 'clarify historical facts'

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) unveils policy pledges for the Upper House election next month, including a promise to push for decentralization of government power and revise the postwar Constitution.
WORLD
Jun 28, 2013

Snowden had contempt for leakers

When he was working in the intelligence community in 2009, Edward Snowden, the U.S. National Security Agency contractor who passed top-secret documents to journalists, appears to have had nothing but disdain for those who leaked classified information, the newspapers that printed their revelations and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2013

U.S. corporate tax whinge

If the U.S. tax code is broken, then Congress should fix it, simplify it. But don't let the big corporations avoid paying their fair share of federal revenue.
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2013

Makeshift fix for electoral disparity

Ruling coalition party members in the Lower House ramrod passage of an overdue reapportionment measure that only begins to address vote-value disparities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2013

China wins in Snowden saga

The release of information about U.S. surveillance efforts worldwide has led to the depiction of Washington as a hypocrite for berating China over cyber espionage.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2013

Five myths about the National Security Agency

One common denominator of NSA whistleblowers is that they feel ignored when attempting to bring illegal or unethical operations to the attention of higher-ups.
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Abe bears watching after July

I always look forward to Noriko Hama's columns as she has an adroit way of aiming her own "arrows" at the heart of any subject matter she chooses. She once again excels in her June 24 article, "Abe's rhetoric reveals a growth strategy aimed at global conquest." If any headline could cause Japan's neighbors...
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Hope to see blood test abolished

Last summer, Japan was getting ready to introduce a new type of prenatal examination that requires only a blood test. Recently I read the March 5 article "Down syndrome blood test draws interests and ire," which prompted some doubts about this test. The blood test is an easy way to know whether a baby...
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Responsibilities toward the state

The June 23 Bloomberg article by Peter Gumbel, "French high school curriculum includes pitfalls U.S. should try to avoid with its Common Core," talks about the relatively high standard of the French baccalaureat secondary school graduation exams, and a corresponding dropout rate.
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

The only ethical energy option

Regarding the June 19 article "Meltdowns haven't killed anyone: LDP bigwig": Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Sanae Takaichi's comment that the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant "have not claimed the lives of any people," however technically accurate, was deservedly criticized...
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Japan endures like a U.S. vassal

Regarding the June 22 Kyodo article, "Tainted soil detected at ex-U.S. land in Okinawa": Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the United States does not have the obligation to clean up environmental contamination. Can you believe this?
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2013

Asia demand making ginseng in U.S. scarce

The long tradition of ginseng hunting in the U.S. can be traced from Daniel Boone, the folk hero frontiersman, to Glenn Miller, a retired concrete inspector.
Reader Mail
Jun 23, 2013

Wise decision on cervix vaccine

Regarding the June 15 Kyodo article "Cervix vaccine issues trigger health notice": I was so relieved to read about the Japanese health ministry's decision not to recommend the HPV vaccinations to young girls while further research is conducted.
Reader Mail
Jun 23, 2013

Term likens 'slaves' to livestock

The author of the June 12 article "San Francisco spurned Hashimoto amid sex slave outrage" might want to reconsider his choice of words in the last paragraph. One might "round up" cattle to be inspected or branded; one does not "round up" terrified young women to "serve as sex slaves in brothels serving...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 22, 2013

Participants ease stress levels at crying events

Most people know what it is like to have a good old cry and to get the feeling of having a huge weight removed from their shoulders.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 21, 2013

New censors of Web media

The Internet has proved to be a powerful tool for overcoming media restrictions and censorship worldwide. But new restrictions on Web-based news media, such as those in Jordan, threaten to reverse the progress that the Internet has enabled.
Reader Mail
Jun 20, 2013

Foreign meddling led to wars

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's June 13 article, "The trouble within Islam," is dripping with unintended irony. He slams the Mideast, Muslim countries particularly, for being incompatible with a modern, pluralistic world. The problem with this is that the Middle East is a huge chunk of our...
Reader Mail
Jun 20, 2013

India and Japan are different

Regarding the May 29 article "Japan and India are 'natural' partners, [Manmohan] Singh says in Tokyo": We have been hearing that Japan and India are "natural partners" for decades. As a serious admirer of Japan, I do hope things turn out well in the near future for both countries, although trade stands...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Jun 18, 2013

Democracy, interrupted: How local voices were silenced in Tokyo's first referendum

On Sunday, May 26, something quite remarkable happened in Kodaira city, western Tokyo: Over 50,000 citizens voted in Tokyo's very first local referendum (jūmin tōhyō) on the issue of whether a 50-year-old plan to construct a road should be reviewed or not.
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Jun 18, 2013

Why workers can no longer wear their demands on their sleeves

Dear reader, where are you from? To what era do you belong? I was born in 1971 in Japan and grew up here, too, but I've never — in all my years visiting hotels, restaurants, shops or government offices — seen workers wearing vests, armbands, badges, ribbons or bandanas with political messages. I've...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Jun 18, 2013

Apps to keep track of everything, Acer's new tablet and a better way to make presentations

Keeping track of your assets
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 17, 2013

BOJ facing new brain drain

The Bank of Japan could face a drain of elite talent as foreign financial institutions mull rebooting their activities in Tokyo after the recent market rebound.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 17, 2013

Surveillance controversy illuminated by history

The American public at large is more accepting of the government's involvement in their lives than a 29-year-old former NSA contractor appears to believe.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 16, 2013

Miura oldest to climb Everest but some facts overlooked

The government has just established a new public award named after alpinist-skier Yuichiro Miura for "adventurers who challenge themselves to the limit of human potential." Originally the recipients of the prize, whom Miura will select himself, were going to be seniors, but at its namesake's insistence...
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
Jun 16, 2013

Death threats sparked Japan's first cricket game

On June 25, 1863, a Royal Navy team drawn from officers on ships sent to protect British expats in Japan had plenty to worry about as the lanky James Campbell Fraser strode out to bat against them on an apology for a cricket pitch in Yokohama.
Reader Mail
Jun 16, 2013

'Mysogynists' hijacking Japan

Regarding the June 8 Kyodo article "Forcibly recruited Korean sex slaves a myth: lawmaker": Swarms of Japanese misogynistic morons seem to inhabit the Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party). Is there something in the water?
Reader Mail
Jun 16, 2013

It's elementary: Build confidence

Regarding Philip Brasor's May 5 Media Mix article, "Media weighs in on LDP's English education plan": I think creating more opportunities for young students to come in contact with native English-language speakers is the most effective way to help students use English.
Reader Mail
Jun 16, 2013

Just a friendly survey of the gods

Regarding Amy Chavez's June 1 column, "Everyone's own path to enlightenment": I am always fascinated by Chavez's essays and look forward to the next one each Saturday. In the June 1 column, by my interpretation, she wants to express her opinion that Buddhism is easy to access and very generous to its...
Reader Mail
Jun 16, 2013

Stop crying wolf about China

Regarding Michael Richardson's June 6 article, "China's troubling core interests": Richardson is again beating the "China threat" drum as if repeating this theme over and over will somehow convince others of its verity.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years