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Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2007

Charity begins at home

I was very interested in Yuri Tomikawa's article. This summer I had a chance to see "The Annunciation" by Leonardo da Vinci at the National Art Museum in Ueno, Tokyo. On my way to and from the museum, I noticed a line of people near the place. Many years ago, in December, I remember that some volunteers...
Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2007

Revisionist nonsense unfurled

Regarding Hisahiko Okazaki's Oct. 12 article, "Fukuda could resolve Yasukuni issue by visiting": Okazaki sounds like someone who clearly has no understanding of what the Yasukuni issue actually is. Many of the men commemorated at Yasukuni Shrine were undoubtedly responsible for murder, torture and...
Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2007

Human tragedies amid the gloss

Regarding Yuri Tomikawa's Oct. 16 Zeit Gist article, "The faces behind the numbers: A day feeding Tokyo's hungry": Thank you for bringing this story to the hearts of readers. I had nearly given up on the promise of "news without fear or favor." Hopefully the article will foster change that leads to action....
Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2007

Yasukuni visit not foreordained

In his Oct. 12 article, Hisahiko Okazaki writes that the time is ripe for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to visit Yasukuni Shrine because Beijing has no choice but to restrain itself from provoking Chinese people into anti-Japanese demonstrations. Reading Okazaki's argument, one cannot help feel that Okazaki...
Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2007

Taking a walk on the wild side

Regarding Michael Hoffman's Oct. 14 translation ("Senior citizens go mad, rampage through Japan") of a recent Shukan Bunshun article: I enjoyed this story so much. I have mixed feelings about this topic -- funny, sad, sympathetic, distaste.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Oct 21, 2007

A world of exclusive wheels rolls into Tokyo

Dozens of automotive masterpieces are about to go on show in a bid to make Japan Asia's social hub for classic-car buffs.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 21, 2007

The power of telling tales versus making apologies

In his new book, "The Political Brain," Drew Westen analyzes in detail the election debates of 2000 between Al Gore and George W. Bush. Westen points out that it was Gore's dispassionate approach to issues that hurt him. Bush, then as now, presents himself as someone who knows what is right (and moral)...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 21, 2007

EU as Mideast player, not just a payer

PRAGUE — The European Union's policy in the Middle East is the litmus test of its common foreign and security policy. Many Europeans share this belief, but as the EU considers entering the fray of Middle East peace talks, it must respond to former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's jibe that in...
Reader Mail
Oct 21, 2007

Humor from a limited perspective

In his Oct. 14 letter, "Enough with the cockroach humor," Robert Lezzi severely criticizes the contributions regularly made to The Japan Times by Amy Chavez, dismissing her work as lame and "delivered in the guise of humor."
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 21, 2007

Get on the bus: An Asian neighbor's view of Japan

Mr. Zhang, a businessman from Wuxi with a passing resemblance to Steve McQueen, is what his countrymen refer to as "a proud Chinese." Kicking pebbles outside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, where our tour bus has dropped us for a 30-minute wander, he announces, "Japan is a small country. We Chinese are...
EDITORIALS
Oct 21, 2007

Elderly changing society

Once upon a time in Japan, youth culture was in the vanguard. Young people started new trends in eating, fashion, slang and leisure that shifted viewpoints and attitudes all through the culture.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 21, 2007

The not-so-secret market potential of bubble-wrap bubbles

Ask your friends what handy fun items they carry around and most of them will mention their Nintendo DS or their mobile phone, on which they can watch TV, play games and read a novel. But more and more these days, they may also grin and say, "puchipuchi" — referring to the pleasure — and the sound...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2007

Sun Piao: Shanghai's answer to Dirty Harry

Citizen One by Andy Oakes. London: Dedalus, 2007, 434 pp., £9.99 (paper) Innocent young women are being horribly tortured and murdered. Next to die are the cops who investigate. Only someone with tremendous power and influence can kill with such impunity.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 21, 2007

TV in cahoots with the shamed Kameda boxing clan

In the fuss over the Oct. 11 WBC flyweight title match between 33-year-old world champion Daisuke Naito and 18-year-old contender Daiki Kameda, the media has been the object of criticism as much as Kameda, who has since been punished with a one-year suspension by the Japan Boxing Commission for rules...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 21, 2007

Cop thriller, celebrity talk show, murder mystery

On Wednesday at 8 p.m., TV Asahi launches the sixth season of its popular cop show "Aibo (Partners)" with a special two-hour drama entitled "Fukugan no Hotei (A Courtroom of Many Eyes)."
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Oct 21, 2007

One man with a mighty passion for mannequins

Mannequins are a foil for fashion items, whether they be coats, stockings or even hairpieces. Few of us pause to wonder where those plastic dolls go after they grace the shop windows or decorate department store floors.

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