Search - article

 
 
Reader Mail
Jan 6, 2011

Thin-skinned 'Christophobia' reeks

In the Dec. 30 letter, "Overbearing demand on Christmas," Usman Makhdoom bemoans The Japan Times' decision to run Kevin Rafferty's Dec. 24 op-ed article, "A thought for the holy day" (about the religious meaning of Christmas). Why does Makhdoom label it "overbearing" and a "rant"?
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 5, 2011

EU's instability mechanism

MUNICH — By 2010, Europe was to be "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge- based society in the world." This was the proclamation in 2000 by the European Commission in the "Lisbon Agenda." Now, a decade after that bold pledge, it is official: Europe is the world's growth laggard rather than its...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2011

Portents of Sudanese respect for diversity

JOHANNESBURG — It has been said, correctly, that Sudan is a microcosm of Africa. For this reason, the entire continent will follow events in Sudan over the next few months with the greatest interest.
Reader Mail
Dec 30, 2010

The time for bamboo wheelchairs

Regarding the Dec. 22 Kyodo article: "JAL wheelchair doesn't trip up metal detectors": As I read this news, I was surprised at the idea of wheelchairs made of bamboo. I've never seen these wheelchairs before, but I feel that Japan Airline Corp.'s decision to lend them to those who now use metallic wheelchairs...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 30, 2010

Mad knitters take to Tokyo's streets

This November, people strolling through a park in Ebisu, Tokyo, were baffled: Several benches there had been covered with colorful knitwear, many wildly curling around the wooden poles of backrests and armrests. Next to the benches, more wondrous knitted entities were hanging from the branches of a tree....
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 27, 2010

Computing set to bolster China's industrial prowess

China, having successfully developed the world's fastest supercomputer, now poses a more serious threat than ever to the United States militarily, and to Japan commercially.
Reader Mail
Dec 26, 2010

To speak badly and still connect

I appreciate Roger Pulvers' exposition of irregularity in English spelling and grammar in his Dec. 19 Counterpoint article, "To students of English, the Spanish Armada has a lot to answer for." But I am a bit tired of repeatedly hearing people — educated native English speakers and foreign English...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 26, 2010

2010 Japanese baseball season featured many memorable moments

Every year, Japanese baseball produces some great stories, and some not-so-wonderful ones. During this last week of 2010, let's take a final look back at some of the good and bad events that occurred over the past 12 months.
Reader Mail
Dec 26, 2010

Who isn't nervous about Beijing?

Regarding the Dec. 21 Kyodo article "(Japan's) New defense posture cause for mistrust: China Daily": Perhaps Japan's fears would be allayed if China were to become a fully fledged democracy and take a stand against the bullying stance of North Korea. Until there is a greater and demonstrable respect...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 25, 2010

Nagoya's 'recycled veggies'

It has been three years since a project to grow vegetables using compost made of untreated garbage from local supermarkets, school lunches and restaurants was started in Nagoya.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 24, 2010

Japan makes Beethoven's Ninth No. 1 for the holidays

It's Sunday afternoon at Tokyo Geijutsu Gekijo, where the Japan Philharmonic is performing Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, one of dozens of performances of the piece that take place throughout Japan during the month of December. The house is virtually sold out, and the audience appears to be mostly...
OLYMPICS
Dec 23, 2010

Defense for the next decade

The Kan administration on Dec. 17 endorsed a new National Defense Program Outline, which will serve as a guideline for Japan's defense policy for the next 10 years from fiscal 2011. The guideline has introduced the new concept of "dynamic defense capabilities" focusing on "rapid response, mobility, flexibility,...
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 20, 2010

Trends in Japan 2010: yama boom

2010 was the year in which young women, clad in brightly colored Gore-Tex, were drawn to mountain hikes and natural power sports.
Reader Mail
Dec 19, 2010

Prioritize finding MIA remains

Regarding the Dec. 12 article "Kan takes in Iwojima graves hunt": As the nephew of an American World War II service member missing in action, I commend Japan's prime minister for journeying to Iwojima and showing the world how high a priority his government gives to recovering the remains of its soldiers,...
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 18, 2010

University to fund those seeking study abroad

Nagoya University of Foreign Studies in the city of Nisshin, Aichi Prefecture, plans to start a new program from next fall that subsidizes all the costs necessary for its students to study abroad.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 17, 2010

