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Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2008

Unbelievable for a cultured society

Regarding Philip Brasor's Oct. 26 Media Mix article, "The 'tough' love of sumo and military can turn ugly": I was aghast at the news of this barbaric act (death by collective violence of a 25-year-old Maritime Self-Defense Force petty officer). It happened unbelievably in a so-called modern, cultured...
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2008

Adults act like they are helpless

It is true that young people are becoming less and less able to communicate with others, but I don't think the Internet is the only reason. I think society is also to blame. These days, we don't usually talk with people we don't know well such as neighbors. The cell phone may contribute to causing that...
COMMENTARY
Oct 30, 2008

Double standard on global crises

Oct. 16 marked the 25th Annual World Food Day, an occasion whose arrival and departure received little media attention or governmental fanfare. Evidently, much of the world media and governments are consumed with an economic crisis of epic proportions.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 30, 2008

Seattle fires scouting boss Fontaine

SEATTLE (AP) New Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik isn't wasting time reorganizing the Mariners' front office.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2008

Refreshing take on Russia

Gregory Clark's Oct. 26 article, "West ganging up on Russia," was refreshing and well-written. I appreciated how, instead of focusing on every imaginable reason to try to blame Russia for everything, this article correctly points out that Georgia started the (August) conflict by invading South Ossetia...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Oct 30, 2008

Oh's career sparkled with achievements as player, manager

Second in a three-part series
EDITORIALS
Oct 30, 2008

Crisis knocking at Japan's door

The global financial crisis is battering the Japanese stock market and threatening the real economy. The erratic Nikkei 225 index dipped below 7,000 at one point this week, the lowest in about 26 years, and the recent gains of the yen against the dollar and euro cast a dark spell over companies that...
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

Itoham's wells clean, Kashiwa says

The city of Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, said Wednesday that no alarming levels of toxic cyanogen compounds have been found in water from seven wells at a local Itoham Foods Inc. factory amid embarrassing reports that the plant is within walking distance of a wartime chemical weapons training facility....
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2008

Sony operating profit tumbles 90%

Sony Corp. said Wednesday that its group operating profit tumbled 90.1 percent to ¥11 billion for the July-September quarter from a year earlier, as the global economic slowdown hit sales of its gadgets and the surging yen ate into its profits.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

No 'concrete' intelligence on Kim

Prime Minister Taro Aso wasn't citing specific intelligence reports when he speculated that North Korea's Kim Jong Il is still running the hermit state, the government's top spokesman said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

Key question: Who will perform diaper-duty for the elderly?

Men want their wives to take care of their bodily waste if they become bedridden or are left in other conditions requiring this kind of care, while women would rather be looked after by professional helpers or their daughters, according to a survey by Unicharm Corp., Japan's biggest maker of adult diapers....
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

'Trash houses' tough to tidy up

A middle-aged man walks through the Tokyo neighborhood of Higashi-Nippori at dawn, dropping bits of food for crows and cats to feed on, ensuring in the process that a mess is left in his wake.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2008

Foreign workers are first to feel impact of economy's slowdown

HAMAMATSU, Shizuoka Pref. — Brazilian Stenio Sameshima came to Japan last year planning to make a bundle of money at the country's humming auto factories. Instead, he's spending a lot of time in line at employment agencies.
Reader Mail
Oct 30, 2008

Internet can save people

Regarding Jun Numayama's Oct. 19 letter, "Internet crisis of communication": Numayama says the Internet worsens young people's ability to communicate, and that this is connected with loneliness in real life and suicide. I disagree. I think the Internet is saving young people. Japanese people are shy....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 30, 2008

Tokyo film competition rewards tantalizing tales

When I was at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea a few weeks ago, I discussed the Tokyo International Film Festival with some journalists, who disagreed with my assertion that TIFF's Competition section was a dumping ground for movies that couldn't make it at other film festivals. They...

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers