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August 30, 2025
 

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Reader Mail
May 4, 2008

Improve content, including letters

I have been a loyal reader of The Japan Times for the 12 years I have been here. This is my first time to write, but I am driven to address two key points. First, I agree with recent letters that the latest changes of format in this paper were ill-advised and poorly thought out. It seems to be following...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
May 2, 2008

Big man Newton an integral part of Evessa's run at third straight bj-league title

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit — which is in its third season. Jeff Newton of the Osaka Evessa, who face the Rizing Fukuoka in Saturday's semifinal showdown at Ariake Colosseum, is the subject of...
Reader Mail
May 1, 2008

More smoking regulations, please

I applaud Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa for his efforts to ban smoking in public places in the prefecture ("Kanagawa eyes wide-reaching smoking ban," April 16). This is a necessary measure that the central government should have put in place a long time ago. I hope that other governors will follow...
Reader Mail
May 1, 2008

Death penalty is no deterrent

The April 23 article "Kamei seeks to undermine death penalty" states "A 2004 government opinion poll showed that 81.4 percent of respondents supported the death penalty, on the grounds that only capital punishment can provide true closure to the families of the victims, and that executions act as a deterrent...
Reader Mail
Apr 27, 2008

No way to express one's view

Regarding the recent vandalism of Zenkoji Temple following its decision to not host the start of the Olympic torch relay, it is a pity that people, whatever their reason, resort to vandalism instead of expressing their personal opinion in a more respectable and mature manner. Vandalizing a historical...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 27, 2008

Hail and farewell to the world's greatest 'Good Gringo' U.S. president

On April 1, the widely read History News Network (HNN) Web site announced the results of a survey it conducted among historians.
Reader Mail
Apr 27, 2008

Mutual respect is crucial

We should all be concerned with the lack of appropriate political dialogue not between lukewarm diplomats, but rather protesters and pro-China demonstrators. Recent events have been distressing. A brave Chinese student at Duke attempted to disperse a commotion between the two groups, but her attempt...
COMMENTARY
Apr 27, 2008

It doesn't take much imagination to guess the winner of an imaginary 'world primary'

LOS ANGELES — OK, so he did lose the Pennsylvania primary — but might Sen. Barack Obama be otherwise elected king of the world?
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 27, 2008

Hack, slash and hew — all with Zen in mind

As hobbies go, you might describe mine as, well, quite bloodthirsty.
Reader Mail
Apr 24, 2008

CPR article could save lives

According to the April 2 article "Skip mouth-to-mouth: CPR ruled just as good with hands only," the American Heart Association has announced that simple uninterrupted chest presses at the rate of 100 times a minute could save a life in a case of a sudden cardiac arrest in adults. Evidently, in contrast...
COMMENTARY
Apr 24, 2008

U.S. candidates' top target: China

Ever since the Tiananmen Square military crackdown of 1989, China has become an issue in domestic American politics, usually with the party in power — either Republican or Democratic — being attacked by the opposition party for not being tough enough toward Beijing.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Apr 23, 2008

Otsuka homers in Lotte's rout of Seibu

CHIBA — The Chiba Lotte Marines threw everything but the rule book at the Seibu Lions on Tuesday night. Good thing their manager was there to back them up.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2008

Death penalty ruling marks dramatic shift

Tuesday's ruling in which a 27-year-old man was sentenced to death for the 1999 murders of a mother and her infant daughter in Yamaguchi Prefecture marks a major judicial change, according to legal experts.
EDITORIALS
Apr 22, 2008

Preparing for lay judge system

The government has announced that the lay judge system will take effect on May 21, 2009. The new system will be used in criminal cases in which suspects are indicted on and after that day. Trials using lay judges are expected to begin in late July or early August 2009.
Reader Mail
Apr 20, 2008

Greasing the wrong wheels

In "Leviathan" Thomas Hobbes wrote, "Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money." These words apply to the tentative law of road construction included in the gasoline tax. The word "temporary" means "semi-permanent" in the crooked world of politics, and this huge budget has snowballed to...
Reader Mail
Apr 20, 2008