Shock-rock act Dir En Grey snub cartoons for cred

It's no secret that, in recent years, certain styles of Japanese music have benefited massively from a surge of interest in anime and manga in the West. J-pop acts such as Puffy and AKB48 and visual-kei artists including Miyavi and L'Arc-En-Ciel have enjoyed exposure where before there was none. That's...
Reader Mail
Dec 16, 2010

Funny business beats on in Cuba

Regarding The Washington Post editorial "Cuba's Jewish hostage" (which was published in The Japan Times on Dec. 9): Saying that American Alan Gross was arrested for helping Cuba's Jewish community is like saying that the United States hates Fidel Castro because he has a beard.
Reader Mail
Dec 16, 2010

North Korea has its reasons

In his Dec. 5 letter, "Why stick up for North Korea," James Hughes says I "take up the North Korean mantle as if to disguise the brutality of the North Korean regime." But in my Dec. 1 article ("The N. Korean conundrum"), I make direct mention of that brutality. At the same time I felt it important to...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 15, 2010

The Kremlin resets Russian foreign policy

2010 has seen a change in Russia's relations with the West. The Obama administration came to office promising a "reset" in relations with Moscow, and in the past year, this new mood of cooperation has begun to deliver tangible results. Moscow and Washington are working together to reduce their nuclear...
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Dec 15, 2010

Social gaming frenzy sees two Godzillas play rough

On Dec. 8, the Tokyo-based Internet company DeNA received an on-site investigation by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) due to suspected unfair trade practices. DeNA had allegedly interfered with their third-party game providers' development of games for DeNA's competitor, Gree.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 15, 2010

Marketers bask in the glow of the year's successes

If you can generate profits during a 不景気 (fukeiki, a business recession), you must be doing something right. If you can generate a ヒット (hitto, hit) and sustain it in the face of deflation, imitators and low-cost imports, then you're to be heartily congratulated for your business acumen.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 14, 2010

Splits, rumors of splits, and the hole if Kan splits

With its rate of approval dwindling fast, the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has fallen into a "lame-duck" status, and the resultant "political vacuum" is likely to linger on for some time to come, as there is no clear prospect as to what kind of political landscape will emerge in the event...
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Dec 14, 2010

Saito poised to provide boost on, off field for Fighters

Has there ever been a meaningless pitch that could end up being so meaningful?
Reader Mail
Dec 12, 2010

Atheist feeds off religious terms

Regarding The Observer article titled "Tony Blair versus Christopher Hitchens — is religion good or evil?," which ran in The Japan Times on Dec. 4: Hitchens uses the concept of "goodness" descended from a long line of religious traditions that existed when most people were religious. He sounds parasitic...
Reader Mail
Dec 12, 2010

Italian baker could use leavening

I am gravely disappointed in the comments of Paolo Aggio, the subject of the Dec. 7 Who's Who article, "Italian baker gives new life to old Tochigi warehouse." Aggio yearns for the "good old Japan" — by that he means all of 22 years ago! — and he cannot say good things about the opportunities that...
Reader Mail
Dec 12, 2010

Shortages preserve 'Dear Leader'

Regarding John J. Metzler's Dec. 3 article, "North Korea evokes pity and condemnation": We need to acknowledge that starvation is a means of preserving power for Pyongyang. Our sense of humanity is being manipulated by the Kim Jong Il regime. Kim created the food shortage; he alone has the power to regulate...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 11, 2010

UNESCO villages in battle with modernity

Shirakawa-go in Gifu Prefecture and Gokayama in Toyama Prefecture, the historic villages dotted with "gassho-zukuri" thatched-roof houses where people still follow traditional lifestyles, are marking their 15th anniversary this month since making UNESCO's World Heritage list in 1995.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 9, 2010

Caregiving not the unemployment panacea the government hoped for

Premiums for Long-term Care Insurance could be raised again in 2012. Question is, will this translate to higher salaries for low-paid caregivers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Dec 8, 2010

'Father of the Internet in Japan' predicts the future of networked devices and tells us why Japan must deregulate online healthcare

In 1990, Jun Murai, at the time an associate professor at Keio University in Tokyo, made a prediction in an article in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. When asked what the future of computer systems would look like, he described a world where, on one level there would be a network, on a second level computers...

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