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Reader Mail
Mar 29, 2012

Infantile use of 'racism' label

In two AP articles published March 21, "Police see racist motive behind French shootings" and "British teacher used Nazi antics to rile neighbors," we see once more the common misuse of words.
Reader Mail
Mar 29, 2012

Painful to see payoffs to U.S.

Regarding the March 25 Kyodo article "Japan asked to shell out extra $1 billion over [U.S. Marines'] transfer to Guam": As a long-term resident of Japan, it is painful to see Japan taken to the cleaners. Japan signed a peace treaty a long time ago, meaning that Japan has full sovereignty over its own...
Reader Mail
Mar 29, 2012

Hope for 3/11 survivors

The March 11 article "Time has stopped for parents of dead and missing children" caught my eye. Many parents and guardians who lost children are still digging their way through the mess in Miyagi Prefecture, searching for the bodies of their sons and daughters. They say the task keeps them going, that...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 27, 2012

Suginami Ward 'informers' just doing their job

Several residents of Tokyo's Suginami Ward contacted us in response to C.W.'s experience, which appeared in our March 6 column, "Immigration 'informers' call on foreigners in Suginami Ward."
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Mar 26, 2012

Tapping into oceanic energy

The serious physical damage caused by the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant disaster, following the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami, has reminded Japan all the more of its acute shortage of natural energy sources and the need for developing alternative sources. This has led scientists and private corporations...
Reader Mail
Mar 25, 2012

Fallback on scaremongering

Regarding the March 20 Kyodo article "Diet told of interceptor response to N.K. launch": [Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka's statement that he may order the Self-Defense Forces to shoot down the North Korean rocket purportedly carrying a satellite next month if it passes over Japan] is completely irresponsible....
Reader Mail
Mar 25, 2012

Afraid of their own shadow

Regarding the March 21 Kyodo article "Patriot missiles may be deployed in Okinawa to counter North Korean rocket": Why is there such an overreaction to this planned satellite launch?
Reader Mail
Mar 25, 2012

Broad 'contamination' brush

The March 21 Kyodo article, "No. 1 (reactor) long way from being out of the woods," states: "Outside the plant's premises, work to reduce the contamination level of land detected to have an annual exposure dose of 1 millisievert or more, excluding from natural sources, is scheduled to accelerate in eight...
Reader Mail
Mar 25, 2012

High road to a proper lunch

Regarding the March 20 Kyodo article "Cafeterias at government offices serve up buffet of corporate culture": When the Tokyo Metropolitan Government moved to Shinjuku from Marunouchi in 1991, a lot of public servants became "lunchtime refugees", meaning that there were not enough places in the Shinjuku...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 24, 2012

Higashi Mikawa mining ancient sources for tsunami info

Municipalities in the Higashi Mikawa region in Aichi Prefecture have been busy examining records of major earthquakes and tsunami that hit the region in the past.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 23, 2012

'My Week With Marilyn'

In his book "Retromania," music critic Simon Reynolds makes the case that pop music/rock has gone distressingly meta, feeding on its accumulated history at the expense of any further forward evolution musically. It's a bold argument — and well worth a read — but one could probably make the same case...
Reader Mail
Mar 22, 2012

Total protester count low-balled

I would agree with the March 18 editorial "Time for antinuclear protests." But I was surprised to find a total estimate of "at least 20,000" who turned out at antinuclear protests in Japan on the first anniversary of the March 11, 2011, disasters. I was at a rally in Koriyama that filled a baseball park...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Mar 18, 2012

Putting the 'fortune' back in fortune telling

It pays to shop around when looking for a fortune teller.
Reader Mail
Mar 18, 2012

The fear of what others think

In his March 8 article, "Rethinking the welfare state," Hugh Cortazzi implies that a Japanese father, mother and son starved to death because they had too much pride. This is an utter misrepresentation of the case (as reported recently in the British press), and conveys a lack of understanding of human...
Reader Mail
Mar 18, 2012

