Search - article

 
 
Reader Mail
Jan 8, 2012

A crisis generated by leadership

I am an American who engineered a score of nuclear power plants, nine of the Fukushima type, the Mark I. If this article (Jan. 3, "Fukushima meltdowns set nuclear energy debate on its ear")reflects Japanese thinking, it is a tragedy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 6, 2012

'Spamalot' cast hopes 2012 is Year of the Python

"This is Spam," says Eric Idle to a room full of Japanese journalists, holding up a can of the precooked meat product that he and his fellow Monty Python cast members mocked to lasting effect in 1970 in their iconic BBC TV series.
Reader Mail
Jan 5, 2012

No monopoly on monotheism

In his Dec. 25 Timeout article, "The holy trinity of religions," Michael Hoffman writes: "Hindus, 870-million strong, comprise the bulk of what's left of the polytheists. For Hindus, the world is simply too rich, too overflowing, too monstrous and too beautiful, to be explicable in terms of a single,...
Reader Mail
Jan 5, 2012

New paradigm for nuclear energy

Regarding the Jan. 3 front-page article "Fukushima meltdowns set nuclear energy debate on its ear": Nuclear power isn't the problem. The problem is with the reactors we've been using to produce it. If the reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant had been liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs),...
Reader Mail
Jan 1, 2012

What drives a war-loving culture?

History unfortunately is written and distorted by the victor. Hiroaki Sato, author of the Dec. 26 article "Strange how isolationist stance can ruin a politician's reputation," will find it difficult to convince his American readers that not all Japanese leaders wanted to attack Pearl Harbor and fight...
Reader Mail
Jan 1, 2012

Arriving at a monotheistic God

I greatly enjoyed reading Michael Hoffman's masterly Dec. 25 article, "The holy trinity of religions." But there is just one initial flaw. Hoffman goes along with the traditional misconception that Abraham came from Ur in Mesopotamia, and that he arrived at the idea — "in embryonic form" — of a single...
Reader Mail
Jan 1, 2012

Four-by-six room feels happy

I totally agree with the sentiments of Kaori Shoji's Nov. 10 article, "Six-mat chic: Small spaces suit us just fine." A house with many unused spaces feels cold and empty without family members. Although I am from Indonesia, I understand what Shoji is saying. I have lived in a 4-by-6-meter room with...
Reader Mail
Jan 1, 2012

Missing the old-time bookstore

I found Gianni Simone's Dec. 24 article, "Tokyo's bookworms find readers' paradise in used bookstores," very interesting. When I lived in Kofu (Yamanashi Prefecture), I did not have a local used bookstore with English books. It would have been a great comfort to me and would have felt like home.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jan 1, 2012

Mayumi Kagita: A fusion of cultures revealed in dance

On Nov. 19, the Pit hall of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, in Shibuya, was filled with hundreds of eager theater-goers. They had come to see a performance of "Onna Goroshi Abura no Jigoku" ("The Women-Killer and the Hell of Oil"), a play written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724) — Japan's greatest...
Reader Mail
Jan 1, 2012

Socially conscious global model

I love Amy Chavez's Dec. 24 Japan Lite column, "" How wonderful it would be if the whole world were to behave like many Japanese as a social norm.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 30, 2011

The year of tough guys worth swooning over

Cinematically speaking, 2011 was the Year of the Guy. By this I mean the genuine article, the "you can't kill 'em, you can't live without 'em" variety. Here are the 10 films of the year that feature the most distinctly provocative males in the most appropriate vehicles. All are handsome in suits or cargo...
Reader Mail
Dec 29, 2011

Gutless delivery is no wonder

Regarding the Dec. 27 Kyodo article "Futenma impact report to be mailed to Okinawa": This is exactly what one of my students and I were talking about the other day. He remarked that he would bet that the central government would not hand-deliver its findings to the Okinawa Prefectural Government. I countered...
COMMENTARY
Dec 29, 2011

North Korea's Khrushchev

Scenes of Pyongyang citizens wailing the death of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il remind us how easily dictatorships can manipulate public opinion. But are the rest of us so immune to similar manipulation?
Reader Mail
Dec 29, 2011

Just a few more who care more

Christopher Johnson's Dec. 18 Timeout article, "Lone holdout's first nuclear winter looms in Tohoku," is a very poignant and provocative story. It's good The Japan Times continues to run stories about Fukushima, reminding the world that the tragedy is far from over. It is a travesty that the government...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 27, 2011

Readers' views: Do foreigners deserve a fairer shake in Japan?

Some responses to the Nov. 6 Just Be Cause column by Debito Arudou headlined "For the sake of Japan's future, foreigners deserve a fair shake":
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 26, 2011

Postal execs crack the whip

Japan faces disarray in its mail delivery service as post offices, especially those in major cities and the Tokyo metropolitan area, struggle with mounting workloads following the dismissal of a large number of nonregular employees by Japan Post Service Co. (JPS) since September. And the situation could...
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

Ridiculous antinuclear claims

What Japanese actor Taro Yamamoto — the subject of the Dec. 22 Kyodo article, "Actor uses lessons learned overseas to fight nuclear energy" — ignores is that, in Germany, children are indoctrinated to hate nuclear energy. German children don't become interested in politics at a young age; they are...
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

As mysogynistic as monotheism

In his Dec 19 article, "Why are monotheisms so sexually obsessed?," writer Gwynne Dyer seems to make the common mistake of comparing Western monotheistic religions, with which he is familiar, with less familiar Asian traditions.
Reader Mail
Dec 25, 2011

Misconceptions about college

Takamitsu Sawa's Dec. 19 article, "Motivation for college study," shows us what is wrong with the educational system in Japan. The comments made by a university president that are not based on knowledge or statistics are quite shocking. I started out hoping to learn more about motivation and ended up...
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...

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