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Reader Mail
Sep 12, 2007

Living with the 'Sea of Japan'

Regarding the Aug. 29 article "Despite Korean efforts, geographic conference backs Sea of Japan name": The Koreans need to get over it and move on. Hasn't the name "Sea of Japan" been in use for at least two centuries? It would be more intelligent to move on to more progressive issues, such as creating...
Reader Mail
Sep 12, 2007

Pursuit of happiness in Bhutan

In his Aug. 30 article, "Happiness can't be legislated," David Howell writes that "It is not for state authorities to determine which kind of happiness (people) should pursue." He then criticizes the Kingdom of Bhutan for "outlawing television," insisting that everyone wear national dress, and confining...
COMMENTARY
Sep 11, 2007

Stopping sexual abuse of Russian kids

NEW YORK — One of the regrettable consequences of the uneven economic expansion that Russia has experienced in recent times has been the increase in child abuse, particularly child prostitution.
COMMUNITY
Sep 11, 2007

Have your say

The scapegoating of Asa Two thumbs up for James Eriksson and Debito Arudou on their article (Zeit Gist, Sept. 4), the first and only in Japan that actually looks at the facts of the whole (Asashoryu) situation and doesn't just follow the bandwagon of "Asa-bashing."
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

What happens in a big quake?

Regarding the Aug. 31 article "Woman's failed hospital hunt irks minister": It is incomprehensible that nine hospitals turned away a woman who was about to give birth. Does that mean there was not one bed, not one doctor, not one nurse who could have helped this poor woman, and that all the patients...
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

Shaky notion of superiority

Regarding the Sept. 2 Associated Press article datelined San Francisco, "Court rules naval sonar drills trump whale safety": It's tough being a mammal without thumbs, a flag, and weaponry. Writer Mark Twain did not put man at the top of the mammalian totem pole, with reason. What creature endowed with...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 9, 2007

Cardboard-bun incident serves up more distaste for China

Though it wasn't the most significant news story of the summer, the video that circulated worldwide in early July about the Dalian street vendor who sold pork buns stuffed with cardboard was certainly the most fun for local news outlets since it involved two subjects Japanese media can't get enough of:...
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

Japan must address its limits

Regarding the Aug. 30 article "Miscarriage follows ambulance crash after nine hospitals turn woman away": It's extremely sad to lose a baby for whatever reason. When I read that nine hospitals refused to attend to a emergency situation in which a woman was being transported in an ambulance, I didn't...
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

Image of wasteful planning

The front page of The Japan Times on Sept. 1 shows a picture of a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile battery at the Air Self-Defense Force base in Iruma, Saitama Prefecture. The accompanying article says Harumi Pier Park is a prime candidate site for deployment of the missile system in the defense...
COMMENTARY
Sep 7, 2007

APEC's purpose is missing

Each year we have to ask the same question as world leaders drag themselves across the globe, taking days from their crowded schedules, simply to hand out platitudes on the importance of free trade, the environment or some other trendy topic of the day.
Reader Mail
Sep 5, 2007

Open debate on global warming

Professor Christopher Lingle's Aug. 27 article, "Intolerance mars climate change debate," succinctly describes the present sad state of affairs. I am a retired scientist from Environment Canada and have been writing about many uncertainties in the science of global warming and climate change. About...
Reader Mail
Sep 5, 2007

Beware the sponsors of education

Shinichi Terada's implication in his Aug. 17 article, "Rural universities feel pinch of lower enrollments," that the economic troubles of many Japanese universities might be alleviated by applying more market-friendly approaches to their institutional structures and courses of study indicates a frightening...
LIFE / Language
Sep 4, 2007

Garnish your Japanese with some 'humble pie'

Second of two parts
Reader Mail
Sep 2, 2007

Internment-era comparison misses

Regarding the Aug. 25 Kyodo article "Internment-era parallels seen in today's mind-set": Japanese American Citizens League director Floyd Mori seems to be missing one very important yet simple point: Although the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II will always be a black mark on the...
Reader Mail
Sep 2, 2007

Hunt for suspect won't end

Regarding the Aug. 23 article "Hawker believed tortured 1½ days": I would like to express my sorrow for the family of Lindsay Ann Hawker (the 22-year-old English teacher murdered in Chiba Prefecture in March). I believe Japanese authorities will never stop looking for the suspect (Tatsuya Ichihashi,...
Reader Mail
Sep 2, 2007

Partition has often failed

Regarding Gregory Clark's Aug. 27 article, "Hope for peace in partition?": It was with some surprise that I read Clark preach the virtues and minimize the dangers of using partition as a tool to solve intrastate disputes (such as in Iraq). Even if one accepts Clark's view that responsibility for the...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2007

Why shield an accused authority?

I don't want The Japan Times to take this criticism as mean-spirited, but there seems to be an endemic problem in reports about authorities. For example, in the Aug. 19 article "Prosecutor faces dismissal for axing complaint," the name of the 40-year-old prosecutor (who allegedly withdrew a criminal...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2007

Korean roots of 'Genji'

Regarding the Aug. 12 article "Has another society of such superlatives ever existed at all?": Michael Hoffman claims that the Nara Period (710-784) "saw Japan's emergence from semi-barbarism into the full light of Chinese-style civilization." He talks at length about "feverish importation" and "how...
Reader Mail
Aug 28, 2007

Iran predates the Ayatollah

The photo caption for the Aug. 22 article "Khomeini wanted anti-U.S. mantra dropped" identifies Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini as "Iran's founder." Now I know the current Iranian government would like everyone to believe that Iran began in 1979. But most of us know that it has a rich history dating back...
COMMUNITY / HAVE YOUR SAY
Aug 28, 2007

Counting the cost

Although I appreciate the point that Michael Hassett is trying to make in his article "Losing custody: the odds" (Zeit Gist, Aug. 7), he asks the wrong question to try to determine a man's probability of heartbreak and turmoil and uses statistics in a way that is misleading.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 28, 2007

The blame game

We live in interesting times. With the shortage and high cost of domestic labor, the Japanese government has brought over record numbers of cheap foreign workers. Even though whole industrial sectors now depend on foreign labor, few publicly accept the symbiosis as permanent. Instead, foreigners are...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 27, 2007

Intolerance mars climate change debate

NEW DELHI — What's up with journalists in the mainstream media? In most cases, they tend to be unconditional supporters of free expression and strive to report on controversial views.
COMMENTARY
Aug 27, 2007

Hope for peace in partition?

Why is the world so reluctant to accept partition as the answer to ethnic, religious or political conflicts? The Kosovo conflict may finally be moving in that direction, but only after all sides debased themselves by years of murderous conflict. In Iraq, too, the much-needed separation into three autonomous...
Reader Mail
Aug 26, 2007

Democracies separated by culture

Regarding Hiroaki Sato's Aug. 20 article, "Why can't Americans give up their guns?": I submit that it may be impossible for Sato to understand the cultural differences between the United States and Japan on the subject of personal liberty and a free citizen's possession of the means to defend it.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 26, 2007

Paranoid android Abe blind to reality when it comes to eye contact

Image and issues always compete for voters' attention on the campaign trail, with the former usually winning. A successful candidate is the one who uses the media most effectively in shaping an image that's acceptable to more people than the next candidate's. Issues, on the other hand, have become more...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 25, 2007

Distance great Bekele aims for more glory

OSAKA — Kenenisa Bekele is the greatest athlete you've probably never heard of.
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2007

China tightens grip on Tibetan Buddhism

HONG KONG — China announced last month new regulations governing Tibetan Buddhism, including a stipulation that senior monks, known as "living Buddhas," cannot be reincarnated without government permission.
Reader Mail
Aug 22, 2007

Building opinions against war

I read Eric Prideaux's Aug. 15 article, "Surrender spared a young, doubting kamikaze," with deep sorrow. It touched my heart while giving insight on the thoughts of a Japanese warrior during and after the war. People who have witnessed or participated in war learn from the destruction it causes. It...
Reader Mail
Aug 22, 2007

Suggestion without enforcement

Regarding Mark Smith's Aug. 7 article, "U.S. takes tougher line on parental abductions": It is very good that this issue has received some attention from The Japan Times. Being denied access to a parent or child is nothing less than a violation of human rights. I am in a similar situation.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan