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Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Oct 21, 2011

Kabaya starts strong as B-Corsairs evolve

With four games in the books, the expansion Yokohama B-Corsairs now have several relevant things that can be discussed in team meetings. A few trends have started to emerge, too, including the solid play of guards Masayuki Kabaya and Kenji Yamada.
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Japan's genuine heroes

In answer to the Oct. 8 article by Thomas Dillon ("Where have all the heroes gone?"), there is no shortage of heroes in Japan. The actions and cooperation of those families and individuals in the region impacted by the tsunami, the families that took in family members who lost everything, the many volunteers....
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Recalling Sony's halcyon days

In regard to the Oct. 14th article "Sony recalls 1.6 million Bravia TVs worldwide," it seems a little ironic to me.
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Hope springs in time of change

If Robert J. Samuelson's prognosis in the Oct. 19 article "Our children's future no longer looks so bright" is correct, then there is probably no better time to feel better about the future than when things look so dim.
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Understanding Occupy Tokyo

It is hard to understand how in the Oct. 16 article "Hundreds turn out to Occupy Tokyo," a reporter could write: "In addition to decrying the widening wealth gap between the nation's haves and have-nots, demonstrators spoke out on a variety of unrelated topics ranging from nuclear power to the Trans-Pacific...
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2011

Chinese law reform may be a double-edged sword

Reform of the Chinese legal system is desperately needed but the draft of large-scale amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law shows that the current exercise in law reform is potentially a double-edged sword.
Reader Mail
Oct 20, 2011

Resourceful China sets example

In regard to Brahma Chellaney's Oct. 19 article, "China's unparalleled rise as a hydro-hegemon," China has set a template for holistic development of natural resources that its peers would do well to emulate.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Oct 19, 2011

Android privacy concerns rise over apps crossing the line

Tokyo-based IT company Milog is known for providing Android-based smartphone apps that let users share information about the apps installed on their phones and rank them by popularity. This small startup, established in 2009, has been supported by notable companies, including receiving a ¥310 million...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Oct 18, 2011

Noda, tear down this 'nuclear village'

Dear Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, The Great East Japan Earthquake was a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions. While the quake and tsunami did tremendous damage to Tohoku, the triple meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant did even more harm to the country by threatening the health of the population,...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Why U.S. won't apologize

Given President Barack Obama's past remarks, it's clear he feels strong guilt for Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Oct. 8 article "Hiroshima mayor not pressing for Obama apology"). Unfortunately, it might be a little bit different from the opinion of ordinary American people.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Reality of scarcity problem

What do the article by Rowan Hooper ("Like Astro Boy, humans may be able to live with radiation") and the letter by Rohan Donald ("Thorium reactors for the future") in the Oct. 9 issue have in common? The answer is that they both look to a purely technical solution to Japan's current predicament of how...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Free flights a travel turnoff?

In regard to the Oct. 11 article "Tourism blitz: 10,000 to get free flights to Japan," what an incredible offer. And yet I think that it is the wrong approach. If anything, world travelers might assume that things are so bad in Japan that the government is giving away free airline tickets. This isn't...
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Time to rebuild from Tepco failure

"If somebody tells us to stop using the cost-plus pricing formula, we would say, 'We are not in a philanthropic business,'" said a power-industry person in the Oct. 10 article "Tepco guarding its ground."
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Local fix first for Tohoku fisheries

Miyagi Gov. Yoshihiro Murai's plans for growth in the Tohoku region of Japan, in the Oct. 13 article "A chance to do more than rebuild Tohoku," seem all very positive in theory but it would be regrettable if locally-based fishing cooperatives lost their powers to large international corporations.
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 16, 2011

Average Joe could be collateral damage in war against yakuza

The war against the yakuza was raised a notch higher at the start of the month, but not everyone is happy about it.
Reader Mail
Oct 16, 2011

Eulogies for Jobs misplaced

I was a big fan of Steve Jobs. He inspired many people, including me, and all the effusive praise is well justified. But aren't we going a bit too far in describing him, as an Oct. 8 article does, as "The man who dented the universe"?
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 16, 2011

The rich are getting out while the getting is good

Japan's wealthy folks are taking their money, and their bodies, to safer havens.
Reader Mail
Oct 13, 2011

What does college ranking mean?

Regarding the Oct. 7 Kyodo article from London titled "Todai slips but reclaims best Asia university title": Who cares? What is it with the need to establish rankings? Is it for bragging rights? Academic chest-beating? Snob appeal on resumes?
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2011

China and America at odds over the South China Sea

China and the United States are at strategic odds in the South China Sea. The U.S. is striving to maintain — and if necessary — demonstrate its dominance while China is expanding its might and reach. Respective nuclear warfare strategies may even play a role with China basing and operating its nuclear...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Oct 10, 2011

Tepco guarding its ground

Recent moves by Tokyo Electric Power Co. vis-a-vis Tepco's Management and Finance Investigation Committee, an independent government panel, show how the power company has tried to avoid being forced to sell large chunks of its assets.
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2011

Ripoffs on parade in Roppongi

I find it quite humorous that TV celebrity Shimada Shinsuke is mentioned in the article ("Tokyo, Okinawa usher in antigang legislation") as if he were a criminal — guilt by association.
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2011

Think of the survivors' feelings

I was surprised to read the headline of the Oct. 4 Kyodo article "Disaster-zone population would've fallen 46% anyway: study." It suggests that the loss of life — if not from the 3/11 tsunami and earthquake — was going to occur anyway (by 2040). It lacks any sense of condolence for the victims.
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2011

Thorium reactors for the future

Regarding the Oct. 5 Kyodo article "Japan panned for pushing nuke plant exports after accident": I despair of the black comedy of Tokyo Electric Power Co. pressure and my Japanese friends' understandable, if naive, knee-jerk reaction to it.
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2011

Decay within the legal system

Regarding the Oct. 1 front-page article "Tokyo, Okinawa usher in antigang legislation": Why is any new legislation needed to combat criminals? Surely, by definition, criminals should be prosecuted because they are criminals. If not, why are the authorities always referring to such groups as organized...
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2011

In praise of Noda's good sense

Regarding the Oct. 4 front-page article "Noda halts state housing complex": Low-cost housing for civil servants flies in the face of all of us who have to pay through the nose here in Tokyo by having to fork up extra months of rent money and contract fees every two years, while the government does nothing...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2011

Battle line over the renminbi

Talk of a new "trade war" over the allegedly undervalued Chinese currency is yet again echoing through the corridors of power in Washington. The U.S. Senate seems determined to pass a bill penalizing China for manipulating the renminbi to keep its value artificially low. Beijing has responded by "regretting"...
Reader Mail
Oct 6, 2011

Plutonium perspective needed

Regarding the Oct. 1 Kyodo article "Plutonium traces found in Iitate (Fukushima Prefecture) soil": Traces of plutonium will be found at every location on Earth if the test is sensitive enough.
Reader Mail
Oct 6, 2011

Fitting reminder of an obligation

Regarding the Sept. 30 Kyodo article "Seoul urged to nix slave monument": The South Korean government should go ahead with the memorial to the "comfort women." It is clear that the Japanese government is hoping that the issue will die off along with the remaining handful of elderly Korean women. This...
Reader Mail
Oct 6, 2011

Look who's fretting about danger

For people who do not wish to see Russia regain its former strength, if not glory, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is a dangerous czar. Such is the narrative consistently sung by people like Ralph Peters, the writer of the Sept. 30 Washington Post article "Genius lurks in this dangerous czar."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 4, 2011

Left-behind dads take desperate measures

"In September of 2010, The Japan Times published a two-part series by a man under the pen name Richard Cory telling the extraordinary tale of his divorce and custody battles over his three children with his Japanese ex-wife . . . essentially custody by capture." — "Divorce and the Welfare of the Child...

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