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Reader Mail
Mar 27, 2011

Contact information appreciated

Regarding the March 23 Kyodo article from Iwate Prefecture, "": I noticed that "A majority of foreigners left stranded in the aftermath of the disaster have been without sufficient language assistance, which is vital to gaining access to relief supplies" was tacked on at the end of the article. It seemed...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Mar 27, 2011

Local media react to the events of March 11

For Japan's vernacular media, the March 11 disaster and its aftermath is the proverbial 800-pound gorilla that engulfed coverage of most other news. The items that follow give some idea of the scope of reporting over the past two weeks.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 1, 2011

Solving parental child abduction problem no piece of cake

The Way of Cake is mysterious and paradoxical. A master of the Way can make his neighbors feel they have filled themselves with tasty cake without ever cutting off a piece. The Way allows its disciple to step outside the boundaries of rational thought by partaking of cake while continuing to possess...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2011

The world needs more elephant mothers

MELBOURNE — Many years ago, my wife and I were driving somewhere with our three young daughters in the back, when one of them suddenly asked: "Would you rather that we were clever or that we were happy?"
Reader Mail
Jan 27, 2011

Show evidence of antithetical bias

Ramzy Baroud's Jan. 16 article, "Political biases trash lauded Ph.D. research," fails to make the point that thunders from its headline, and it fails to give any substantive support to Ph.D. candidate Deepak Tripathi — the primary subject of the piece.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 25, 2011

Carnet crucial when doing Japan in a van

Diana and Peter were pleased to find the column "How to do Japan — in a VW camper van" (Lifelines, Nov. 16) on the Japan Times website.
Reader Mail
Dec 30, 2010

Let abductor-moms have their say

Regarding the Dec. 23 AP article "U.S. may up child custody pressure": While I fully agree with the rights of a child to live with both parents, I have a few questions for the author of this article. How can a non-U.S. parent become an outlaw and an abductor just because she does not obey a U.S. court...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 21, 2010

Deadbeat dads, navy abuse case, visas and Futenma: readers' views

The other side of the fence Re: "Japan must end the scourge of parental child abduction" by Amy Savoie (Hotline to Nagatacho, Nov. 9):
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 14, 2010

Bigger not necessarily better for eikaiwa

As an eikaiwa owner and operator in Osaka, it was refreshing to read Mr. Richard Smart's views in his article "Small schools offer hope amid eikaiwa slump" (Zeit Gist, Nov. 2).
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 14, 2010

Doing Japan in a van: highs, lows, dos, don'ts

Oh, the pros and woes of responding to your queries. Great advice, personal experience — even the odd wakeup call. Here are some responses to our Nov. 16 column on "How to do Japan — in a VW camper van":
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Oct 31, 2010

Hearing China's take on Senkakus

The most recent territorial dispute over the Senkaku (Japanese name)/Diaoyutai (Chinese name) Islands, located southwest of Okinawa (or north of Taiwan if you prefer), was triggered on Sept. 7 when a Chinese trawler attempted to ram two Japanese Coast Guard vessels. The blurry details of the collision...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2010

Sengoku's growing influence causes a stir

On the first day of the Lower House Budget Committee session last week, Nobuteru Ishihara, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, chose to deride the growing power of Yoshito Sengoku, chief Cabinet secretary of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Oct 19, 2010

Re: Richard Cory's story

A selection of readers' views on "Battling a broken system" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 21) and "Behind the facade of family law" (Zeit Gist, Sept. 28), both by Richard Cory:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Sep 7, 2010

Readers offer their thoughts on jettisoning JET

Following are a selection of readers' responses to the July 27 Zeit Gist column headlined "Ex-students don't want JET grounded" by Eric Johnston and Kanako Nakamura:
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 29, 2010

Anyone for tennis?

