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Reader Mail
Mar 13, 2008

Beyond a 'functional' world

In his letter of Feb. 24, "Critique of culinary culture," Grant Piper confesses to being a "food barbarian." How, and why, a "food barbarian" can criticize top chefs in the Feb. 21 article "Tokyo's samurai chefs devoted to their craft" is a bit confusing.
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2008

Obstacles to overcome in the development of a concert of Asia-Pacific democracies

NEW DELHI — The new Australian government is signaling a wish to turn its back on an initiative bringing four major democracies of the Asia-Pacific together, even as U.S. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has vowed to institutionalize that venture.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 19, 2008

CO2 trading mirrors, but still smoke?

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, the world has been spewing out greenhouse gases that now threaten the global ecosystem. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 379.1 parts per million in 2005, or 35 percent higher than the estimated level before...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 25, 2007

Who? Me? Otaku?

"Otaku" culture is spreading over the globe. Perhaps we are all otaku now? My wife tells me I'm an otaku — should I be worried? If you haven't encountered the word, here is Wikipedia's definition: "a derisive Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly 'anime' and...
Reader Mail
Dec 4, 2007

Fingerprinting issue trivialized

The Nov. 27 article by Mark Schreiber, "Prints rejected, scribe accepted," described Schreiber's re-entry to Japan after a trip to Saipan that appears to have been made purely for the opportunity to write the piece. The tone and conclusion made light of what many view as a serious issue, and were touted...
Reader Mail
Nov 29, 2007

America is not 'the world'

I wanted to comment on the peculiar use of the word "world" in The Japan Times and indeed the Japanese media generally. It is only the Japanese media and Japanese politicians who do this when referring to the opinion of the U.S. government. This apparently subconscious phenomenon seems unique to Japan,...
Reader Mail
Oct 28, 2007

Does decency go beyond the pale?

Debito Arudou's bruising critique of the government's "Public Survey on the Defense of Human Rights" (Oct. 23 Zeit Gist article, "Human rights survey stinks") leaves one question unanswered: If 59.3 percent of respondents agreed that foreigners should have the same human rights protection as Japanese,...
Reader Mail
Oct 18, 2007

Improving on foreign concepts

As the Sept. 23 article "Japanese: a language in a state of flux" suggests, Japan has a long history of cultural and intellectual importation, ranging from language to literary stylistics.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 2, 2007

You have to appear to be a complete loser in Japan to get benefits

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's vision for a "beautiful country" stresses self-reliance. The media usually translates this aim in national defense terms: a stronger military that doesn't have to duck behind the United States. To the average person it simply means you're on your own. That buzz word of several...
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2007

Lots of fun but too few facts

I'd like to say that Amy Chavez's July 14 article, "Bathhouse dress codes, or tell Yo! mama, no army boots!," offended me. Chavez mentions the "capsule hotel" in Japan. The article states: "Now imagine putting a Japanese-size person inside a space like that, just long and wide enough for him to lie...
Japan Times
JAPAN / PARTY LINE
Jul 12, 2007

JCP will go own way regardless of election outcome

The Japanese Communist Party will not form an alliance with the Democratic Party of Japan or any other party regardless of how the July 29 House of Councilors election turns out, according to party leader Kazuo Shii.
JAPAN / PARTY LINE
Jul 7, 2007

Tanaka won't disband party, despite defections

New Party Nippon leader and ex-Nagano Gov. Yasuo Tanaka announced Friday his party would carry on even though its only two lawmakers said they are going to leave and become independents.
Reader Mail
Jun 24, 2007

Cute description of creation

Regarding Rowan Hooper's June 13 article, "Religion's cute, but creation chemistry is complex": Until I read this article, it had never occurred to me that religion might be described as "cute." Rather, it is Hooper's description that strikes me as cute.
Reader Mail
Jun 17, 2007

