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Reader Mail
Apr 25, 2013

Yasukuni serves useful purpose

Regarding the April 22 Kyodo article "(State minister Keiji) Furuya shows up at war-linked Yasukuni": I am a U.S. citizen with Japanese heritage on my mother's side. I was born in Japan only 16 years after the end of the great war. Although I do not have any real memories about what life was like at...
Reader Mail
Apr 25, 2013

Polarization in modern politics

I found the April 18 Bloomberg article by Cass R. Sunstein, "Why well-informed people are also close-minded," very interesting. The problem here is figuring out what phrases like "well-informed" and "political knowledge" actually mean.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2013

Abe war comment roils S. Korean media

Tokyo is forced into damage control over history issues again after a war remark by Prime Minister Abe triggers big headlines in South Korea.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2013

Time for the U.S. to come clean about torture

The U.S. government's use of torture against suspected terrorists, and its failure to fully acknowledge and condemn it, makes the use of diplomacy more daunting.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 23, 2013

Renter guarantor system a headache for foreigners

Things were going well for Patrick after a year in Japan. He had found a job he liked, met a girl he planned to marry and was ready to move out of the small room his older brother, a longtime resident, was letting him use.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 23, 2013

Conservative tasks in Japan

As the first conservative government in Japan for a long time, the Abe Cabinet faces two major tasks, including departing from the postwar regime on security.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Apr 22, 2013

ASEAN looking a bit like '97

Amid the economic boom in many ASEAN countries, there is also a feeling of deja vu that current conditions resemble those on the eve of the '97 financial crisis.
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Universities far from flourishing

Regarding the April 12 Kyodo brief "Japanese universities best in Asia: It would be hasty to jump to the conclusion that Japan's universities are flourishing despite the data released by the London-based Times Higher Education magazine. A reading of the original magazine article gives a little better...
Reader Mail
Apr 21, 2013

Consequences of health planning

Anyone who has been around someone who is trying to quit smoking knows the common effects: increased appetite and irritability. Therefore, the headline of the April 17 AFP-JIJI article "Australians smoking, drinking less, but getting heftier, more anxious" should come as a surprise to no one.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 20, 2013

Gifu opens women-only dorm for drug addicts

A month has passed since drug rehabilitation center Gifu Darc opened the first dormitory in the Tokai region for female addicts.
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Application of statistics fails

As someone who has spent his entire academic life in computational economics, I would like to comment on the April 12 Bloomberg article by theoretical physicist Mark Buchanan, titled "Beware economists who peddle cute models."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2013

Blame Western 'demonists' for Pyongyang's belligerence

Demonists never sleep. They concoct fantasies almost daily over a North Korea that almost certainly only wants to protect itself from the threat of U.S. attack.
Reader Mail
Apr 18, 2013

Takarazuka hits discordant note

I read Mark Buckton's April 14 Timeout feature article, "Takarazuka: Japan's newest 'traditional' theater turns 100," and thought, "Maybe I need to get out more."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2013

Why well-informed people are also close-minded

A U.S. study finds that if you know a lot about politics, efforts to undermine or dislodge your political beliefs with facts might well upset you and therefore backfire.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013

When the zombies attack, you'll need your gun

The zombie craze sweeping the U.S. is a warning to baby boomers: Our children are worried that the fortifications along the wall might not hold. Let's hope there's time to leave them a different legacy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013

It's the end of everything as we know it (perhaps)

I hope you had it while you could because, last week, sex ended.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2013

Anonymous murder from a safe distance

War is war and murder is murder. The law draws the distinction. The American armed drone is a weapons system of war, not of policemen. And even if it were a police weapon (as it may, one fears, become in the future), the United States Department of Defense and the CIA are not police forces, nor has the...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2013

How much longer will the Iran 'game' go on?

The latest failure of talks on nuclear development between Iran and six world powers indicate that mutual animosity will increase without a new approach.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 14, 2013

Tabloids sharpen claws for North Korea's 'X-Day'

Three months before the present crisis on the Korean peninsula, Shukan Jitsuwa (Jan. 24) ran an uncharacteristically astute article predicting that in addition to potential for armed conflict with China over the disputed Senkaku Islands, North Korea, under its inexperienced young leader Kim Jong Un, posed a serious threat to Japan.
Reader Mail
Apr 14, 2013

'Iron Lady' is worth emulating

Much has been written and said about the life and times of Margaret Thatcher. I was especially pleased to read Gwynne Dyer's balanced article "The Iron Lady's lasting legacy" and George Will's complimentary "Margaret Thatcher buoyed by vigorous virtues," both published April 11 in The Japan Times print...
Reader Mail
Apr 14, 2013

When is enough, enough?

Regarding the April 6 AFP-JIJI article "Whale institute still justifying lethal research": I believe a few points need to be raised.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 14, 2013

Net TV expresses views the mainstream ignores

Last week's column mentioned "Pack-in News," a current-affairs talk show that used to stream on the Internet TV channel Kinkin.tv, which is the personal project of veteran actor-emcee Kinya Aikawa. It was a continuation of "Pack-in Journal," a show hosted by Aikawa on the satellite station Asahi Newstar...
Reader Mail
Apr 14, 2013

No reason to fear North's nukes

The argument posed in the April 9 AP article "Japan has real reasons to fret about North Korean nukes" does not hold up to scrutiny.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Apr 13, 2013

Aichi tries to hang on to female doctors

Starting from April, female doctors with children at Fujita Health University Hospital in Toyoake, Aichi Prefecture, who need shorter working hours to care for their young will have the option of working 20 or 30 hours a week, instead of the regular 40 hours.
Reader Mail
Apr 11, 2013

Silly statistics on the ephemeral

Regarding the April 5 Jiji Press article "Aomori blossoms 'best'": Are you kidding me? Did Weathernews Inc. really take a hanami survey to find out all the important statistical data about the cherry blossom viewing habits of Japan's hanami-loving devotees?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Apr 10, 2013

Employment counselors forced to sit on the other side of the window

In one area of employment public servants have it worse than private sector workers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Apr 9, 2013

Whatever happened to the Goldman Sachs union?

In February 2012, a small band of sacked workers in Japan took on one of the world's biggest investment banks, Goldman Sachs, unionizing in a bid to keep their jobs and win a better deal from a firm they believed had treated them unfairly.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 9, 2013

Comparing tobacco fight to the Opium Wars

The struggle against tobacco is not being won. It is being relocated from industrialized countries to the developing world.
Reader Mail
Apr 7, 2013

Violent impulse of Americans

Regarding the April 3 AP article "Death penalty sought in Colorado shooting case": In the wake of each mass shooting, the question on everyone's mind is always "why?"
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Apr 7, 2013

Men cry discrimination as women's status rises

Japan, it seems, is forever discriminating against someone. Women, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, lifestyle minorities, the disabled, part-time workers — all have made claims against a state and a national psychology that define acceptability very narrowly relative to most other developed societies....

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