If you've ever had a tennis lesson, your coach likely told you to block, rather than swing at your volleys. That knowledge makes it all the more thrilling to watch someone like the athletic 16-year-old Sanae Ota rush in from the back of the court, leap up to a high, floating ball — before it bounces...
COMMENTARY
Aug 2, 2010

Go past Koizumi's reforms to restore the Meiji spirit

LONDON — "Japan has lost its place in world, no longer serious economic power."
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jul 6, 2010

Japan's hostile hosteling industry

As you may know, Japan has no national civil or criminal legislation outlawing and punishing racial discrimination, meaning businesses with "Japanese only" signs aren't doing anything illegal.
Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2010

Recovering our sacred languages

Regarding Roger Pulvers' June 20 Counterpoint article, "Grammar and sums have gone — all that's left is a je ne sais quoi": I was fortunate to find this excellent article and read it through. I'm in my 60s and find that many of my brethren from Myanmar, in their 50s or even 60s, cannot write their...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 20, 2010

Government policy of cash gifts to journalists rolls on

In late April, about a month before Naoto Kan took over as prime minister from Yukio Hatoyama, a hand-written note was taped to the intercom outside Kan's home in the Kichijoji district of Tokyo. It read, "No press meetings," and was signed "Kan," but it wasn't written by the current Democratic Party...
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2010

Gaps in amendment procedures

A lthough the law setting down special referendum procedures for approving a constitutional amendment went into effect Tuesday, details of the procedures have not been worked out yet. Article 96 of the Constitution stipulates that the Diet may initiate an amendment to the Constitution by a concurring...
JAPAN / Q&A
May 18, 2010

Referendum law in effect but no amendments eyed

Three years since its Diet passage, the national referendum law takes effect Tuesday, paving the way for amending the Constitution.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Apr 20, 2010

DVD should be seen by all in divorce process

Dear Prime Minister Hatoyama,
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 4, 2010

70 times safer than the roads themselves

NEW YORK — The Toyota saga, though quiet for the moment, will continue. "Lawyers Vie for Lead Roles in Toyota Lawsuits," said a headline in The Wall Street Journal (March 15). The company's "legal bill for unintended-acceleration cases will be in the billions," predicted Jeremy Anwyl of Edmunds.com,...
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2010

Freedom of expression for all

The Tokyo High Court on March 29 acquitted a former worker of the now-defunct Social Insurance Agency who was indicted on allegations that he distributed copies of a Japanese Communist Party newspaper. He had been charged with violating Article 102 of the National Public Service Law, which prohibits...
Reader Mail
Mar 4, 2010

Tiger Woods owes public nothing

Tom Plate's March 1 article, "Woods' apology whips up media incapable of behaving with class," has to be the best article I've seen written on the Tiger Woods scandal. I agree with every word. I am so worried about Woods, although he does still have a lot of friends as well as that God-given talent that...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 28, 2010

Three LatAm capitals and the Tokyo of 1964

NEW YORK — While visiting three capitals in Latin America on a lecture tour earlier this month, I wondered if Tokyo looked or felt like any of these cities to someone visiting it from New York or a large European city half a century ago.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 24, 2010

'The wartime leaders of Japan were heroes'

General Toshio Tamogami, 61, was the chief of staff of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force between March 2007 and November 2008 despite having a history of lobbing verbal missiles at "leftists," China and Japan's so-called war-renouncing Constitution. In 2008, he pulled these and other themes together in...
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2010

Club hostesses unionize to fight gray-area abuses

Their sexy outfits and glossy makeup make it easy for "kyabajo" cabaret hostesses to entice flush male patrons into splurging fortunes on drinks.
COMMENTARY
Dec 18, 2009

Illegal wall exacerbates disaster for Gazans

NEW YORK — Collusion between Egypt and the United States in building a wall separating Egypt from Gaza not only threatens Gazans' health and quality of life, already seriously deteriorating because of the de facto Israeli blockade, but also violates international law.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 29, 2009

Cute kittens out to kill you

Cats are easy targets, which is why Shukan Asahi took such a cheap shot at them in the banner headline of its print ads for the Dec. 4 issue: "New-type influenza being spread by cats!?" In the subhead, cat cafes were cited as "hotbeds of infection."

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami