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LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 21, 2011

Interviewed like a star: Anonymous question and answer site is proving popular in Japan

Over the last month or so, a new social service has risen out of the blue in the Japanese Web.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Sep 20, 2011

Restructuring for the future, not rebuilding the past

Dear Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda,
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2011

China's historic rise (or slowdown)

Is China on the brink of eclipsing the United States as the world's economic megapower, with the yuan taking over from the dollar as the global currency, and China able to exercise financial, military and political hegemony?
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2011

Flow of cesium and fish safety

Regarding the Sept. 15 Kyodo article "Cesium in sea may return in 20 to 30 years": I was wondering how cesium could affect sea life and the repercussions it could have on those who eat seafood.
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2011

Hachiro's haunting straight talk

The Sept. 13 front-page article "Noda taps Edano for trade minister" states that former trade minister Yoshio Hachiro stepped down after he "triggered public outrage for calling the area around the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant a 'town of death."
Reader Mail
Sep 18, 2011

LDP can't knock prime minister

Regarding the Sept. 15 front-page article "LDP slams Noda over ministers' miscues": While I agree that remarks by former trade minister Yoshio Hachiro were out of place at best, I don't believe that Liberal Democratic Party President Sadakazu Tanigaki or his opposition party are in a position to slam...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Sep 18, 2011

Is permanent connectedness really something we all need?

An Associated Press report of Apple Inc.'s CEO Steve Jobs' resignation last month stated, "Jobs helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist's obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home." This testifies to Jobs' genius but fails to raise what seems an obvious question: Is it a change for...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 17, 2011

Fuel cell generator for homes takes off

Nagoya-based Toho Gas recently announced that it sold its 1,000th fuel cell unit since the household power generators hit the market in May 2009.
Reader Mail
Sep 15, 2011

Geothermal is less wasteful

Regarding the Sept. 9 Kyodo article "Kepco's massive solar plant up and running": Although I applaud Kansai Electric Power Co.'s efforts to provide us with greener energy from its 10 megawatt power plant in Osaka, I can't help but feel the land used is wasted.
Reader Mail
Sep 15, 2011

Fewer liberties for this generation

Sadly everything that was written in Doug Bandow's Sept. 10 article, "U.S. now less secure, less free," is true. In the 10 years since the 9/11 attacks, civil liberties in the United States have been reduced and many people have adopted the neoconservative or war-hawk attitude that many in the Bush administration...
Reader Mail
Sep 15, 2011

Don't sweat Russian bombers

Regarding the Sept. 10 Kyodo article "Russian bombers trigger protest": It is incredible that no one reporting this story has chosen to look at the obvious — why would Russia do this?
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Sep 14, 2011

No rush to turn to renewables

Since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami severely damaged the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, faith in renewable energy sources has spread fast in many corners of the world as an emissions-free means of generating electricity. But placing excessive expectations on renewable energy sources could...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Sep 13, 2011

Eriko Hiratsuka

Eriko Hiratsuka, 26, received her master's degree from Waseda University's Graduate School of Law in 2010. That's no small achievement for anyone, but for Eriko, who has severe hearing loss in both ears, reaching her goals has always required extra effort. Although she can only hear sounds above 80 decibels...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 13, 2011

3/11: no excuse for skipping your re-entry visa

Shortly after the March 11 disasters, Hans left Japan without a re-entry permit. He came back on a tourist visa and is wondering if he can easily regain his previous visa status:
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 11, 2011

Local governments crack down on health insurance scofflaws

As the tax base gets poorer fewer people pay their national health insurance premiums, and local governments are doing something about it.
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2011

What's wrong with Indian labor?

Regarding the Sept. 7 Kyodo article "Strong yen forces Toyota to end Camry exports to U.S.": The stronger the yen becomes, the more such news will appear from all exporters of Japan.
Reader Mail
Sep 11, 2011

Better bulwark against China

Regarding Jeffrey Hornung's Sept. 7 article, "Shared regional interests draw Japan and India closer": I am an Indian with a small number of very dear Japanese friends. We share a trait that sets us apart from many white Westerners, while drawing us closer to the Chinese. This trait relates to our focus...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 11, 2011

High profile case highlights the delicate issue of foster care in Japan

On Aug. 20, police arrested voice actress Shizuka Suzuike at her home in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, on suspicion of causing injuries that led to the death of 3-year-old Miyuki Watanabe in August 2010. At the time of her death, Miyuki had been in Suzuike's foster care for almost a year. The suspect denies...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 10, 2011

Makers of roof tiles ride postquake boom

Makers of Sanshu Kawara roof tiles in Aichi Prefecture have been boosting production since the March 11 disasters to meet huge demand spurred by the reconstruction drive.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CABINET INTERVIEW
Sep 10, 2011

Fujimura eyes review of national strategy

New Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Friday the government is planning to set up a panel to discuss a comprehensive national strategy, including the controversial right of collective self-defense and the ban on arms exports.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2011

Beating the midlife blues

Are you feeling down about middle age? Do you find yourself thinking that time is hurtling and you'll never reach your goals — or, perhaps more distressingly, that they don't even fit who you are anymore?
Reader Mail
Sep 8, 2011

Red herring of impeded shipping

Michael Richardson's Sept. 1 article, "Beijing wastes no time with Noda," panders to sinophobics. Even if China were to "extend its presence" in the East China Sea and South China Sea, it certainly wouldn't be the first time in history that Southeast Asian countries have had to deal with a dominant power,...
Reader Mail
Sep 8, 2011

Economic superpower notions

Regarding Ramesh Thakur's Sept. 5 article, "Forecasts of robust middle-class growth are reason enough for Chinese, Indian optimism": I admire Thakur's optimism about India and China. In the first two decades after India's independence, it was touted as one of the next economic superpowers. Years of waiting...
Reader Mail
Sep 8, 2011

What is Tepco talking about?

Regarding the Sept. 1 Kyodo article "Tepco plans to flood reactors, extract fuel": I find it simply amazing that the press continues to report the absurd pronouncements of Tokyo Electric Power Co. officials with a straight face. They have lied repeatedly about what they knew had happened. These lies...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 8, 2011

Seifuku Kojo Iinkai ditch the idol prattle for an antinuke message

It's the kind of protest song you'd expect from hardened punks or political rappers — not seven high school girls in synchronized dance.
COMMENTARY
Sep 8, 2011

China turns up the heat

As Chinese President Hu Jintao greeted his Philippine counterpart Benigno Aquino in Beijing recently at the start of a state visit, the official Xinhua news agency laid out terms for a sustained improvement in relations between the world's second biggest economy and its much smaller and weaker Southeast...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2011

Shared regional interests draw Japan and India closer

Over the past decade, India and Japan have built a relationship of strategic cooperation to promote collaboration on regional and global issues. An examination of the current situation indicates that their relations are a sum greater than its parts.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 5, 2011

Forecasts of robust middle-class growth are reason enough for Chinese, Indian optimism

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted recently that if present trends continue, India will become the world's third largest economy by 2025.
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2011

Alternative to Net domain racket

Regarding Esther Dyson's Aug. 30 Project Syndicate article, "'Protection racket' for Net domain names": It is not difficult to force Internet users to pay the huge and excessive prices demanded by "supposed" or "assumed" monopolies like the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),...
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2011

West's motives for helping Libya

Regarding the Sept. 1 opinion article "Libya's next fight: the West": Surely writer Ramzy Baroud has read a few too many conspiracy novels, or believes the worst about the United States and any Western government. After reading further and following the link to the website he writes for, I think his...

Longform

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