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COMMENTARY / World / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 29, 2013

Photos of carnage would check war sentiment

Would most Americans remain indifferent to the wars their government wages in far-off lands if their media broadcast videos each day of the shattered bodies?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 23, 2013

Student seeking Kyoto flat told: No foreigners allowed

After spending 2u00bd years living the quiet life in Shiga Prefecture, Ryukoku University student Victor Rosenhoj was looking forward to moving to Kyoto, where things promised to be more lively and international.
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Appreciation for the Oki Islands

I live in the Oki Islands and work for the Nishinoshima Tourism Association. I discovered the April 14 Timeout travel article "The Oki Islands: where time seems to have stood still."
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 11, 2013

Ishin leaders, Abe meet on revising Constitution

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Tuesday evening in Tokyo with top Osaka-based Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) officials Toru Hashimoto and Ichiro Matsui to discuss cooperation on amending the Constitution.
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2013

Aversion to blue-collar work

Regarding The Washington Post feature article that ran in The Japan Times April 8 under the headline "India students' aspirations, job market don't match": The writer has perhaps made a sincere attempt at bringing up a serious problem. But how novel is this problem? Many graduates are known to have gone...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2013

War with China is not inevitable, so tread carefully

America's path plus China's immature ambitions threaten Japan's future. Japanese constitutional change would just add to uncertainty in the region.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Mar 24, 2013

Be inspired: One person can help foster sustainable lives for millions

Last month, this column introduced Bangkok-based Midori Paxton, who is currently a regional technical adviser for biodiversity and ecosystems with the United Nations Development Programme — and who, I'm delighted to say, was a model student of mine here in Japan more than 20 years ago.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LABOR PAINS
Mar 19, 2013

Labor law reform raises rather than relieves workers' worries

A new specter hangs over Japan: the specter of insecure employment. The source of this insecurity is the August 2012 reform of the Labor Contract Act related to fixed-term employment.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 10, 2013

No clearing the air over neighbor's pollution

Pollutants from China and their resultant problems are nothing new to Japan. Acid rain, principally caused by high levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in industrial pollutants, has been a concern for several decades.
Reader Mail
Mar 7, 2013

Suspicious cancer-risk authority

I am disappointed that The Japan Times gave such a big headline to the March 2 front-page AP article "Fukushima cancer risk marginal: WTO." People who don't know the relationship between the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency might innocently be taken in.
Reader Mail
Mar 3, 2013

Japan doing well by its elderly

The Feb. 27 Bloomberg article "Seniors forced to go it alone as ranks swell, housing eludes" highlights some important issues, but overstates them. And by omission, it leaves the misleading impression that Japan is somehow behind other countries in providing for frail elderly people.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 21, 2013

Raising the Senkaku stakes?

One question that typically has received little attention in the Japan-China dispute over the Senkaku Islands is, what's in it for the parties involved?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 4, 2013

The illness of depression and how psychotherapy may help

One of the most common issues that comes up in sessions with patients at our clinic in Tokyo is depression, and one of the most frequently asked questions is "How can psychotherapy help people with depression?"
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 28, 2013

Give sufficient notice when breaking an employment contract

Reader JA asks if it's legal for an employer to demand compensation if an employee quits their job partway through their contract.
Reader Mail
Jan 19, 2013

Concern for Fukushima people

I want to express my appreciation for The Japan Times' coverage of Dr. Masaharu Tsubokura's work monitoring internal radioactive contamination of people living in Fukushima, as reported in the Jan. 10 article "As radiation fears dwindle, so do checkups."
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2013

Realizing the national condition

As a long-term resident, good friend and fair critic of Japan, I have to agree with the hard-hitting opinions expressed in Roger Pulvers' Dec. 30 Counterpoint article, "Is juggernaut Japan being driven to destruction (and no one's to blame)?," in Michael Hoffman's Dec. 30 article, "As the new year approaches,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2012

Five myths about U.S. gun control

After the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, a nation long resistant to gun control seems ready to act — or at least talk about acting.
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2012

An election that really matters

The results of the Lower House election to be held on Sunday will have a great impact on the future and general posture of Japan as well as Japan's standing in the international community. Voters cannot be too careful in deciding which party to support.
Reader Mail
Nov 8, 2012

Retreating from the car boom

The Oct. 29 front-page article "Declining Japan loses once-hopeful champions" must be seen partially as U.S.-style debunking of the Democratic Party of Japan for being less servile to the United States than the Liberal Democratic Party had been when it was in power.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2012

Mr. Ishihara goes national

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced Thursday that he will resign and return to national politics by launching a new political party and becoming its leader. He is stepping down as governor nearly two and half years before his term expires. Given his popularity and personality, and voters' frustration...
JAPAN / IMF-WORLD BANK IN TOKYO
Oct 12, 2012

Nearly 50 years ago, Tokyo meetings focused on liquidity

For Tokyo, 1964 was definitely one of the biggest years.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 25, 2012

Fears over Hashimoto, beefs with Berlitz story

A recipe for 'Hashism'? Re: "How did we end up here, in 'Hashimotopia,' 2022?" by Christopher Robinson and Ben Stubbings (Light Gist, Aug. 28):
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 24, 2012

An ominously familiar Japanese contemporary

Things do sometimes go backward.
Reader Mail
Sep 16, 2012

Worse off for reading the news

Regarding the Sept. 13 Kyodo article "Fukushima finds first child thyroid cancer after 3/11": What shameful journalism. Everyone with whom I've shared this article and who read only the headline assumed that a link had been proven between the nuclear reactor disasters at Fukushima and higher rates of...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 11, 2012

Three steps to judging whether a disciplinary measure is legal

An English teacher writes: "Recently, my company placed me on a three-month suspension from work, until five days before my fixed-period employment contract expires. As I am still employed, I cannot claim unemployment benefits, and this lengthy period makes it almost financially prohibitive to remain...
COMMUNITY / Issues / HAVE YOUR SAY
Jul 31, 2012

Debate rages over value of JET program, assistant language teachers

Some readers' responses to letters published in this column on July 10 ("Readers lament the ever-shrinking eikaiwa salary") regarding Patrick Budmar's July 3 Zeit Gist article, "The curious case of the eroding eikaiwa salary":
Reader Mail
Jul 19, 2012

High cost of a solar power plan

Does Michael Hoffman's July 15 Big in Japan article, "Aging village shows the way with switch to solar," really demonstrate the viability of solar power? Let's do the math:
Reader Mail
Jul 19, 2012

The privilege to criticize Japan

I was amused to read Roger Pulvers' Counterpoint article July 8, "The sorry state of affairs in Japan is enough to turn WGs into FGs."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 10, 2012

Japan's battered men suffer abuse in silence

As in many surveys, numbers and percentages are abundant. But for me, it was that little 3.4 at the bottom of page 21 that stood out more than any other: 3.4 percent of married men in Japan say that their spouses have forced them to engage in sexual relations against their will. And that is down from...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji