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JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 25, 2011

When will the Japanese media stop avoiding antinuke sentiment?

On Dec. 15, freelance journalist Tomohiko Suzuki held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan about his new book, "Yakuza and Nuclear Power," which describes Suzuki's stint as a worker on cleanup detail at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor last summer. Though the book...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 23, 2011

Auto-correct: Police getting more serious with parking scofflaws

Police are finding new ways to get traffic violators attention.
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

Settle 'comfort women' claims

Regarding the Dec. 15 Kyodo article "Statue of 'comfort woman' erected outside Japanese Embassy in Seoul": Japan did compensate South Korea with a lump-sum payment in 1965. At that time, comfort women were not on the political agenda. Now they are and the issue is for Japan to do the right thing and...
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

Comparison mania muddies issue

As far as I can tell, Donald Feeney, in his Dec. 15 letter, "Arguments that invite criticism," has failed to explain what is hypocritical about Hiroaki Sato's Nov. 28 article on American immigration policies. Hypocrisy is the espousal of an ethical standard that is contrary to one's own behavior. If...
Reader Mail
Dec 22, 2011

Doubts about a declared miracle

Regarding the Dec. 18 article "Daunting tasks await despite declaration of cold shutdown": The declaration of safety by various authorities is merely a matter of timing and saving face. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's optimistic declaration of nuclear plant stability has angered people both at home and...
COMMUNITY / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 20, 2011

Gaba 'contractor' status under fire from staff, courts

As an 8-year-old in Indiana, William first became curious about Japan when he made friends with a Japanese guy called Hideki who introduced him to Super Mario and the magical world of Japanese video games.
COMMENTARY
Dec 19, 2011

Motivation for college study

These days we often hear that there are two signs that the Japanese people, especially youths, have become inward-looking: The number of Japanese students going overseas for study has declined sharply, and far fewer employees in the public and private sectors are willing to take up posts outside the...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 18, 2011

You can't get there from here: Railway tries to bust "orikaeshi" riders

Train lines would like to crack down on commuters who 'double back.'
Reader Mail
Dec 18, 2011

Shame on the whale killers

Regarding David McNeill's Dec. 11 article, "Tohoku ¥ for whales?": I was in tears for the Japanese tsunami victims, and I donated a large amount of money that I could not really afford because their suffering was unbearable.
Reader Mail
Dec 18, 2011

'West' is not a gauge for Japan

Regarding Philip Brasor's Dec. 4 Media Mix article, "Mass media not clean in soap-allergy controversy": Truth in advertising is not as strict a concept in Japan as it is in the West, and most viewers here won't necessarily believe that the stars they see on TV use the products they are selling, since...
Reader Mail
Dec 18, 2011

Better value for medical care

Regarding the Nov. 28 article reprinted from Sentaku magazine, "Existential fear stalks M.D.s": To promote high-quality and cost-effective care, Japan needs to set clear targets for cost efficiency in health care services. A fee-for-performance reimbursement system could make the current universal system...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 18, 2011

Wrestling with the serious issue of rape

After two-time Olympic champion Masato Uchishiba was arrested Dec. 6 on suspicion of raping a female member of a university judo team, Japanese TV personality and the former first lady of Indonesia, Dewi Sukarno, defended the gold medalist on her blog. She personally called the National Police Agency...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Dec 18, 2011

How The Japan Times saved a foundering battleship, twice

Mikasa! The name of the mighty Japanese battleship will be as familiar to the world's naval historians as it is now to viewers of NHK's Sunday evening drama "Saka no Ue no Kumo" ("Clouds Over the slope"). It was the Mikasa that all but decided the fate of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, when it led...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2011

Australians recall POW ordeals

Former Australian prisoner of war Alfred Ellwood can vividly recall being interrogated and at times tortured by the Imperial Japanese Army's notorious military police after he was captured in East Timor, an experience that scarred him most of his life.
Reader Mail
Dec 15, 2011

Whale hunt sure to put off donors

Regarding the Dec. 10 front-page AP article "¥2.3 billion for Tohoku diverted to whale hunt": I truly regret ever donating money for restoring individuals' lives in the quake/tsunami devastated areas of the Tohoku region. It is shocking to learn that the fisheries agency is so detached from reality...
Reader Mail
Dec 15, 2011

Public will foot bill as always

Regarding the Dec. 10 front-page Kyodo article "Tepco mulls 10% rate hike tied to '13 Niigata reactor restart": Is this 10 percent figure based on the government's intended consumption tax hike to 10 percent? The figure makes it even harder to distinguish between those government officials who have been...
Reader Mail
Dec 15, 2011

Credibility of government limits

Regarding the Dec. 11 front-page Kyodo article "Meiji ignored tipoffs on cesium in formula": I wonder what the purpose is of establishing cesium levels in baby formula if a detected amount that is one-sixth of the "acceptable" level causes Meiji Co. to do a massive recall. Is the level expected to be...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 13, 2011

Politicians' pay: Even more than you think

Each Diet member costs taxpayers more than u00a560 million a year.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 13, 2011

Readers back father's fight to reunite with children

The following are readers' responses to the Nov. 8 Zeit Gist column headlined "My children are my everything — the reason I'm alive" by Simon Scott. The story followed Canadian Bruce Gherbetti on a surprise visit to his estranged wife's home in Fukushima in the hope of visiting his children, whom he...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 13, 2011

Real cause of nuclear crisis

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), the operator of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Station, has been insisting that the culprit that caused the nuclear crisis was the huge tsunami that hit the plant after the March 11 earthquake. But evidence is mounting that the meltdown at the nuclear power...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 13, 2011

Readers back father's fight to reunite with children

The following are readers' responses to the Nov. 8 Zeit Gist column headlined "My children are my everything — the reason I'm alive" by Simon Scott. The story followed Canadian Bruce Gherbetti on a surprise visit to his estranged wife's home in Fukushima in the hope of visiting his children, whom he...
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

Clues to China's implosion

Kevin Rafferty's Dec. 5 opinion article, "China: soft or crash landing?," does not say much about how China's economy will implode and the critical elements to watch for.
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

Bhutan just trying to protect itself

I am ashamed that a paper like The Japan Times would run an article like the one Nov. 30, "Bhutan royals trip masks rights issues."
Reader Mail
Dec 11, 2011

Debt clock cannot be ignored

Regarding the Dec. 7 Kyodo article "Welfare recipients reach nearly 2.06 million": Rarely have I seen any mention by Japan's broadcast or print media of Japan's national debt clock.
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 10, 2011

Shiga studies impact on Lake Biwa from possible Fukui nuke accident

The Shiga Prefectural Government plans to develop a computer system able to simulate the amount and dispersal of radioactive materials that would contaminate Lake Biwa in the event of an accident at one of the nuclear power plants in neighboring Fukui Prefecture.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 10, 2011

CL exit exposes Man United's flaws

Three weeks ago, Sir Alex Ferguson walked out of a UEFA news conference when he was asked a question by a reporter that began: "With the two best teams in the Premier League struggling in Europe. . . "
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 9, 2011

Japan puts out a big welcome mat for wealthy Chinese tourists

Tourism is still suffering from the effects of the 3/11 disasters but at least there is hope, big hope, in China and its millions of visitors.
Reader Mail
Dec 8, 2011

Ready for the worst from China

Kevin Rafferty writes with shrewd insight in his Dec. 5 article, "China: soft or crash landing?," as he quotes and dismisses Alessandro Magnoli Bocchi's notion that the Japan of the asset bubble days resembles China today.
Reader Mail
Dec 8, 2011

Going the way of the dinosaur?

Regarding the Dec. 5 Kyodo front-page article "50.7% want election held before tax hike": Surely as God made little green apples, self-interest will kill Japan. The markets are currently distracted with the "1+1 = 5" economics of Europe and the United States, but eventually the Japanese short-sellers...

Longform

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