Don't give in to sentimentality

Regarding Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's March 14 article, "Renew commitment to building a new Japan": It is commendable that the prime minister has promised to offer "timely and accurate information (about the Fukushima crisis) to the international community". His predecessor, Naoto Kan failed, miserably...
Reader Mail
Mar 18, 2012

Stay tuned for the next disaster

Regarding the March 12 Japan Times article, which was reprinted from Sentaku Magazine, "Power reform now or never": It's doubtful whether another Fukushima can ever be avoided given the deep-seated corruption and collusion between Japan's bureaucracy and big business, which has effectively ruled the...
Reader Mail
Mar 18, 2012

Get serious about construction

Regarding the Bloomberg article published in the March 14 edition of The Japan Times, "Tokyo has way to go to gird for Big One, consultant says": There should be a new government department created to devise new methods and construction designs and technologies to deal with earthquakes and tsunami.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 18, 2012

Quake insurance is but a token offering

As the government continues to push for an increase in the consumption tax, a question related to last year's disaster is still being debated: How much of the burden for rebuilding should be shouldered by taxpayers? We live in a resolutely capitalist country that stresses personal responsibility, and...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 17, 2012

Aging pipes lurk under Nagoya

On Jan. 26, a sinkhole formed under the sidewalk running in front of the Mitsukoshi Sakae department store in Naka Ward, Nagoya.
Reader Mail
Mar 15, 2012

Cancer risk to young girls

Regarding the March 12 article, "'Invisible' enemy stalks Fukushima": Cancer risks at radiation doses well below 100 millisieverts have been studied by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Take a look at an informative video (http://vimeo.com/35212151) produced by Fairewinds Energy Education;...
Reader Mail
Mar 15, 2012

No cheerleading for Wall Street

Regarding economist Kenneth Rogoff's March 13 article, "Public acceptance of high salaries for athletes contrasts with low regard for finance superstars": Rogoff is overlooking several comparison factors that most people regard as natural markers in determining the justice of financial rewards based...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Mar 12, 2012

Power reform now or never

Taking advantage of the serious difficulties besetting Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) since the catastrophe at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the Democratic Party of Japan government is pushing a series of measures to restructure the outdated way in which the electric power industry operates....
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

If you really need a seat, say so

Regarding the March 4 Kyodo article "Elderly force subway to rethink 'all priority seats' policy": The policy of setting aside priority seats on trains is often criticized for reinforcing discriminatory attitudes toward the elderly and pregnant women, as the system literally demarcates and even isolates...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

Energizing the new 'wasteland'

Regarding the March 6 article "Tsuruga nuke plant sits atop major fault": Japan has a chance to really shine again. Give up nuclear power and show the world that it is possible to generate power to run a country from alternative sources such as solar and wind.
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

Kimigayo rule leaves bad taste

Regarding the March 1 Jiji Press article "Osaka passes 'Kimigayo' ordinance": It is quite right to expect public schoolteachers to stand at attention when the national anthem is played. Showing proper respect for a nation's flag and other symbols of state should be expected. But should it be a crime...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2012

Equal access to specialized care

Regarding the March 3 article, "Cancer, heart disease, stroke deaths plunge to 50-year low": People's accessibility to specialized medical resources is essential. We have to pay more attention to regional disparities, which are partly caused by uneven distribution of clinical specialists. A variety of...
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 11, 2012

Young hopes bloom eternal

The first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake is a time to commemorate the victims of that terrible tragedy. But it is also an opportunity to look to the future.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2012

Moving forward with reconstruction

A year has passed since the massive earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc on the Pacific coastal areas of the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, and many survivors continue to suffer from their devastating effects. The impact of the natural disasters was compounded by the subsequent nuclear crisis that...
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Mar 10, 2012

Chubu reactor safety improvements mixed bag

The Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant crisis prompted the government to ask untilities nationwide to draw up mid- and long-term countermeasures against future earthquakes and tsunami.
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2012

Breakthrough is close, again

The recent "food for freeze" agreement between the United States and North Korea has been described accurately by the State Department as reflecting "important, if limited, progress" and inaccurately by the media as constituting a "breakthrough" in the seemingly endless march toward Korean Peninsula...

Longform

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