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November 13, 2025
 

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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...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 15, 2009

The recession will lead to a downturn in media quality

Every day there is more gloomy news about a major manufacturer or retailer or service company cutting jobs — and not just a few dozen here or there, but thousands, tens of thousands. No one gets out alive, except self-made billionaires and McDonald's, which is doing quite well, apparently. People will...
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Not just another castle piece

Simon Bartz's Feb. 8 Timeout Travel article, "Storming the keep of Himeji Castle," which I just read on The Japan Times Web site, is a fantastic piece of writing. I've done a small amount of travel writing about Japan and have always struggled to find an appropriate style to cover the traveler- fun-seeker-British-drinker...
Reader Mail
Feb 15, 2009

Learn from Canadian cod fishery

Regarding the Jan. 30 article "A whale of a shortsighted subsidy program": Japan should take note of the Canadian Atlantic cod fishery example. The federal government in the 1980s poured money into the industry long after its own scientists were signaling an overfishing problem. One would imagine it...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 14, 2009

Painting pictures from an artistic lyrical palette

As a narrative goes, lyricist Chris Mosdell's story is anything but a straightforward one.
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2009

Establish regional trauma centers

Regarding the Feb. 5 article "Crash victim refused by 14 hospitals dies": The emergency medical service in Japan is not failing; it failed a long time ago and is basically beyond death's door. Japan needs to set up a system of regional trauma centers, each serving several hundred thousand people, with...
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2009

Who is responsible for the past?

Regarding the Feb. 7 article "Aso Mining POWs seek redress": Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukihisa Fujita is quoted as saying, "As a prime minister of a nation who represents the country, (Prime Minister Taro) Aso needs to take responsibility for the past as well as the future."
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2009

Doubts about high school quality

The enrollment figures presented by Robert Dujarric and Yuki Allyson Honjo in their Feb. 5 article, "Why can't Japanese kids get into Harvard?," mirrored my own observations from when I was an undergrad there. Compared to the many students from Korea, China and elsewhere throughout Asia, Japanese students...
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2009

Stumbling block for bright students

As former chair of the Secondary Schools Committee for the Harvard Club of Japan from 1990 until 1999, and a member of the International Admissions Committee in the Harvard Admissions Office before that, I am in a unique position to support the observations of Robert Dujarric and Yuki Allyson Honjo in...
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2009

Secretary Clinton's No. 1 mission is to reassure allies

HONOLULU — We welcome the news that Hillary Clinton's first overseas trip as U.S. secretary of state will be to Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China. While her visit to Beijing will likely garner the lion's share of attention and her visit to Indonesia will generate the most speculation (can a visit by...
Reader Mail
Feb 12, 2009

Any foreign tongue gets short shrift

I agree with many of the comments made by Gregory Clark in his Feb. 5 article "What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan." Based on my own teaching experiences, lack of motivation on the part of students and teachers is a driving force for poor English-language ability. That said, I've also...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Feb 11, 2009

Breaking the U.S.-Japan jinx

Prime Minister Taro Aso seems eager to meet the new president of the United States, Barack Obama, as the initial step toward accomplishing something big in the field of diplomacy, and in an effort to put the brakes on the downward spiral of his popularity at home.
Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2009

A destiny to defend the oceans

Regarding the Feb. 3 article "Protesters, whalers fight over use of illegal weapons": The only way this will ever stop is if Japan itself stops killing whales. We citizens of the world will not stand idly by to watch our beloved whales and dolphins slaughtered for Japanese appetites.
Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2009

Discrimination doesn't teach much

I tend to disagree with the assumptions made by Paul de Vries in recent articles (including his Feb. 3 Zeit Gist article, "What would the locals do?") that tell readers how non-Japanese people should learn from the Japanese idea of "group accountability." De Vries has tried to explain this idea with...
Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2009

Why limit worldwide broadcasts?

Regarding the Feb. 3 article "NHK goes global with all-English broadcasts": As has been the case with all articles concerning this subject, we are told that "The broadcasts will not be aired in Japan." Am I the only one to ask, "Why not?"
Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2009

U.S.-centric view of engagement

Regarding the Feb. 5 article "Why can't Japanese kids get into Harvard?": I agree that the Japanese education system holds back many students with talent, particularly in terms of creativity and in the pursuit of anything outside the normal curriculum. But to suggest that only an education from an Ivy...
Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2009

Fear serves as the glue that binds

Although Paul de Vries manages to encapsulate Japan in a somewhat rosy light, his article frames an us-vs.-them slight — or the gratingly hackneyed individual-vs.-group polemic. We all know Japan is a safe and generally hospitable place in comparison to a myriad of others. Few would truly disagree....
Reader Mail
Feb 8, 2009

Britain's fixation on euro bondage

In his Jan. 30 article, "Dreaming of a pound floor," David Howell predicts that Britain is unlikely to "replace the pound with the euro." The question is: Why?
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 8, 2009

New law may backfire on victims

In December, a new law went into effect allowing victims of crimes and their families to participate in trial proceedings. Previously, victims were virtually shut out of criminal courts unless they were called on to provide testimony. Under the new law, they may sit next to prosecutors during trials,...
Reader Mail
Feb 5, 2009

Fighting spirit is greatest lesson

Edward R. Howe's Jan. 27 article, " 'Marathon' ritual must change," criticizes the focus on wins and high rankings. Howe mentions his son's humiliating experience of being ranked, and why school marathons should not concentrate on winning. In my opinion, ranking and treating students differently just...
Reader Mail
Feb 5, 2009

Caregiving comes from the heart

Regarding the Jan. 30 article "Indonesian caregivers start work at nursing homes": I am a caregiver myself, having taken the "level 2" lessons. I have two grown boys, live with my husband, and have lived in Japan for more than 20 years. I have never learned the language, but can read hiragana and write...
Reader Mail
Feb 5, 2009

Kabuki-za deserves better fate

Regarding the Jan. 29 article and photo titled "Kabuki-za to be reincarnated in form of commercial high-rise": To destroy the beautiful Kabuki-za building and replace it with this monolithic eyesore is a travesty of anything resembling "art." I am very saddened that yet again in Tokyo a beautiful, historic...
Reader Mail
Feb 5, 2009

High road to physical fitness

Regarding the Jan. 27 Hotline to Nagatacho article " 'Marathon' ritual must change": While I understand the author's intent in asking for change, I must respectfully disagree with him on the "need" for things like his son's "marathon" to be discontinued. I myself was much like the author's son. As a...
COMMENTARY
Feb 5, 2009

What's wrong with the way English is taught in Japan

The good news is that Japan's education bureaucrats realize that despite six years of middle and high school study many Japanese are still unable to speak English well. The bad news is that the bureaucrats plan to solve this problem by giving us more of what caused the problem.
Reader Mail
Feb 5, 2009

Simple logic for getting ahead

Regarding the Jan. 31 article "Cabinet Office to aid foreigners caught in recession trap": I am an American who came to Japan over 10 years ago without speaking a word of Japanese. I consequently studied on my own, with the help of a language program, and got myself into a dental school in Japan after...
EDITORIALS
Feb 4, 2009

Japanese thinker from the Gulag

On Aug. 9, 1945, the Soviet Army started invading Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Japanese military in today's Northeast China, violating the Japan-Soviet Neutrality Pact. Many Japanese, both civilians and soldiers, perished there and the Soviet Union took many Japanese to labor camps in Siberia and...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Feb 3, 2009

Home-seeking headache; Americans' burden

A new low in Tokyo I appeared in the article by Jenny Uechi headlined "Prejudice among obstacles facing non-Japanese tenants," (Zeit Gist, Nov. 18). I would like to report a recent event that may interest you.
Reader Mail
Feb 1, 2009

Reckless way to handle money

Regarding the Jan. 28 article "Extra budget with cash handouts passed": Considering the cost of collecting all of this cash from taxpayers combined with the cost of redistributing all of it back to taxpayers, I seriously question the thought processes that went into passing the program.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Tokyo ranked world’s richest city by GDP, with Osaka-Kobe also rated highly
Tokyo has a gross domestic product of $2.55 trillion, just ahead of New York’s $2.49 trillion and Greater Los Angeles’ $1.62 trillion, according to CEOWorld’s global wealth index.
Tokyo looks to keep ‘monster parents’ at bay with new protocols
New guidelines are addressing struggles by teachers to deal with the burden of parents who make irrational complaints that go beyond what is considered socially acceptable, often referred to as "monster parents," which is overwhelming their workload.
China delivers warning to U.S. and Japan with third aircraft carrier
The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, carries out sea trials at an unknown location in May last year.
Japan lawmakers eye firm response to Chinese envoy's threat to behead PM
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Friday.
As Japan’s female leader rises, can she cross sumo’s sacred line?
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (front center) delivers a speech on the first day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Sunday. Centuries of belief and tradition still underpin the all-male association's stance of excluding women.
Takaichi doesn’t mince words on Taiwan, but dramatic policy shift unlikely
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session in parliament on Tuesday.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.
China delivers warning to U.S. and Japan with third aircraft carrier
The Fujian, China's third aircraft carrier, carries out sea trials at an unknown location in May last year.
Jenson Button brings end to an illustrious racing career intertwined with Japan
Jenson Button races for Honda during the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2008.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
By Yukana Inoue

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