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Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2009

Professor a model of generosity

Regarding the The Observer article "Peter Singer: moral arbiter of life and death," published in The Japan Times on Feb. 28: Professor Peter Singer is quoted as saying that "All the arguments to prove man's superiority cannot shatter this hard fact: In suffering, the animals are our equals."
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2009

Japanese should not be ashamed

The Feb. 20 article "Aso accepts blame for Nakagawa" mentions that Prime Minister Taro Aso apologized for appointing Shoichi Nakagawa as finance minister. Although Aso should be held accountable for Nakagawa's slurred words and groggy appearance during a news conference in Rome, the Japanese government...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 5, 2009

Japanese perceptions of Obama's nuclear 'twin commitments'

How does Japan view U.S. President Barack Obama's "twin commitments" to the goals of nuclear abolition and maintaining an adequate deterrent as long as nuclear weapons remain?
Reader Mail
Mar 5, 2009

'Slumdog' has benefited actors

Gautaman Bhaskaran's rather negative Feb. 27 article, " Little reason for Indians to claim 'Slumdog,'" only reasserts the cynical desire for India not to address the issues on its doorstep. Amid all the British-bashing rhetoric, perhaps Bhaskaran should be reminded that the novel "Q&A" (on which the...
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

A safe place for driving around

Regarding Amy Chavez's Feb. 21 article, "Driving in Japan is not for the gullible": I am an American living in Japan and have my own car. Japanese spend a long time at driving schools — not like Americans in the United States who just take drivers' education in high school and maybe a short weekend...
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

BOJ road to more economic pain

Regarding the Feb. 20 article "BOJ will buy ¥1 trillion in corporate bonds; rate stands": It's a shame that the action taken by the Bank of Japan with such good intentions will in the long run lead only to more economic pain. This is not just a Japanese mistake; America's stimulus package and Troubled...
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Odd unit of energy acceleration

Regarding Rowan Hooper's Feb. 8 article, "City ecology explains Japan's low birthrate": In addition to the argument running a bit more like numerology than science, Rowan Hooper quotes "natural" human energy consumption as 8,400 kilojoules (kJ) per day and then proceeds to convert that to 100 watts...
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Prime targets of suicide bombers

Regarding the Feb. 17 article "Novelist Murakami accepts Israeli literary prize": Congratulations to Haruki Murakami on his Jerusalem award, but his negative comments about Israel show a lack of understanding. The "egg" that he will always defend is a prime target of these Hamas terrorists. Hamas and...
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Lingual connection to culture

Regarding the Feb. 25 article "The character of a culture resides in its language": Writer Boye De Mente says native-language "keywords preserve and transmit concepts that are pivotal in shaping the thinking of the people who use them" and that "the beliefs and behavior of people in all societies, especially...
Reader Mail
Mar 1, 2009

Cabdriver with the big picture

Regarding the Feb. 26 "Words to Live by" column about Jazz Taxi driver Toshiyuki Anzai: What a fantastic article. Now here's a man with wisdom — not some MBA jerk I see in the United States every day who acts like he knows something. This cabdriver will never go hungry because he feeds the heart of...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2009

Lower House passes ¥88 trillion budget

The Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc passed the ¥88 trillion fiscal 2009 budget bill and related legislation Friday through the Lower House, paving the way for implementing the biggest initial budget ever by the March 31 end of the fiscal year.
COMMENTARY
Feb 27, 2009

Econ lessons from Japan

Searching the reasons for Japan's "lost decade" — the deflation and stunted growth said to have plagued Japan ever since the collapse of the "bubble economy" in the early 1990s — has long been popular among U.S. and British commentators seeking an answer to the West's current economic problems.
Reader Mail
Feb 26, 2009

Problem with new ID system

Regarding the Feb. 18 article "Justice Ministry looking to take over foreigner ID cards": It seems that neither The Japan Times nor other English-language newspapers can agree on whether changes to the new zairyu (residence) cards would have to be reported to the Immigration Bureau or to the Justice...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2009

Communists looking better lately

The Japanese Communist Party, although still a minor factor in either house of the Diet, is gaining popularity among voters as its membership grows again and as an increasing number of people watch the Web sites of party chairman Kazuo Shii. This worries other political parties, since a general election...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / ONE-ON-ONE WITH ...
Feb 24, 2009

Kinjo reaps benefits of workouts

The Japan Times will be featuring periodic interviews with players in the bj-league — Japan's first professional basketball circuit — which began its fourth season in October. Shigeyuki Kinjo of the Ryukyu Golden Kings is the subject of this week's profile.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Feb 24, 2009

What would the locals do? Readers offer their views

Following are readers' responses to Paul de Vries' Feb. 3 Zeit Gist article, "What would the locals do?":
Reader Mail
Feb 22, 2009

How to right an insane legacy

Regarding Cesar Chelala's Feb. 17 article, "Rumsfeld prosecution could set precedent": I would welcome and encourage this action. Some way must be found to hold to account such outlaws — and I include the former U.S. president, vice president, their senior staff and the lawyers who wrote the incredible...
Reader Mail
Feb 22, 2009

Shameful focus on student trivia

Regarding the Feb. 16 article "Kyoto Univ. law student busted for pot": It seems shameful that both the United States and Japan still criminalize the use of marijuana while dispensing by prescription horrible and lethal drugs to their citizens. Does anyone do anything about it until people die? I, for...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS / ICE TIME
Feb 22, 2009

Kim sends shot across bow with victory in Vancouver

Kim Yu Na delivered a strong message to world champion Mao Asada with her victory at the recent Four Continents Championship in Vancouver.
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2009

Kyoto got what it asked for

Regarding the Jan. 13 article "Respect 'maiko' privacy, don't act like paparazzi, Kyoto tells tourists": All of Kyoto has aggressively promoted tourism to the international community. The city.kyoto.jp Web site provides a pamphlet that dedicates two pages to the maiko (apprentice geisha), the same amount...
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2009

Shuichi Kato will be missed

Regarding the Feb. 12 article "Pacifist, cultural critic Kato remembered": The day the honorable Dr. Shuichi Kato passed away was indeed a sad day for Japan. We have lost a very truthful man, a man of honor who saw wrong and tried to right it, who saw human suffering and tried to heal it, and who saw...
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2009

Job cuts for amakudari crowd

Regarding the Feb. 10 article "The uphill battle against 'descent from heaven' ": While it is commendable that people in Japan are ready to condemn the amakudari practice of retiring bureaucrats and to do something about it, the measures recently proposed by the Aso administration will be ineffectual. ...
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2009

Tokyo indeed is photogenic

Regarding the Feb. 13 article "Light moments in a drab metropolis": As a photographer who photographs not just the people of the city of Tokyo, but also the city itself, I must take issue with writer Marius Gombrich's suggestion that Tokyo is the most unphotogenic of cities.
Reader Mail
Feb 19, 2009

Harvard has yet to sell itself

Regarding the Feb. 5 article "Why can't Japanese kids get into Harvard?": The answer is that they are not interested. Harvard is difficult, expensive and far from Japan. Although there are many promising Japanese candidates for Harvard, they usually go to medical schools or to Tokyo University. Therefore,...
COMMENTARY
Feb 17, 2009

Rumsfeld prosecution could set precedent

NEW YORK — There is now enough evidence to try former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes, Manfred Nowak, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, recently told "Frontal 21," a German television program.
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Suggestion for teaching English

In the Feb. 5 article, "What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan": It would have been better if writer Gregory Clark had admitted that neither he nor anybody else is capable of dismissing the efforts of teachers and students alike without a comprehensive grasp of the situation in every school...
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Fruits of hyper-individualism

The Feb. 8 Natural Selections article, "City ecology explains Japan's low birthrate," provides all sorts of academic- sounding theories and buzzwords that make Japan's low birthrate seem like just another inevitable result of an irresistible force. I would offer another reason.
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Release of Guantanamo prisoners

Regarding Michael Richardson's Feb. 4 article, "Guantanamo closure raises key issues for U.S.": I do not perceive the purpose of Richardson's reciting well-known facts without rendering an opinion. One has to interpret his opinion from his stress on the negative implications of President Barack Obama's...
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Limit the trial role of victims

Regarding Philip Brasor's Feb. 8 Media Mix article, "New law may backfire on victims": Sometimes it seems that many people have forgotten that a trial has a two parts: First, the defendant is found innocent or guilty; then, if guilty, punishment is imposed. This is supposed to be true in Japan, just...

Longform

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