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Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2007

Australian intelligence impugned

Regarding Robyn Lim's Nov. 23 article, "Australia facing tough nuclear issues": This is a pro-nuclear screed in which Lim makes an incredible allegation: that the "antinuclear allergies" of the left wing of the Labor Party and the Greens "reflect in large part the success in Australia of Soviet antinuclear...
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2007

Unpopular solution politically

According to the article "Workforce may shrink by millions by 2030: study", the projected labor shortage in Japan in the next 20 years will be some 4.6 million people -- under a best-case scenario and if all available married women, seniors capable of working, and young workers are convinced to join...
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2007

So what's bothering China's generals?

LOS ANGELES — What's eating the People's Liberation Army?
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2007

Time to double consumption tax

With the baby boomers due to retire over the next five years, the consumption tax (now 5 percent) needs to be raised to 10 percent immediately to provide the required benefits and support that retirees will need. In raising the consumption tax, however, the government should exempt from taxation the...
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2007

The reality of bullying

A new education ministry survey shows that elementary, junior high and high schools saw about 125,000 bullying cases in fiscal 2006 — up 6.2 times from 2005. The increase is mainly attributed to the ministry's making the definition of bullying less strict.
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2007

Tired of the same old commentary

There are too many "multi-commentators" on Japanese TV programs. I'm talking about people who comment on various subjects. Are they experts on all of these subjects?
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2007

Time to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq

The American people no longer support the war in Iraq. The war is being carried on by a stubborn president who, like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, does not want to lose. But from the beginning this has been an ill-considered and poorly prosecuted war that, like the Vietnam...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 6, 2007

"Kami no Benki/Kami no Koku"

Setagaya Public Theatre Dec. 13-16/Dec. 20-23
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 6, 2007

Picking up where science slips

When it comes to giving us a handle on the world we live in, science no longer cuts it. In its latest incarnations — superstring and M-theory — it postulates 10, 11 or even more dimensions, only three or four of which we can perceive. Science's explanation of matter is equally unsatisfying. Since...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2007

Wal-Mart raises Seiyu stake to 95% to speed up retailer's turnaround

Wal-Mart Stores has raised its stake in supermarket chain Seiyu to 95.1 percent, Seiyu said Wednesday, marking the U.S. retailer's latest attempt to solidify its foothold in the difficult Japanese market.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2007

Suzuki shifts into overdrive in Indian car market

Despite intensifying competition, Suzuki Motor Corp. won't give up its 55 percent share of the market in India without a fight, company Chairman and CEO Osamu Suzuki vowed Wednesday.
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2007

Japan risks becoming extinct

Regarding the Nov. 29 article "Workforce may shrink by millions by 2030: study": I was surprised to read that among the various methods for increasing the workforce, such as expanded use of women, immigration was not mentioned. For Japan, immigration is the future and a necessity. It is not a "luxury"...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2007

Put production of food ahead of biofuel

PRAGUE — When United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon recently visited Antarctica, he was impressed by the melting ice he saw there. Then he was in Brazil, where he was impressed by the country's use of biofuel to power a quarter of its automotive traffic. Oil pressed from rapeseed can be used...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 6, 2007

Out from under noh's shadow

'F or kyogen actors, Japan losing the war in 1945 was a wonderful event as it liberated kyogen from its long subjugation to noh," actor Shigeyama Sennojo says. "For the first time in 400 years, kyogen was recognized as an independent form of theater."
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2007

Israel's ticking time bomb

LONDON — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was just back from the Annapolis summit where U.S. President George W. Bush tried to reboot the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. More importantly, last week was also the 60th anniversary of the United Nations vote that divided British-ruled Palestine...
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2007

Lawmakers agree to bare their expenses

After a month of discussion, the ruling and opposition camps reached a working-level accord Wednesday to improve transparency in political spending by requiring political bodies to keep receipts for all expenditures exceeding ¥1.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes