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COMMENTARY
Jan 21, 2010

Citizens lose in Google vs. China

The challenge thrown down by Google last week seemed unequivocal: Either China accepts uncensored information on Google.cn or the Internet giant will shut down its operations in the country.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2010

As security pact with U.S. turns 50, Japan looks to redefine relations

The Japanese-U.S. security treaty in its current form turned 50 Tuesday. Throughout the decades, the two nations have had their ups and downs and occasional tension, but together they weathered the Cold War and entered a new era and new century.
JAPAN
Jan 7, 2010

Ozawa girds for major Diet reform

Is Ichiro Ozawa hungry for dictatorial power, or is he a political hero seeking to strengthen the Diet by cutting the bureaucracy down to size?
Reader Mail
Dec 31, 2009

Respectful consideration of 'ain't'

In the Dec. 23 article "Yappa! Abbreviated Japanese ain't all that bad," the writer dismisses the word "ain't" as improper English. I felt that the treatment of the word was quite cursory.
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2009

Act intelligently to make friends

I would like to comment on Shawna Ueyama's Dec. 22 Zeit Gist article, "Too innocent for prejudice?" I have lived in the United States for more than a decade — in various cities because of my husband's job — and have found that no matter where we go, my 8-year-old boy and I are discriminated against...
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2009

Liking America often not enough

Oh, the ire that Masahiro Matsumura's article seemed to provoke from Wilson Hartz Jr. in the Dec. 20 letter, "Option of pulling out of Japan." Perhaps it was certain lines in Matsumura's article, such as "Hatoyama intends to turn away from the declining U.S. hegemon and reach out to a rising China" or...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 22, 2009

Level playing field for immigrants: responses

A selection of readers' responses to Debito Arudou's Dec. 1 Just Be Cause article, which proposed policy changes to "make life easier for Japan's residents, regardless of nationality":
Reader Mail
Dec 20, 2009

In-depth, intelligent change of pace

Regarding Eriko Arita's Dec. 6 article, "Finding satisfaction in being ourselves" (about psychiatrist Rika Kayama): This was the third article I have read on The Japan Times' Web site. It was in-depth, intelligent and bore no resemblance to the insipid, sugarcoated quarter-page interviews on similar...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Dec 15, 2009

Old condos finally attract interest

Buying an old condo can be a risky but since many can be had at rock-bottom prices these days, they might be worth the investment.
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2009

Senseless idling of engines

Regarding the Dec. 2 article "Polls' built-in bias may skew climate views": I was dumbfounded by the assertion in the article that Japanese are among the world's most educated when it comes to the realities of climate change. From my observation, Japanese appear to be among the world's most uneducated...
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2009

Tattoos and Japanese tradition

I agree with all of Debito Arudou's Dec. 1 article, "A level playing field for immigrants." It's sad to see Japan, which is supposed to be one of the leading countries, falling short. The article should have included a section on how to teach Japanese society to be less fearful of non-Japanese people,...
Reader Mail
Dec 6, 2009

Scope of the trespassing ruling

According to the Dec. 1 article "Top court: Flier distributor trespassed," Japan's Supreme Court ruled that Buddhist monk Yosei Arakawa was guilty of trespassing when he distributed Japan Communist Party fliers at a condominium in Tokyo. Since the condominium complex, according to the article, had a...
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 1, 2009

Yet more readers weigh in on child abduction, custody

Following are a further selection of readers' responses to the Zeit Gist articles on child custody and parental child abduction by Colin P. A. Jones (Oct. 20, Nov. 17, Nov. 24) and "Richard Cory" (Nov. 3):
COMMUNITY / Voices / HAVE YOUR SAY
Dec 1, 2009

Yet more readers weigh in on child abduction, custody

Following are a further selection of readers' responses to the Zeit Gist articles on child custody and parental child abduction by Colin P. A. Jones (Oct. 20, Nov. 17, Nov. 24) and "Richard Cory" (Nov. 3):
Reader Mail
Nov 26, 2009

Caring for patients near death

Regarding Peter Singer's Nov. 18 article, "Slippery slope of doctor-assisted euthanasia": Professor Singer says Roman Catholic thinkers would do well to examine the consequences of the Catholic "double effects" doctrine before invoking the "slippery slope" arguments against euthanasia. In fact, Singer...
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2009

Blog posts can be so much noise

Although I found the Nov. 18 article "Lets kensaku — searching the Web in Japanese" interesting, it didn't tell me anything I was not already aware of. I was hoping it would address the biggest problem I have when doing Japanese-language searches online: search results primarily comprising people's...
Reader Mail
Nov 22, 2009

Breaking campaign pledge is risky

Regarding the Sentaku Magazine article published in The Japan Times on Nov. 16 under the headline "Does Ozawa run the show as Hatoyama foots the bill?": Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has long been known by informed members of the Japanese electorate as a weak and ineffectual leader during his numerous...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 22, 2009

Beyond Copenhagen there's more than just cutting CO2

Imagine for a minute that global warming is not changing our planet's biosphere and the ecosystems that sustain life on Earth.
Reader Mail
Nov 19, 2009

Don't blame Japan for problems

I would like to reply to Denis McGowan's Nov. 15 letter, "Kids cut off from caring fathers." Many people have personal problems and I've been through my share, yet I would not shout them out in a newspaper. The person in the article cited by McGowan ("Fatally flawed math of risking it all in Japan,"...
Reader Mail
Nov 19, 2009

Distortions of Pakistan's reality

We are somewhat disappointed that your esteemed newspaper has encouraged Indian professor Harsh V. Pant to write negatively about Pakistan's nuclear assets and to question their security in the wake of alleged Talibanization in Pakistan. The Nov. 15 article "Embedded malcontents of nuclear Pakistan"...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 15, 2009

Movie JAL doesn't want you to see snubbed by media

Big-budget movies need all the help they can get recovering their production and promotional costs at the box office, so advertisements stating that the 3 1/2-hour epic "Shizumanu Taiyo" ("The Sun That Doesn't Set") is a "big hit" should be taken with a grain of salt. First of all, every movie released...
Reader Mail
Nov 12, 2009

Why put off the flight cuts at JAL?

The Nov. 7 article "JAL must stay aloft until January: turnaround chief" states that Japan Airlines Corp. will scrap 16 money-losing domestic and international flights by the end of May. How much money are these flights losing? Why not shut them down next month? Why spend good money after bad?
Reader Mail
Nov 8, 2009

Couples' weak pursuit of romance

Regarding Debito Arudou's Nov. 3 article "Demography vs. demagoguery: when politics, science collide": Arudou's comments remind me of . . . . the recent phenomenon of "plant-eating men" — those who prefer a "metro-sexual" lifestyle of fashion and hobbies over pursuit of a girlfriend.
COMMENTARY
Nov 2, 2009

How the U.S. can clear Guantanamo's name

TUCUMAN, Argentina — The U.S. Senate decision allowing terror suspects held at the U.S. Navy's Guantanamo Bay facility to be brought to the United States for trial is a significant development toward resolving the human rights issue surrounding their detention.
Reader Mail
Oct 25, 2009

Right of foreigners to leave Japan

In the Oct. 20 Zeit Gist article "Foreign parents face travel curbs?," why does professor Colin P.A. Jones write: "Japanese citizens have a constitutional right to leave their country. And foreigners? They apparently lack this right."
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Oct 25, 2009

Of simmering frogs and economists leaping to terminal conclusions

They say that if a frog is dropped into boiling water it will jump out, but if it is placed in water that is then heated slowly it will steadily acclimate and boil to death — having missed its chance to escape.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 24, 2009

Standing army still the prize peace-breaker

NEW YORK — The news that President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize immediately brought to mind comparisons with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who received the same prize back in 1973. In the outpourings of sharply divided reactions that ensued, a great many, it turned...
COMMUNITY
Oct 20, 2009

Foreign parents face travel curbs?

I think it is safe to say that the countdown has begun — the countdown to it becoming more difficult for you to leave Japan with your children. Difficult, that is, if you are non-Japanese and traveling without their other parent (or his or her written consent).
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 20, 2009

Seeking some advice, a lost father, friend

Where is my father? Yovichi (Yoichi?) Perez is "Japinoy," meaning of Filipino-Japanese ancestry. He saw a letter from a Japinoy like himself, also looking for his father, so he thought he would try his luck with us.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?