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Reader Mail
May 19, 2011

Lack of details worsens situation

As a resident of Koto Ward in Tokyo with an infant son, I am very concerned when The Japan Times publishes vague articles about highly radioactive ash being found in Koto Ward ("Radioactive ash found in Tokyo after March 11").
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 16, 2011

BOJ chief sees only bubbles on horizon

With his nation's economy contracting under disaster damage of as much as ¥25 trillion ($310 billion), Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa is signaling that his biggest worry is inflation.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 1, 2011

Tohoku charity a minefield for Japanese celebrities

One of the worst-kept secrets on television is the location of Dash Village, a remote farm that was built by the boy band Tokio in the late 1990s. It has since been maintained by the quintet as part of a running feature on their Sunday night Nihon TV variety show "Tetsuwan Dash," and in order to discourage...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 1, 2011

Atsuko Muraki: Fighter for justice

Atsuko Muraki was thrown into the public spotlight in 2009, when she was head of the Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
Reader Mail
Apr 17, 2011

Give the foreign experts a chance

Regarding the April 13 article "Fukushima crisis now at Chernobyl level": It is somewhat terrifying that the severity level of the Fukushima nuclear plant crisis level has been raised to level 7.
Reader Mail
Apr 17, 2011

Sensationalist headline and photo

What's with the sensationalist headline and lurid photo of the April 13 front-page article "Fukushima crisis now at Chernobyl level"?! The front page lead story, together with the photo editor's choice of what appears to be a possibly out-of control, post-explosion, burning reactor enclosure — actually...
COMMENTARY
Apr 17, 2011

The confidence to look out again

The tragic events in Japan continue to attract general sympathy here, and contributions toward relief of the sufferers are still pouring in. But even the problems at the Fukushima nuclear reactors have ceased to be front-page news. Attention in Britain has focused on Libya, problems in Syria and other...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
Apr 17, 2011

Bags of fun recycling old JTs

In Japan, English-language newspapers are great sources of news and views and such (some more than others, of course). But a new use for them has lately arisen, with patrons of mini-trucks selling baked yaki-imo (sweet potatoes) in upscale Tokyo office districts thinking it trendy to receive their hot...
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 17, 2011

Japan's food crisis goes beyond recent panic buying

The neon lights of Ginza flickered out, leaving Tokyo's favorite playground in ominous darkness. Drivers fumed while waiting in long lines to purchase gasoline. Goods disappeared from supermarket shelves, sending housewives on forays into neighboring prefectures in search of everyday items such as toilet...
Reader Mail
Apr 14, 2011

Japanese can express anything

In their April 9 article, "With the world looking in, Japan needs to speak out," Kumi Sato and Michael J. Alfant write that the "inherent vagueness of Japanese creates many challenges in translation." While structural differences between Japanese and English certainly do make translation challenging,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2011

Quake relief effort highlights a vital U.S. military function

SENDAI — In September 2009, I resigned my tenured faculty position at a Japanese national university to begin working for the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa. While at Osaka University, I had the opportunity to teach many talented Japanese and international students over the years both at the undergraduate...
Reader Mail
Mar 17, 2011

U.S. official walked into ambush

Regarding the March 11 front-page article "U.S. sacks Maher, apologizes for remarks ": Some facts are clearly being left out of the news reports on this topic. What Kevin Maher, director of Japan Affairs for the U.S. State Department, didn't know when he met with American University students in Washington...
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2011

Challenges await next Tokyo leader

While many familiar faces, among them Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa, former Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru and businessman Miki Watanabe, are likely to be seen in the April 10 Tokyo gubernatorial election, the capital's most prominent is expected to stand down.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 8, 2011

Byzantine temp rules need permanent fix

Back in the days when I was a corporate drone in Tokyo, I had a wonderful secretary who had the good fortune to get pregnant. Bad news for me, though, since I had to endure a series of temps, some good, some bad, and one who marinated herself in enough perfume to make everyone ill. But what I found most...
Reader Mail
Mar 3, 2011

No respect for whaling argument

The Feb. 19 article "Muted response to whaling halt likely" — about the whaling efforts of the Japanese being blocked — is good news. I would have had more sympathy for the Japanese if they just admitted that their whaling is not for scientific research, but rather for commercial reasons. That would...
Reader Mail
Feb 20, 2011

Whale hunt suspended at long last

Regarding the Feb. 17 article "Activists win; whale hunt halts in Antarctic": This is excellent news! Finally the Fisheries Agency is seeing sense by suspending the Antarctic Ocean hunt (because of obstruction by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessels), after hunters killed just 30 of the target...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 6, 2011

The bitter pill of Japan's high-cost medical treatment

When NHK's in-depth news program, "Closeup Gendai," addresses a pressing social issue, it usually offers possible solutions articulated by experts. Two weeks ago, however, the show covered a problem that seems to have no solution. The subject of the opening segment was a middle-aged man who was diagnosed...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 30, 2011

Cultural insensitivity no laughing matter

The tempest in a teapot whipped up by a segment on the British quiz-cum-comedy show "QI" has prompted debate on cross-cultural sensitivity. The BBC has apologized for the segment, which, contrary to a statement issued by Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, did not make fun of its subject, the late Tsutomu...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Jan 29, 2011

Kaiten-zushi chains gird for battle

You got your exclusive high-grade sushi, and you've got your bargain sushi, good for the whole family.
Reader Mail
Jan 23, 2011

Service with a smile sets us apart

Regarding the Jan. 11 Kyodo article "Japanese service winning customers in Europe": I am delighted that Japanese service is rated highly, because there hasn't been much good news recently. I feel that Japan is inferior when it comes to politics, scholastic ability and self-sufficiency, so I'm happy that...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 21, 2011

Facebook and dark matter

HONG KONG — News that Goldman Sachs has taken a $450 million stake in Facebook in a deal that puts a $50 billion valuation on the fledgling company raises interesting and somewhat troubling questions beyond the immediate gawping and jaw-dropping headlines that a spotty-faced Harvard dropout aged 26...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 18, 2011

Russian-held isles: So near, so far

On the morning of Nov. 1, Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to set foot on one of the four islands off Hokkaido seized by the Soviets at the end of World War II that Japan has long wanted returned.
Reader Mail
Jan 9, 2011

Kudos to the air-traffic controller

Regarding the Dec. 28 Kyodo article "Unauthorized runway entry at Fukuoka Airport forces JAL jet to abort approach": Although the description of the runway incursion incident was brief, it seems to indicate that the controller involved took quick and appropriate action to prevent a collision after his/her...
Reader Mail
Dec 30, 2010

The time for bamboo wheelchairs

Regarding the Dec. 22 Kyodo article: "JAL wheelchair doesn't trip up metal detectors": As I read this news, I was surprised at the idea of wheelchairs made of bamboo. I've never seen these wheelchairs before, but I feel that Japan Airline Corp.'s decision to lend them to those who now use metallic wheelchairs...
JAPAN / Media / Japan Pulse
Dec 20, 2010

Trends in Japan 2010: yama boom

2010 was the year in which young women, clad in brightly colored Gore-Tex, were drawn to mountain hikes and natural power sports.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 14, 2010

Splits, rumors of splits, and the hole if Kan splits

With its rate of approval dwindling fast, the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan has fallen into a "lame-duck" status, and the resultant "political vacuum" is likely to linger on for some time to come, as there is no clear prospect as to what kind of political landscape will emerge in the event...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Nov 28, 2010

Education profiteers and the public trough

NEW YORK — A college or university, especially of a private variety, may not be "an eleemosynary institution," as Sen. Sam Ervin, of the Watergate hearings, might put it were he alive, but the American insistence on free-market notions has brought the matter to the other extreme in higher education....
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2010

Whaling fleet yet to depart

The whaling fleet has not yet left for the Antarctic Ocean, making this year's departure unusually late.
COMMENTARY
Nov 11, 2010

Iraqi Christians: also victims of the invasion

On Sunday, Oct. 31, when a group of militants seized a church in Baghdad, killing and wounding scores of Iraqi Christians, it signaled yet another episode of unimaginable horror in the country since the U.S. invasion of March 2003. Every group of Iraqis has faced terrible devastation as a result of this...

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.