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Reader Mail
Dec 16, 2010

Funny business beats on in Cuba

Regarding The Washington Post editorial "Cuba's Jewish hostage" (which was published in The Japan Times on Dec. 9): Saying that American Alan Gross was arrested for helping Cuba's Jewish community is like saying that the United States hates Fidel Castro because he has a beard.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 14, 2010

Nagano: What's the best way to learn a foreign language?

COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Dec 14, 2010

Color politics reign on campuses

Dear Minister of Education Yoshiaki Takaki:
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2010

Talks with Iran just a start

The five U.N. Security Council members — the United States, China, Britain, France and Russia — and Germany held meetings with Iran in Geneva on Dec. 6 and 7 over the latter's nuclear program — the first such meetings since October 2009 and since the UNSC imposed the fourth set of sanctions against...
COMMENTARY
Dec 12, 2010

The dead weight on Taiwanese aspirations

HONG KONG — The ruling party of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou — in an election carefully watched in Beijing — has managed to win three of five mayoral races in Taiwan, reversing a losing streak in legislative by-elections since Ma's presidential election triumph in 2008.
COMMUNITY
Dec 11, 2010

Mover, shaker aids Goa's poorest kids

Stephen Young has always felt "driven to see the world" and left London at the age of 17 to do just that. He loves music, celebrates life and love and sees value, use, and often great potential in the world's outcasts, whether they be unwanted appliances in Tokyo or street children in the slums of Goa....
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2010

Prisons trying to cope with swelling elderly population

ONOMICHI, Hiroshima Pref. — Handrails run down the middle of the hallway to help prisoners make their way from one end to the other. Adult diapers are neatly stacked in a corner. When an inmate chokes on his rice and coughs, a supervisor rushes over to rub his back.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2010

China must release Liu or lose its credibility

LONDON, THE OBSERVER — We no longer live in a unipolar world. Western nations do not enjoy a monopoly on economic and political power. This is an encouraging shift and one that is bringing greater equality and prosperity to the world. With this progress, developing countries are increasingly influential...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Dec 7, 2010

Japan loses, rest of the world gains from 'one citizenship fits all' policy

Dear Diet Member Keiichiro Asao:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 7, 2010

Abuse rife within trainee system, say NGOs

In October 1999, 19 Chinese trainees came to the Takefu city office pleading for help. In their first year in Japan as interns, the women had been promised ¥50,000 a month, but scraped by on ¥10,000. The next year, as technical trainees, they should have received ¥115,000 a month. After health insurance,...
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 7, 2010

Kansai: What was your favorite moment of the 2010 J. League season?

Kazuhiro HayatsuManufacturing, 33 (Japanese)(Albirex Niigata supporter)My highlight — as an Albirex Niigata fan — came when Marcio Richardes scored a great hat trick against Vegalta Sendai, with all the goals coming from set pieces including one direct from a corner kick. Pure genius!
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Dec 5, 2010

Privacy is losing its very meaning

Words come and words go. Times change, language evolves.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 5, 2010

Cabrera looking for work after injury-plagued season

There has been a lot of cross-traffic in recent days with players switching from one Japanese team to another or heading for the majors. One question yet to be answered, though, is: Where will Alex Cabrera play in 2011?
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 5, 2010

Naomi Kawashima in the spotlight; drama on postwar paramedics; CM of the week: Saran Wrap

The biography series "Megami no Kiseki" ("Traces of the Goddess"; TV Tokyo, Tues., 7:54 p.m.) profiles women who talk intimately about their lives. This week's subject is actress Naomi Kawashima, who has maintained a career by successfully stage-managing her image.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2010

Sudan decision day looms: minister

The fate of Sudan will be decided in a referendum expected in January to let the strife-torn south determine whether to stay in the country or become independent.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010

'Robin Hood'

Ridley Scott has never been one to cushion the blow when it comes to sticking it to modern consumerist society. From "Blade Runner" to "Thelma & Louise," "Black Hawk Down" to "American Gangster," the diseases of so-called civilization become exposed in tableaux of greed, discontent and a cunningly concealed...
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Nov 30, 2010

Nakaima victory helps Kan, U.S.

NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — The re-election of Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima on Sunday is a much-needed victory for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government, which clearly wanted him to win, and the United States, who saw his opponent as a threat to the entire U.S. military presence in the prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Nov 30, 2010

Ditch Futenma to resurrect Japan-U.S. ties

Dear Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima,
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Nov 30, 2010

Frenchwoman's passions realized with Japanese help

Florence Roca, 45, is a French mother of three married to a fellow countryman who has lived on and off in Japan for 10 years. Aside from family, she has a passion for painting porcelain and making jewelry.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 30, 2010

Tokyo: Who — if anyone — should be punished for the Senkaku collision video leak?

Olivia MokStudent, 21 (Chinese)I think no one should be punished because the navigator (who uploaded the video to YouTube) revealed the truth, and people have the right to know. I think what the government is doing by trying to hide the information is just another form of censorship.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Nov 30, 2010

High praise for piazzas; Japan not so clean, friendly

A must for societal well-being I read your article on public space ("Plans for public space need public's input," Hotline to Nagatacho, Oct. 26), and I couldn't agree more.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2010

Kan, Hasina agree to bolster Bangladeshi ties

Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina agreed Monday in Tokyo to strengthen bilateral ties for the peace and prosperity of the international community and South Asia.
COMMENTARY
Nov 29, 2010

Trigger-happy Indian cops cut corners to deliver quick justice

CHENNAI, India — India's democracy is being increasingly tarnished by its police force, which uses brutally illegal methods to deal with crime. Some officers are staging incidents to murder people who have been arrested on suspicion of committing particularly heinous offenses.
LIFE
Nov 28, 2010

Summiteering with Nobel peace laureates

Hiroshima is a beautiful city with cute trams cruising along its tree-lined streets.
COMMENTARY
Nov 27, 2010

NATO's Afghan nightmare

The agreement at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit meeting in Lisbon on a transition plan to help end the war in Afghanistan within the next four years raises troubling questions about regional security and the global fight against transnational terrorism. As the United States and...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2010

For a fairer, more unwieldy Security Council

UNITED NATIONS — Reform and redesign of the U.N. Security Council has long been on the diplomatic drawing boards. Few countries will argue against the necessity for that, but most balk at the specific details.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2010

'The White Ribbon'

As a critic, there's a very particular kind of mid-life crisis that creeps up on you: One day you wake up in a cold sweat and realize that despite having been inspired to write about cinema by such masters as Hitchcock, Truffaut, Scorsese, Kurosawa, Kubrick, et al., you now spend most of your time watching...
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2010

Kan confers with Lee on North threat

Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his Seoul counterpart, Lee Myung Bak, agreed Wednesday their countries and the United States must work closely to confront any provocations by North Korea, which the previous day shelled a South Korean island in the Yellow Sea, causing four confirmed deaths.
EDITORIALS
Nov 25, 2010

North Korea's provocation

North Korea's artillery attack on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island on Tuesday is a dangerous provocation that must be condemned. The international community should unite and pressure North Korea to refrain from carrying out further provocations. Both Pyongyang and Seoul should exercise self-restraint...

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