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Reader Mail
Jan 10, 2013

Jet scramble all huff and puff

Regarding the Jan. 6 article "Japan scrambles F-15 fighter jets after Chinese aircraft spotted near Senkakus": The interesting question for me is, what would those F-15s have done if the Chinese airplane had completely encroached on Japanese territory, did loops and rolls, and even dived in a simulated...
Reader Mail
Jan 10, 2013

Debunking 'facts' about guns

In his Dec. 31 article, "Supreme copout: twisted justification for guns," Hiroaki Sato makes an unprincipled argument when he suggests that U.S. Supreme Court justices should allow their personal experience of victimization to factor into their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 8, 2013

Xenophobia finds fertile soil in web anonymity

As diplomatic strains with China and South Korea worsen over territorial disputes, more and more Japanese are using the relative anonymity of cyberspace to vent their political spleens online.
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2013

Mending ties with China

The dispute between Japan and China over the sovereignty issue involving the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea has caused bilateral ties to plummet. China is repeatedly violating Japanese territorial waters and airspace around the islands. Japan needs to enhance its ability to protect its territorial...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 6, 2013

Abe returns to 'retrieve' Japan from its history — or will he just repeat it?

Way back in the heady 1960s, Japan was one big Cathedral of Optimism, and I found myself among a people who believed their country was finally on that road laid out before them in the post-feudal Meiji Era (1868-1912) to "catch up with and overtake" the West. And indeed, by the end of the decade Japan's...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 4, 2013

Cleaning 'angels' reinforce positive image of Japanese workers

Train cleaning crews are the new heroes of Japanese commerce.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2013

Child custody injustices hard to fix

On May 6, 2010, Yasuyuki Watanabe, an internal affairs ministry bureaucrat, came home to find his wife and 2-year old daughter gone, along with their clothes.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Jan 4, 2013

Golden Kings hammer Hannaryz for straight day

Sure, there are others who can call Jim Boeheim a mentor or a source of inspiration.
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2013

Cost of gun 'freedom' too high

Regarding Robert J. Spitzer's Washington Post article that was published in The Japan Times on Dec. 26 under the headline "Five myths about U.S. gun control": Again we are on that old spinning wheel watching the United States convulse over another mass shooting at a school with young, innocent victims....
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 3, 2013

China signals tighter Internet control

Chinese citizens were last year treated to an unaccustomed number of hard-hitting exposes and investigations detailing the private lives and corrupt financial dealings of the most senior Communist Party officials and their family members.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2013

Globalization is on the ropes

One fateful question for 2013 is this: What happens to globalization? For decades, growing volumes of cross-border trade and money flows have fueled strong economic growth. But something remarkable is happening; trade and international money flows are slowing and, in some cases, declining. David Smick,...
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 1, 2013

Summer poll to keep Abe in check

While nearly 300 Liberal Democratic Party candidates nationwide rejoiced over their resounding success in the Dec. 16 Lower House election, the mood of some at party headquarters was more sober.
EDITORIALS
Jan 1, 2013

Back to the future for Japan?

As the new year kicks off and the coalition government of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito gets into full swing, Japan will see a drastic change in the direction of policies set by the DPJ government during its rule of three years and three months. It will not be a new direction, however, but...
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2013

Japan's steely resolve suggests nationalism based on fear

More than half a century ago I had dinner in Paris with Arimasa Mori, the grandson of the Meiji Era education minister Arinori Mori, who had set the prewar pattern for a Westernized but intensely patriotic education. The Mori family hailed from Kagoshima, and the part that Arinori had played in the Meiji...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 30, 2012

This year's highlights and lowlights

Media figures of the year:
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 29, 2012

Software firm releases Burmese phrase book

Software developer Daiichi Computer Resource Co. has compiled a book of common Burmese expressions titled "Active Myanmar" that can also be downloaded on cellphones.
CULTURE
Dec 28, 2012

Endure New Year's on TV with the rest of Japan

Last year, NHK's annual New Year's Eve song contest, "Kohaku Uta Gassen" (7:15-11:45 p.m.), enjoyed its first ratings boost in more than a decade. As the most hallowed tradition in Japanese broadcasting, the program offered some needed end-of-year holiday solace for a nation still recovering emotionally...
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2012

Mr. Abe has his work cut out

Liberal Democratic Party leader Mr. Shinzo Abe on Wednesday formed his Cabinet after the Diet nominated him as Japan's new prime minister. This is his second tenure as prime minister, with the LDP returning to power after an absence of three years and three months.
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2012

Give younger blood a chance

Regarding the Dec. 23 front-page article "Abe pauses on Senkakus postings" (concerning Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision not to station officials on the Senkaku Islands to avoid jeopardizing ties with China): Once again we see the lies by politicians, and once again we see the stupidity of the Japanese...
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2012

Ambassador deserves support

Regarding the Dec. 24 article "New envoy to China urges economic thaw": In my opinion, it will be difficult to conclude which country the Senkakus belong to. So, as Masato Kitera, the next ambassador to China is about to do, we should try to avoid the dispute in order to construct stronger economic ties...
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2012

Japan's actions affect the world

Regarding the Dec. 22 article "Abe hints at scrapping reactor ban": In the United States, such a statement would lead to the conclusion that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is paid by the nuclear industry.
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2012

What surprise attack on India?

In his Dec. 13 article, "The art of war, Chinese style," Brahma Chellaney repeats the claim that, in 1962, China made a surprise attack on India. As China desk officer in Australia's Department of External Affairs, I can assure him that, for me and my colleagues in London and Washington at the time,...
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2012

New ruling bloc gets on same page

The Liberal Democratic Party and its ally, New Komeito, on Tuesday formally agreed on key policy issues to pursue when they return to power Wednesday, including prioritizing the reconstruction of the disaster-hit Tohoku region and fighting deflation and recession.
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2012

Abe's ascent provides China with a chance to improve ties

Shinzo Abe, widely viewed as a rightwing nationalist, assumes office Wednesday as prime minister of Japan, the seventh time the country's leadership has changed hands in six years and his second turn at the helm since 2007.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 25, 2012

Sites for J-footy fans; variable service at Softbank

In response to our Oct. 23 column, " 'Prenups' uncommon but doable; aid for avid J. League fans," some of our readers wrote in with their favorite Japan soccer resources.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 24, 2012

Power industry outlasts DPJ

Nobody was more pleased than the electric power industry when Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda made the surprise announcement Nov. 14 that he would dissolve the Lower House and call a general election. The industry hoped that this would clear the way for terminating the rule of Noda's Democratic Party of...
EDITORIALS
Dec 24, 2012

Resuscitating the DPJ

The Democratic Party of Japan, which suffered a devastating defeat in the Dec. 16 Lower House election, is in the throes of a crisis characterized by apathy and loss of direction. Its Lower House seats dwindled from the pre-election 230 to 57. Eight members of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko...
Reader Mail
Dec 23, 2012

'Pacifism' via foreign protection

It seems Timothy Bedwell (Dec. 16, "American protection not needed") and I agree that the U.S. military needs to leave Japan, but there are a few points I would like to clarify.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 22, 2012

'Abenomics' — a dangerous policy of print and spend

The "landslide" victory of Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party was much less than it seemed. The party won only 43 percent of the popular vote in the constituencies and a mere 28 percent in the proportional representational seats.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 22, 2012

Aichi opticians help out elderly Thais

Opticians in Aichi Prefecture are cooperating to gather and donate used reading glasses to people in Thailand, where many seniors have to put up with poor eyesight because they can't afford to buy spectacles.

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