Effects of social disparity

Tom Plate's June 8 article, "When getting rich impoverishes society," is the most eloquent summary of the effects of social disparity that I have seen. It should preface all economics education in the classroom. I feel that the greed/power factor is what makes all economic systems fail. I respect...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 17, 2007

Stand by your language — but not as a nationalist icon

Last month, on May 21 to be exact, something caught my eye in the English-language IHT/Asahi Shimbun newspaper. In an article headlined "Holistic patriotic education still missing," Professor Nobukatsu Fujioka of Takushoku University in Tokyo made an impassioned plea for Japanese children to be imbued...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2007

A 'socially accepted' act of child abuse

Last October the Supreme Court of Japan unanimously dismissed a young woman's final appeal of an Osaka High Court ruling that had found no illegality in her father's self-admitted act of suddenly touching her breast for a few seconds to "measure her sexual growth" when she was 11 years old.
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2007

Old image of Serbia sells

The May 24 article "Appeasing Serbia hurts EU," by Natasa Kandic and Mabel Van Oranje, is one-sided in the sense that it focuses on Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica without making single mention of the more democratic President Boris Tadic, who is far more dedicated to turning former Bosnian...
Reader Mail
Jun 3, 2007

Suggested recipes bizarre

Regarding the May 24 article "Appeasing Serbia hurts EU": All those who are familiar and informed are well aware that Serbia was subjected to unprecedented international sanctions during the long rule of Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia was eventually bombed in 1999 without the approval of the U.N. Security...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 27, 2007

'Containment' time warp sours hopes that Yeltsin spawned

Nearly 60 years ago, in July 1947, American diplomat George Kennan published what was to become the single most influential article in modern American diplomatic history.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2007

Referendum law raises questions

The Upper House on Monday enacted a law that establishes procedures for a national referendum to revise the Constitution. The legislation was backed by the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, one member of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan and an independent. The law's provisions concern the most...
JAPAN
May 8, 2007

Ishibashi's brief reign in '57 a key crossroads

is congratulated by Nobusuke Kishi after winning a runoff election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidency on Dec. 14, 1956. KYODO PHOTO
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Apr 30, 2007

Tobacco's road from fashion to filth

NEW YORK -- If a recent article in the Science section of The New York Times is any indication, the idea that the history of the tobacco industry in the United States has been nothing less than perfidy has taken hold among the socially conscientious. Titled "Tracing the Cigarette's Path From Sexy to...
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2007

Depiction of Japanese history

In his March 29 article, "Abe needlessly fans the flames," Francis Fukuyama is right to assert that the Yushukan museum adjacent to Yasukuni Shrine is the bigger problem of the two because of its nationalist depiction of Pacific War history.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2007

Abe needlessly fans the flames

WASHINGTON -- Barely half a year into his premiership, Shinzo Abe is provoking anger across Asia and mixed feelings in his country's key ally, the United States. But will the Bush administration use its influence to nudge Abe away from inflammatory behavior?
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2007

Osaka homeless in residency registry limbo ahead of polls

OSAKA -- As the Osaka Municipal Government's deadline looms for thousands of the city's homeless to change their residence registrations or be struck from the books, the two sides are still far apart about establishing bona-fide addresses for them to be able to vote in next month's local polls.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 20, 2007

Demise of crime magazine historic

Making headlines worldwide last month was the publication of a magazine entitled "Kyogaku no Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu ("Shocking Foreigner crime: the Underground File"). On sale at major Japanese bookstores and convenience stores nationwide, Gaijin Hanzai (GH) attributed criminality to nationality, and...
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2007

Foreign labor need exposes dearth of rights

OSAKA -- As the debate intensifies over allowing more foreign workers into Japan to make up for the coming labor shortage, human rights groups have recently stepped up efforts to push for a law against discrimination.
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2007

Less than music to the ear

The Supreme Court, in a 4-1 decision, has ruled that it is constitutional for a principal to order a music teacher to play the piano accompaniment to the "Kimigayo" national anthem during a public school ceremony. The top court took the position that the principal's order does not constitute a denial...

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