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Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jul 5, 2013

Hard-charging foreigners inspire Nagoya University sumo team

With the 2013 July Grand Sumo Tournament in Nagoya set to kick off Sunday, Osunaarashi of Egypt is grabbing the media spotlight as the first pro sumo wrestler from Africa.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / GAME OF NUMBERS
Jul 4, 2013

Abe camp faces little true opposition, also little mandate

As one expert has it, the July 21 Upper House poll looks to be a cakewalk for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2013

The best albums of 2013 (so far)

The year in music so far has been filled with comeback albums that "hype" their way to the top. After the Twitter hashtags subside, though, such artists also seem to leave the minds of the public. (Is anyone still talking about David Bowie? Justin Timberlake? ... Daft Punk?) The fast-paced industry of...
Reader Mail
Jul 3, 2013

Brazen proposal on Okinawa

On a June 10 news talk show, Kevin Maher, the former U.S. Consul General Okinawa and chief of the Japan Desk at the U.S. State Department, said the suggestion by the Chinese People's Liberation Army deputy chief of staff that the Senkaku Islands issue be shelved for now is like a thief proposing a condition....
Reader Mail
Jul 3, 2013

Christian mentality showing

It's only necessary to look at the personal, seemingly malevolent sarcasm of Frank O'Brien's June 23 letter, "Right to express religious views," and Jennifer Kim's June 23 letter, "Mild wisecrack in comparison," to see what is wrong with the Christian mentality.
Reader Mail
Jul 3, 2013

Great tool for political discourse

Regarding Ted Rall's June 29 article, "End of editorial cartooning": I was surprised to learn that there is an annual conference of political cartoonists in America where "partisan divisions fall away." Hardline leftist Rall writes that "one of my dearest friends is a conservative cartoonist." What a...
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jul 1, 2013

Xi regime swinging to the left

Disturbing rumors are spreading that, sometime this fall, there will be a large-scale purge of reformist members from the Chinese Communist Party.
COMMENTARY / Japan / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Jul 1, 2013

Constitutional revision debate could make or break 'Abenomics'

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's popularity continues — the latest Nikkei and TV Tokyo survey shows his approval rating at 66 percent, his Liberal Democratic Party's victory in the Upper House election seems highly probable, "Abenomics" is still on course, and even medium-term economic growth seems possible...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2013

Preposterous population forecasts for Africa

It's hard enough to see how the world can sustain another 4 billion people by 2100. The alarming figure is that three-quarters of that growth will be in Africa.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / BACKSTREET STORIES
Jun 30, 2013

Blazing a woodland trail through Shin Kiba

Even if you can't read the kanji for Shin Kiba, you'll sniff out its meaning of "new wood place" the moment you arrive. The Yurakucho subway line's terminus there in eastern Tokyo smells like a cedar closet. Inside the station, a display of Japanese carpentry — including beams featuring dovetail, mitered...
Japan Times
JAPAN / MAKING THEIR CASE
Jun 30, 2013

JCP chief tabs party as bulwark against Abe plans

Only the Japanese Communist Party can act as a counterweight to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House election, especially against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic and constitutional revision plans, JCP Chairman Kazuo Shii declared Saturday.
Reader Mail
Jun 30, 2013

Labor market has been rigged

Regarding the June 25 article "Unpaid overtime excesses hit young": Many things need to change to reach a pluralistic society: the lack of political opposition, the abusive amakudari system (high-ranking government officials' "retiring" into lucrative private jobs), the excessive power of corporations,...
Reader Mail
Jun 30, 2013

Universities are for the Japanese

In his June 24 article, "Top students shunning Japan," professor Takamitsu Sawa presents interesting facts and rightly concludes that Japan may not attract outstanding students from abroad. But he misses a very important point: Are there global brands among the Japanese universities, and do they present...
Reader Mail
Jun 30, 2013

Laid-back attitude needs work

I beg to differ with the headline for Takamitsu Sawa's article, asserting that top students are shunning Japan. Talented students are not shunning Japan, per se — just the laid-back, everyone-gets-a-degree, pay-your-tuition approach to higher education in Japan.
Reader Mail
Jun 30, 2013

Analogy isn't what it used to be

Regarding the June 25 AP article "Detroit may sell its cultural gems if city goes bust": The world is in a sad state. I hope Detroit recovers and comes out stronger in the future. I wonder whether Japanese companies will still continue to refer to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu as the "Detroit" of India,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Jun 29, 2013

Ichinomiya uses manga to promote textile brand

A project to create costumes from the popular manga series "Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne" is under way in the textile hub of Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, which recently came up with the "Costume Town" concept to promote itself.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 28, 2013

Nippon Ishin pledges to 'clarify historical facts'

Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) unveils policy pledges for the Upper House election next month, including a promise to push for decentralization of government power and revise the postwar Constitution.
WORLD
Jun 28, 2013

Snowden had contempt for leakers

When he was working in the intelligence community in 2009, Edward Snowden, the U.S. National Security Agency contractor who passed top-secret documents to journalists, appears to have had nothing but disdain for those who leaked classified information, the newspapers that printed their revelations and...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2013

U.S. corporate tax whinge

If the U.S. tax code is broken, then Congress should fix it, simplify it. But don't let the big corporations avoid paying their fair share of federal revenue.
EDITORIALS
Jun 27, 2013

Makeshift fix for electoral disparity

Ruling coalition party members in the Lower House ramrod passage of an overdue reapportionment measure that only begins to address vote-value disparities.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2013

China wins in Snowden saga

The release of information about U.S. surveillance efforts worldwide has led to the depiction of Washington as a hypocrite for berating China over cyber espionage.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2013

Five myths about the National Security Agency

One common denominator of NSA whistleblowers is that they feel ignored when attempting to bring illegal or unethical operations to the attention of higher-ups.
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Abe bears watching after July

I always look forward to Noriko Hama's columns as she has an adroit way of aiming her own "arrows" at the heart of any subject matter she chooses. She once again excels in her June 24 article, "Abe's rhetoric reveals a growth strategy aimed at global conquest." If any headline could cause Japan's neighbors...
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Hope to see blood test abolished

Last summer, Japan was getting ready to introduce a new type of prenatal examination that requires only a blood test. Recently I read the March 5 article "Down syndrome blood test draws interests and ire," which prompted some doubts about this test. The blood test is an easy way to know whether a baby...
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Responsibilities toward the state

The June 23 Bloomberg article by Peter Gumbel, "French high school curriculum includes pitfalls U.S. should try to avoid with its Common Core," talks about the relatively high standard of the French baccalaureat secondary school graduation exams, and a corresponding dropout rate.
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

The only ethical energy option

Regarding the June 19 article "Meltdowns haven't killed anyone: LDP bigwig": Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Sanae Takaichi's comment that the meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant "have not claimed the lives of any people," however technically accurate, was deservedly criticized...
Reader Mail
Jun 27, 2013

Japan endures like a U.S. vassal

Regarding the June 22 Kyodo article, "Tainted soil detected at ex-U.S. land in Okinawa": Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the United States does not have the obligation to clean up environmental contamination. Can you believe this?
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 25, 2013

Asia demand making ginseng in U.S. scarce

The long tradition of ginseng hunting in the U.S. can be traced from Daniel Boone, the folk hero frontiersman, to Glenn Miller, a retired concrete inspector.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat