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Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / ANALYSIS
May 31, 2009

Canseco's MMA debut a farce

It was exactly what you'd call a chaban, or a farce.
JAPAN
May 30, 2009

Ruling coalition rams through record ¥14 trillion extra budget

A record ¥14 trillion extra budget for fiscal 2009 was enacted by the Diet on Friday as the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc used its right to override the opposition again and force the legislation through.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 29, 2009

Kirihito "Question"

With a reputation for furious, hypnotic live performances, and a sound that evades all attempts to pin it down with the usual genre cliches, Tokyo-based duo Kirihito have gradually carved themselves a position as legends in the underground-music scene despite only releasing albums sporadically over the...
Reader Mail
May 28, 2009

Best after-sales service anywhere

Regarding the May 25 article "Traditional merchant values resurgent in recessionary Japan": In my 16 years living and working in Japan, I found the merchant values overwhelmingly positive — once you could communicate in Japanese — especially when shopping for big-ticket items. Anyone who has bought...
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2009

Words alone won't end torture

"We are going to smash your hands to pulp like the Chileans did to Victor Jara." Those were the words of the torturers in a Uruguayan prison spoken to my friend Miguel Angel Estrella, a pianist from Argentina. They were referring to the fate of the imprisoned Chilean singer and guitarist Victor Jara,...
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2009

Cross-strait gap narrows

Two things became apparent during a recent visit to China. One was the vitality of the economy; the critics who fussed over China's recent export downturn overlooked Beijing's ability to shift to a domestic demand-oriented economy. The other was the importance of Taiwan in Beijing's thinking.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 25, 2009

Paying Aso back with praise

Ranking officials at the Foreign Ministry appear more preoccupied with presenting Prime Minister Taro Aso as dexterous at diplomacy than promoting the national interest. One official has confided that it is now their turn to return the favor given to them when Aso was foreign minister.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 22, 2009

Screening in aid of AUW 'magic-making'

On Jan. 11, 2009, Jeff Kingston penned an illuminating and inspirational feature for the cover page of Sunday's Timeout. Headlined "Asia University for Women: Magic in the making," it told the story of this venture, now up and running in Bangladesh, that has gained widespread international support aimed...
COMMENTARY / World
May 21, 2009

What do the North Koreans really want?

WASHINGTON — The latest statements out of North Korea appear to be telegraphing Pyongyang's next set of provocative moves. It has threatened further ballistic missile tests, another nuclear test, and steps to acquire its own civilian nuclear capabilities unless the United Nations "apologizes" for its...
Reader Mail
May 17, 2009

Dehumanizing influence on all

Regarding Satsuo Matsumoto's May 10 letter, "Torture necessary in some cases": Any reader inclined to endorse the opinion of Matsumoto concerning the morality and practical benefits of torture need look no further than the excellent article by Tzvetan Todorov, "Petty torture rules played on sense of...
Reader Mail
May 17, 2009

Columnist treading new ground

Regarding Thomas Dillon's May 9 article, "In search of picture-perfect Tokyo": What used to draw me to Dillon's columns was the pathos of a Midwest American with a black belt in "Japonica-dojo," who nevertheless wearily trod that fine invisible line often undetected by your average ex-pat in Japan.
Reader Mail
May 17, 2009

Seek a Northern Territories lease

Regarding the May 13 article "Aso, Putin ink nuclear-power deal": Even though the Russian government will probably never declare it out loud, all the signs it is sending are clear. Although Russia is not arguing how it took possession of these islands, it will never fully return them to Japan. Russia...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CITIZEN JUSTICE
May 15, 2009

Media fret risk of biasing lay judges

Fourth in a series
Reader Mail
May 14, 2009

Gratitude for a sense of obligation

Though tongue in cheek, Amy Chavez's May 2 article, " A nation of outstanding debts," shows one of the more delightful characteristics of Japanese culture — and thank the Lord for it. Isn't it wonderful to feel sincere gratitude for even the smallest gesture of sympathy proffered by someone else?
Reader Mail
May 14, 2009

Fulfillment despite eccentricity

Regarding Michael Hoffman's April 26 article, "Nagai Kafu: a literary loner": Kafu at the time was basically eccentric. Many people frown on this trait, yet each one of us has our share of eccentricities. They are what make each of us unique. I truly admire men and women whom many may view as self-absorbed,...
Reader Mail
May 14, 2009

Promiscuous lifestyle led nowhere

Regarding the May 1 article " Sean Penn 'Milk' star is cream of the crop — again": Hollywood used to celebrate people like Mahatma Gandhi and Oskar Schindler — not men such as Harvey Milk, who encouraged a reckless sexual lifestyle that has wrought so much disease and death.
Reader Mail
May 14, 2009

Business of keeping us safe

Professor Yoshi Tsurumi's criticism of President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Taro Aso for not prosecuting or apologizing for "war crimes" (May 3 article, "U.S. imitating Japan's denial of responsibility") strikes me as one of the the more convoluted and, frankly, ludicrous opinion pieces I have encountered. ...
Reader Mail
May 14, 2009

Could do without vivid details

Regarding the May 10 article "Office workers out in front in demand for men's bras" and related Timeout articles: It is hard to know which is more disturbing, the "demand for men's bras" or the "Angel-lap Pillow." What "psychological" purpose and what "calming effects of a bra" could there possibly be...
JAPAN
May 14, 2009

Lower House passes budget, draws protest

Over the outraged shouts of opposition lawmakers, the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc rammed the ¥14 trillion extra budget for fiscal 2009 and related bills through the Lower House Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
May 12, 2009

The Calderon saga: reader responses

Readers' responses to David McNeill's April 14 Zeit Gist article, "A battle for Japan's future," on the Calderon case:
COMMENTARY
May 11, 2009

French role in the export of torture practices

NEW YORK — Developing countries are routinely blamed for using brutal techniques on prisoners. The same condemnation should be extended to industrialized countries that not only used these techniques themselves but also exported them to other countries.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 11, 2009

Ozawa weighs next move

The attention of many political observers appears to be focused on when and how, rather than if, Ichiro Ozawa will step down as the leader of the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan before the next general election due to take place no later than September.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2009

Let China launch its flattop

China's possession of aircraft carriers is not a matter of if but when. Last November, an official in China's Ministry of National Defense touched for the first time in a public venue on the possibility of his nation acquiring aircraft carriers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 9, 2009

No place left to go after exiting Guantanamo

GUANTANAMO BAY — I write this from the U.S. Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay, where I have been held without charge for almost seven years.
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2009

'Mr. Democracy' fell short after 1919 demonstration

HONG KONG — Ninety years ago this week, thousands of students from Peking University and elsewhere gathered in the then much smaller Tiananmen Square before marching through the city in protest.
JAPAN
May 4, 2009

Both sides on constitutional change hold rallies

The pros and cons of changing the Constitution were on full display Sunday — the 62nd Constitution Day — with both opponents and proponents holding rallies to push their causes.
Reader Mail
May 3, 2009

Can't beat denim for comfort

Wearing what you want is more to my liking than George Will's hoity-toity conviction in his April 26 article, "Grow up and ditch the denim." I wore jeans in my youth, in middle age and now in my senior years. I have worn them for one persuasive reason: comfort, not because I'm a rebel with or without...
Reader Mail
May 3, 2009

Water needs for California rice

Stephen Hesse's April 26 article, "Ignorance of 'sustainability' is not an option," falls apart if one takes the time to do a little fact-checking. His assertion that the U.S. government spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually in California "to subsidize farmers who grow water-guzzling crops...

Longform

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