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Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Japan Pulse
May 5, 2012

Anyone for French toast ... cooked with mayo?

Some new Japanese spins on an old breakfast favorite.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
May 5, 2012

Observatory fills small Gifu town with pride

An official opening ceremony Sunday was held to celebrate the completion of a small astronomical observatory on the grounds of Tara Elementary School in Kamiishizu, Gifu Prefecture.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2012

'Kantori Garu (Country Girl)'

The first time I went to Kyoto, in the mid-1970s, I thought I was in the middle of the biggest school excursion in the country. Thousands of kids from all over Japan were milling about in shopping districts and on temple grounds, and a foreigner such as I was still a sight rare enough for dozens of them...
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

Feeling deregulation's effects

Let me make a brief comment about the Bloomberg article by Jared Diamond, titled "Three reasons why Japan's economic pain is worsening," which ran in The Japan Times on April 28.
Reader Mail
May 3, 2012

What are these people paid for?

Regarding the April 27 front-page article "Ozawa not guilty of fund conspiracy": It was pretty obvious that the former president of the Democratic Party of Japan, Ichiro Ozawa, would have to be found not guilty of conspiring to hide a ¥400 million payment to his fund management body, although in my...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
May 1, 2012

Debito takes on Donald: readers' responses

Some readers' responses to Debito Arudou's April 3 column, "Keene should engage brain before fueling 'flyjin,' foreign crime myths":
COMMENTARY
Apr 30, 2012

Fact-checking Japan's critics

The better U.S. media now use fact-checkers and truth meters to debunk outrageous claims by politicians. Maybe Japan should do the same toward its critics.
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Ground and waterway radiation

Regarding the April 24 Jiji article "Fukushima air to stay radioactive in 2022": This type of reporting is valuable. The radiation content in the air near Fukushima will remain dangerous. Other things that need to be discussed is the amount of radiation in the ground and in the waterways of Japan.
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Bone-marrow hurdles cleared

I would like to thank The Japan Times and its readers for making a real difference to someone in dire straights.
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

Give all energy-savers a break

Regarding the April 26 Jiji article "Government to roll out new energy-efficiency system for homes": In the future most energy- efficient homes will be located far from downtown urban centers simply because land prices are more affordable the farther you move away from the congested and highly commercial...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 29, 2012

Japanese families on endangered list

The family is humanity's oldest and most universal institution. But its shape, size, aims and ideologies seem infinitely variable. Japan's families down the ages have been polygamous and monogamous, multigeneration and single-generation, swarming with children or comparatively, if not entirely, devoid...
Reader Mail
Apr 29, 2012

The level of corporate ineptitude

Regarding the April 24 Kyodo article "Plant used bad breaker for decades": I have to say that I do not understand this level of corporate ineptitude, incompetence and failure of due diligence. Tokyo Electric Power Co. probably should not be allowed to run nuclear power stations, and one wonders if they...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 28, 2012

Taxis' internal surveillance cameras create stir over privacy

Taxi companies are installing video systems in their vehicles to reduce passenger conflicts in a move that is raising privacy concerns because of vague warnings that are leaving many unaware they are being recorded.
Reader Mail
Apr 26, 2012

All designers make assumptions

Kenichi Ohmae's April 18 Focus page article, "Fukushima: Probability theory is unsafe," appears to criticize the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co., but actually it is an attempt to save the nuclear industry and the governments that support it.
Reader Mail
Apr 26, 2012

Why are nonbelievers distressed?

Regarding Scott Mintz's April 19 letter, "Catholic Church's belief crisis" (which was in response to Kevin Rafferty's April 11 article, "The pope's leadership crisis"): To begin with, in no way does the Catholic Church "demand" or "command" anyone to believe anything. Why do non-Christians like Mintz...
COMMUNITY / Issues / LABOR PAINS
Apr 24, 2012

No legal cure-all for fixed-term job insecurity

We like to think that work is about more than just making money, but the reality is that most of us have to work to earn our daily bread. A steady job is crucial for our long-term well-being.
Reader Mail
Apr 22, 2012

Up, up and away like a buffoon

Regarding the April 18 front-page Kyodo article "Ishihara seeking to buy Senkaku Islands" (from the landowner): Whose tax money would Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara spend to do this? And would he do this without a referendum?
Reader Mail
Apr 22, 2012

Fitting analogy for health debate

Yoshi Tsurumi's April 16 article, "Supreme Court is destroying U.S. democracy," shows the writer's lack of understanding of the American system. No one is saying health care isn't a mess, but the protest is against President Barack Obama's plan that, in effect, makes it a crime, punishable by a fine,...
Reader Mail
Apr 22, 2012

Different take on 'mass suicide'

Regarding Eric Johnston's April 19 article, "Doubt in Kansai grows over plant restarts, blackout predictions": Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yoshito Sengoku is quoted as telling an audience in Nagoya that shutting down all of Japan's nuclear power plants would be akin to "mass suicide."
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 21, 2012

Spirituality drove Mie native to scale mountains for 9,738 consecutive days

A photo exhibition celebrating a Mie Prefecture man who climbed mountains for nearly 10,000 days straight, and who only stopped because he died last year, opened earlier this month at the Mont-Bell outdoor and climbing goods store in Nagoya.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / Japan Pulse
Apr 20, 2012

Kokeshi back in style with a new look

Once sinister-looking souvenirs, kokeshi make a comeback.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 20, 2012

Government shows awareness of something called 'child support'

New divorce notification forms finally acknowledge that some couples have kids.
Reader Mail
Apr 19, 2012

Respect for the balance of power

The constitutionality of the "individual mandate" at the center of U.S. President Barack Obama's health care plan may be a close question, but what is far more clear is professor Yoshi Tsurumi's complete misunderstanding of the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in giving voice to the Constitution's checks...
Reader Mail
Apr 19, 2012

Catholic Church's belief crisis

I usually enjoy Kevin Rafferty's social commentary, but his views expressed in his April 11 article, "The pope's leadership crisis," need to be challenged. His assertion that the story of Jesus "requires less suspension of belief than Harry Potter" is ridiculous. To truly believe that Jesus was the son...
Reader Mail
Apr 19, 2012

'Sink or swim' ethic in America

Regarding Robert J. Samuelson's April 16 article "Look at Social Security for what it is: welfare," unfortunately millions of retired Americans depend upon Social Security payments for survival. Because the concept of "lifetime employment" is virtually unheard of in the United States, we do not often...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 17, 2012

Bread and becquerels: a year of living dangerously

My New Year's resolution back in January was to survive this year, and many more to come, which means keeping myself and my family as far from harm's way as possible.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Apr 17, 2012

Texan's magic transforms verandas

When you step out onto the veranda of Theodore Jennings' penthouse apartment in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, it almost feels like you're on vacation in some other location — be it New York or some European resort.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Apr 16, 2012

U.S. digs in to hold Futenma

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has asserted that a Japan-U.S. agreement struck in February will help resolve the issue of relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which now sits in the middle of densely populated Ginowan City in the central part of Okinawa Island.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?