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Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2011

No unconditional right to enter

Regarding professor Reece Jones' Aug. 18 Project Syndicate article, "Fall of Berlin Wall wasn't the end of barriers": I can't imagine that Jones would be happy if a gaggle of ruffians burst into his home, plopped down on his sofa and put their feet up on his coffee table.Yet, that is exactly what he...
Reader Mail
Sep 4, 2011

Putting Japan in America's place

Regarding Hiroaki Sato's Aug. 29 article, 'Gratuitous' bombing of a defeated enemy," I'd like to make a few comments as a Japanese who is very interested in history. There are said to be several reasons why the United States used the atomic bomb on Japan, including that the U.S. wanted to intimidate...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 4, 2011

Posturing won't keep Japan from defending WBC title

One of the stories in baseball news recently involves the participation — or non-participation — by a Japan representative team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
COMMENTARY
Sep 3, 2011

Safe choice, but wrong choice?

Former Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda is the new prime minister of Japan. Noda is something of an anomaly: one of those self-deprecating politicians — he likens himself to a "loach," a scavenger that is kin to the catfish — who commands respect for having a steady hand and even temperament. Some...
Reader Mail
Sep 1, 2011

Small steps to an attractive home

Stephen Hesse's Aug. 28 Our Planet Earth column, titled "Is youth's 'creeping passivity' happening by design?," is a very interesting and well-thought-out piece. I've often had thoughts like these, but will instead offer a contrasting point of view.
Reader Mail
Sep 1, 2011

Other routes of dioxin exposure

Regarding the Aug. 24 article "Okinawa vet blames cancer on defoliant": Dioxin is recognized, medically, as a toxic carcinogen. What is not so clear, particularly to the public, is how we are exposed to dioxin on a regular basis — in ways that do not involve Agent Orange. The primary source of dioxin...
Reader Mail
Sep 1, 2011

Don't send debris elsewhere

Regarding the Aug. 29 Kyodo article "Cesium in incinerator dust across East Japan": I would like to draw readers' attention to a related problem. The Environment Ministry is said to be planning to ship radioactive debris from Iwate and Miyagi prefectures to incineration plants in western Japan and Hokkaido...
Reader Mail
Sep 1, 2011

Tea party endorses democracy

Professor Yoshi Tsurumi's Aug. 26 article, "The DPJ face of Obama perplexes Japanese voters," contains several assertions that are not factually correct. First of all, the American tea party is not "anti-government and anti-democratic." The tea party consists of Democrats, Independents and Republicans...
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2011

Noda a grappler, wears many hats

Depending on who you ask, Yoshihiko Noda is a fiscal policy expert, a conservative who believes the Class-A war criminals were not in fact so, or the ailing Democratic Party of Japan's last hope to regain the public's trust.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Aug 29, 2011

The feudal lords of power

The inherently arrogant nature of the electric power industry in Japan came to light recently when Kyushu Electric Power Co. tried to influence a public hearing on whether to allow the company to resume operation of its Genkai nuclear power stations in Saga Prefecture. Kyushu Electric urged its employees...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

China-baiting goes over the top

Regarding Michael Richardson's Aug. 24 article, "Taiwan arms deal serves as litmus test of U.S. resolve": Richardson's biased assumptions and pandering to paranoid anti-China elements borders on yellow journalism. He uses the straw man of a Chinese "red line" regarding U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan to...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

Tragic adult behavior on river

Regarding the Aug. 19 Kyodo article "Trio still missing in boat sinking": I know this will probably conflict with the knee-jerk reaction that most people have to this tragedy (on the Tenryu River in Shizuoka Prefecture), but I do not lay blame on the tour company or the boat skippers. I believe it falls...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

Japan trip looks good in Scotland

Regarding Takahiro Fukada's Aug. 23 article, "Restoring foreign tourism tall order": I am very sorry to hear that foreign tourism is so badly affected by recent events in Japan. From this side of the world, I only hear words of support for your country and an earnest desire to see Japan recover as quickly...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2011