Loosen Net restrictions in China

The April 6 article "China allows access to English Wikipedia" mentions that the Chinese government has finally allowed people to access the English version of Wikipedia. On the other hand, there are still great numbers of Web sites that remain blocked.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 20, 2008

Sojourner promoting game on and off court

There are professional athletes in all sports who fit this bill: They are outgoing, passionate about their chosen profession and more than willing to speak their mind about what they think the powers that be can do to improve the sport on levels.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 19, 2008

Liverpool perseveres as owners air dirty laundry in public

LONDON — It says much about the new wave of Premier League owners that a hugely popular manager who feels his position is being undermined is considering his future despite continued success, while one jeered by the club's fans seems set to remain in charge.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2008

Have we finally achieved moral progress?

MELBOURNE — After a century that saw two world wars, the Nazi Holocaust, Stalin's Gulag, the killing fields of Cambodia, and more recent atrocities in Rwanda and now Darfur, the belief that we are progressing morally has become difficult to defend. Yet there is more to the question than extreme cases...
Reader Mail
Apr 17, 2008

Cracking down on forced marriages

The March 13 article "U.K. gets tough on arranged marriages" explains the result of Britain's investigation of 400 forced marriages. There are over 1.8 million Muslims in Britain, and a conclusion was reached that most forced marriages take place in Britain's Muslim communities. The article notes that...
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2008

What China and the world must do now

LOS ANGELES — Absolutely no one in the Western media is showing any sympathy at all for China in the current roiling mess over Tibet and the Olympic Games. But somebody has to do it, if only to try to achieve some balance and maturity of perspective. So we might as well make the effort here and now....
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2008

TCI turned down in bid to raise J-Power stake

A government panel said Tuesday night that a bid by a British investment fund to boost its stake in Electric Power Development Co., better known as J-Power, could "disturb the maintenance of public order."
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 13, 2008

Landmark case spotlights 'Japanese-style nationalism'

"The most critical thing for us Japanese in the 21st century is to free ourselves from Japanese-style nationalism, both politically and culturally." So said author Kenzaburo Oe to me in the autumn of 1995, a year after he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
COMMENTARY
Apr 12, 2008

Games failing to meet Olympian ideals

LONDON — The Chinese government sought the 2008 Games for Beijing to promote Chinese national interests. There is nothing new or exceptional about Chinese motives. Britain sought the 2012 Games for London for political purposes as well.
COMMENTARY
Apr 11, 2008

The U.S. election: grounds for optimism

LOS ANGELES — One early sign that a run of optimism may be on the way is the point at which the utility of continued pessimism is seen as utterly dysfunctional by all concerned.
Reader Mail
Apr 10, 2008

Mori, an incredible role model

The March 27 article "When natural beauty just isn't cutting it" mentions that beautiful women are not only determined by their appearance, but also their confidence, intelligence and attitude.
Reader Mail
Apr 10, 2008

Don't overlook water problems

The March 23 article "Billions may lack safe drinking water by 2025: U.N." mentions that new ways to provide clean water to citizens are being tested. Water users themselves, however, have very little or no knowledge about the problem.
Reader Mail
Apr 10, 2008

Better alternative for dolphins

The March 22 article "South Seas dolphins face slaughter or life in captivity" reported that villagers from the Solomon Islands hunt dolphins to obtain their teeth for trading and making jewelry. Chris Porter, owner of a dolphin-export business, tries to save dolphins by selling them to aquariums and...
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Virtual singer Kaf's music becomes magic in 'Kamitsubaki City Under Construction'
Virtual singer Kaf got her start in 2018 by posting songs and covers to YouTube. Now, after having performed live shows at major venues including Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, she is turning to voice acting and starring in the new anime series “Kamitsubaki City Under Construction.”
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
In pictures: Koenji Awa Odori 2025
Japan Times
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
By Alex K.T. Martin

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