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Reader Mail
Jul 19, 2009

Different aircraft and missions

Regarding Jochen Legewie's July 13 article "Japanese choices in aviation market reveal overreliance on U.S.": Being a pilot and aviation enthusiast, I was interested in this article, but as I began reading, my excitement faded to disappointment. The article was a biased bashing of the U.S. aviation industry....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 18, 2009

Duo weaves matchmaking magic with 'world of letters'

Dede Prabowo and Jim Wagner are telling stories about Alam Aksara, the organization that Prabowo started four years ago to find sponsors for Indonesian children who are unable to go to school.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2009

Aso foes unlikely to block dissolution

Moves by lawmakers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to remove Prime Minister Taro Aso as LDP president looked doomed Thursday because it appeared they will be unable to prevent him from dissolving the Lower House early next week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 17, 2009

Enter the dance-rock dragons Shikari

"We were really worried before they came over 'cos England's so s--t," says Rob Rolfe, the drummer from British post-hardcore/metal/dance fusion band Enter Shikari of their anxieties before embarking on a 2008 tour with their friends, the Japanese punk-metal group Maximum the Hormone.
Reader Mail
Jul 16, 2009

Motivation for planning an exit

As a foreigner married to a Japanese national and living in Japan legally, I find the new laws with regard to immigration quite troubling. I do not disagree with the Japanese government's desire to have a more effective system for visas and immigration of foreigners. However, I do have an issue with...
COMMENTARY
Jul 16, 2009

Reflecting on the lessons of Robert McNamara's war

The death of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at age 93 has reopened the debate on his role, first as architect for the Vietnam War, and then later in apologizing for it with his 1995 book "In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam." Since a hawk with a conscience is a rare commodity,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2009

Anatomy of an Iranian revolution delayed

YPSILANTI, Mich. — The ongoing conflict between Iran's rulers and the Iranian public is the result of a head-on collision between two contradictory forces. In recent years, public attitudes in Iran have become more liberal. At the same time, power has shifted from conservative pragmatism toward a much...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 14, 2009

WWII labor redress efforts gain traction

APOWs at Aso Mining during World War II have captured most of the headlines since Taro Aso became prime minister last fall, but other forced labor redress efforts are gaining momentum that will continue regardless of who becomes Japan's next leader.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2009

DPJ scores big win in Tokyo assembly

The Democratic Party of Japan was cruising Sunday night to a clear victory in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, taking over as the No. 1 force from the Liberal Democratic Party.
COMMENTARY
Jul 13, 2009

Playing with goal numbers

Salient points of the government's 2020 target for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, announced June 10 by Prime Minister Taro Aso, are as follows:
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 12, 2009

Ethnic profiling threatens very ethos of EU

BRUSSELS — Several years ago, as terrorism, immigration, and unrest in suburban Paris were at the top of the news in France, a French police officer confided to a researcher: "If you consider different levels of trafficking, it is obviously done by blacks and Arabs. If you are on the road and see a...
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 ITALY SUMMIT
Jul 11, 2009

$20 billion food aid vowed at G8

Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations and other countries pledged Friday to provide $20 billion over the next three years to increase food production in developing nations, up from an initial $15 billion target.
JAPAN / G8 ITALY SUMMIT
Jul 8, 2009

G8 leaders' profiles

Italy Silvio Berlusconi Prime Minister
COMMENTARY
Jul 8, 2009

Bolstering Japan-U.S. ties

The Obama administration has shown great good will toward Japan. This was evidenced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's testimony at her Senate confirmation hearing, her choice of Japan as the first country she visited after taking office and the fact that Prime Minister Taro Aso was the first foreign...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2009

Aso unlikely to make much of a splash at G8

Birds of a feather will flock to L'Aquila, Italy, for the Group of Eight summit beginning Wednesday, with premiers in attendance including embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the scandal-ridden Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi.
Reader Mail
Jul 2, 2009

Give the students some slack

I agree with several points made in the June 25 letter "Japanese is just a language." Specifically, I think the author is right to point out that the Japanese language is incorrectly characterized as "vague," and that it seems implausible to consider any particular human emotion as unique to a group...
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2009

Aso adds to Cabinet but LDP execs stay

Prime Minister Taro Aso gave up an apparent plan to rejigger the Liberal Democratic Party's top posts Wednesday as strong opposition from LDP heavyweights only left him leeway to fill two Cabinet posts concurrently held by other ministers.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2009

Netanyahu should lay off useless demands

HAIFA, Israel — Ever since the Six Day War of June 1967, a small number of Israelis, not all on the left, has supported the idea of two states as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Most of their compatriots have rejected it, as have the Palestinians.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2009

Aso hints at calling snap election

Despite his dwindling opinion poll numbers, Prime Minister Taro Aso said Thursday that he will dissolve the Lower House before too long, brushing off growing calls within his own Liberal Democratic Party to find a new leader.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CONTROLS ON FOREIGNERS
Jun 26, 2009

With some concessions, DPJ backs crackdown

Ritsuo Hosokawa, justice minister in the Democratic Party of Japan's shadow Cabinet, says he succeeded in softening the tone of the government's immigration reform package.
Reader Mail
Jun 25, 2009

Good law gets public consensus

Regarding the June 20 editorial "Recognition of brain death": The Lower House's passage of the new bill is a very welcome step in the right direction, and the editorial misses the mark by falling back on a tired, old reason for not supporting this measure — a supposed lack of "public consensus."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2009

Pattern found when stars of love align

When people searching for love find their perfect mate, they often liken the convergence to "chemistry" — that special something that brings one certain individual to the head of the class.

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