U.S. response will cause chaos

Regarding Barry Eichengreen's opinion article, "What can take the dollar's place?": The naivete of the American consumer and the greed of international corporations allowed the accumulation of dollars in Japan and China, which were used to further the economic needs of those outside the United States...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 28, 2011

Star's exit shows it's not what you know — but who

If you asked anyone in the world with access to any sort of media what last week's big news story was, they would probably say Libya. If you asked the same question of similarly connected people in Japan, they would probably say the retirement of comedian Shinsuke Shimada. The fall of Tripoli didn't...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 27, 2011

Aichi training medical interpreters for foreigners

The Aichi Prefectural Government is running a project to train medical interpreters in English, Portuguese, Chinese and Spanish to help improve communication between foreign patients and doctors.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2011

1953 records on handling U.S. forces released

The Foreign Ministry on Friday released previously classified records dating from 1953, including a section stating that Japan didn't intend to exercise its primary right of jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel involved in crimes unless cases were deemed of "material importance."
Reader Mail
Aug 25, 2011

Cleansing the soil of radioactivity

Regarding the Aug. 23 Kyodo article "Fukushima hunts for cesium-resistant rice": While I understand the goal of trying to find a strain of rice that will absorb practically no cesium, I can't help asking some questions: Shouldn't cesium and all other radioactive materials be completely taken out of the...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2011

Joint development in the South China Sea

Unlike last year, when sparks flew at the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington had an interest in the resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, this year's 27-nation forum was relatively calm as China evidently sought to maintain...
BASKETBALL
Aug 23, 2011

Talented guard Gardener reunites with Nakamura

The Akita Northern Happinets have secured the services of explosive lead guard Michael Gardener for the 2011-12 season. The bj-league club made the announcement on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Aug 22, 2011

Bureaucrats blame Kan for sapping their initiative

For the past several months since the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, an increasing number of bureaucrats have grown "negligent in their duties" because of what they view as the incompetence of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
COMMENTARY
Aug 22, 2011

Lessons from the affairs of Cuban crocodiles

The recent finding that the seriously endangered Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) has been hybridizing in the wild with the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) offers a sobering lesson. It shows that there is no real antagonism between Cuban and American crocodiles, something that policymakers...
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2011

Understanding the deer life cycle

The Aug. 13 article "Mie crop-eating deer: venisons of the forest" (reprinted from the Chunichi Shimbun) is interesting but very naive with regard to controlling the deer population. Good wildlife management is imperative, but that doesn't exist in Japan. "Hunters," most of whom aren't very skilled,...
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2011

Tax hike won't fix the problem

Regarding the Aug. 14 Kyodo article "Fiscal reform necessary to avoid crisis": Politicians understand that when you tax something you get less of it. In the United States, this prohibitionist rationale outweighs the revenue-raising rationale in the case of tobacco and alcohol taxes.
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2011

The real power when Edo opened

In his July 31 Timeout article, "Most unlikely bedfellows" — on the beginning of U.S.-Japan relations — writer Michael Hoffman made a number of assertions that might have either confused or misled readers.
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2011

No country for Asian refugees

Regarding the July 6 article "UNHCR exec lauds refugee strides, urges more": In the 1970s, Japanese vessels in the South China Sea rescued a lot of boat people who hoped to live in Japan. After several years, though, most of them left for the United States and other Western countries.
Reader Mail
Aug 21, 2011

Japan's wall of double standards

It's not clear whether the comment by Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, reported in the Aug. 17 Kyodo article "S. Korea blasts Noda's war criminal remarks," is aimed at the Japanese public or at other countries including the United States.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Aug 21, 2011

Westover brings impressive record with him to Shiga

The Japan Times features periodic interviews with personalities in the bj-league. Coach Alan "Al" Westover of the Shiga Lakestars is the subject of this week's profile.
Reader Mail
Aug 18, 2011

Risks from deadbeat tenants

I read with interest the Aug. 2 life & style article "Once settled in, chances are you'll have to pay to stay," as I can understand that the property rental system with its deposits, gratitude fees and renewal fees may be difficult for a foreign tenant to understand. But let's look at this from another...

Longform

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