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Reader Mail
Jun 19, 2008

No reason to censure Fukuda

Regarding the June 12 article "Upper House hits Fukuda with censure": I believe that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is a great leader and a healer of recent wounds for both the foreign community and all Japanese women in this country. And Fukuda has never mentioned that the Japanese government believes...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jun 17, 2008

Sumo's future isn't in the U.S.

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Times carried a very brief article on the sport of sumo.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 16, 2008

Reluctant runner viewed as possible Fukuda fill-in

It is expected that a race for Japan's national leadership will start after Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hosts the summit meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Toyako, Hokkaido, in July.
Reader Mail
Jun 15, 2008

Get wise and lose the ties

Regarding the June 7 article "Cool biz Fukuda goes past tieless": The history of the necktie is a long and convoluted one. Some commentators suggest that its precursors hail from the Han Dynasty in China and Imperial Rome, where its function was to protect against the cold. During the Thirty Years War...
Reader Mail
Jun 15, 2008

When not to get on an elevator

Regarding Michael Hoffman's June 8 summary ("Dumb men better than dirty 'old' men") of a June 3 Spa! article: From a 57-something guy, I totally agree. If a bunch of guys, especially in suits, get in an elevator, I don't get on. What is it, do guys live in their suits and wash like once a year? Their...
Reader Mail
Jun 15, 2008

Adaptation of Japanese, Chinese

I agree with Frank Ching's view in his June 5 article, "Quake warms Japan-China ties," that the people of Japan and China have to change and adapt to new circumstances.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2008

Testing times for Malaysia

SINGAPORE — The man who once gave lectures to the West and its leaders is back again regaling his captive Malaysian audience with his trademark rhetoric.
Reader Mail
Jun 8, 2008

Most Koreans not 'forcibly brought'

The final line of the June 4 article from Kyodo News, "Chinese now No. 1 foreign group," erroneously characterized the 426,227 Koreans who are classified as special permanent residents as "those who were forcibly brought to Japan from the Korean Peninsula when it was under Japanese colonial rule, and...
Reader Mail
Jun 8, 2008

Invest in counseling, not weapons

Regarding the May 30 article "Japanese found hanged on KAL jet": It's a sad statement of a country's culture that so many Japanese people's ultimate form of expression is suicide. It must be hard for many non-Japanese to understand why this anomaly has persisted for so long.
Reader Mail
Jun 8, 2008

Relevant values for everyone

Regarding the article "Bad public manners irk Bushido proponent": I am happy to see that somebody is taking up the cause for what should be obvious to people who enjoy the benefits of living in a civilized society yet do not contribute so much as common courtesy.
Reader Mail
Jun 8, 2008

Young people wrongly singled out

I commend the efforts of Sokichi Sugimura (June 3 article, "Bad public manners irk Bushido proponent") to promote better manners and harmony on the streets and trains. However, I find his associating young people with irresponsibility for hogging priority seats, blocking doorways and applying makeup...
COMMENTARY
Jun 6, 2008

Japan sidelined on Taiwan

Arriving at Taipei international airport en route to a Taiwanese university conference on Russia, you are hit by the headline of a local magazine on display. In translation it reads: "The New Diplomacy Will Rescue Taiwan."
EDITORIALS
Jun 6, 2008

Giving children their due

In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a Nationality Law clause that denies Japanese nationality to a child born out of wedlock to a foreign woman and Japanese man even if the man recognizes his paternity following the birth.
Reader Mail
Jun 5, 2008

Horrible risk for passengers

Regarding the May 28 article "Customs loses pot in traveler's bag": It is with great sadness that I read the story about how a customs official at Narita International Airport hid drugs in a Hong Kong traveler's suitcase for a "training exercise."
Reader Mail
Jun 5, 2008

Where East could meet West

Concerning the ongoing discussion about the existence of God, I agree with William Johnston's May 25 letter, "The reconciliation of opposites," for the simple reason that in the Zen Buddhism tradition, Peter Singer (with his doubts expressed in his May 19 article, "If there is a god, then why is there...
Reader Mail
Jun 5, 2008

Hold guest workers to a timeline

With reference to Roger Pulvers' June 1 Counterpoint article, "Is aging Japan really ready for all the non-Japanese carers it needs?": While I realize there is a good argument to be made for employing foreign nurses/carers, given this country's aging population, these should be only allowed in as "guest...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Jun 3, 2008

Good news from grass roots

Reader Rodney in Vancouver recently e-mailed: "I've often found your articles informative and useful, but they tend to take a tone of complaint. Please tell us about some face-to-face, grassroots efforts that have helped make Japanese more considerate and respectful of those who are different."
Reader Mail
Jun 1, 2008

Reality of life without a god

I am saddened but not surprised by the backlash that Peter Singer's May 19 article, "If there is a god, then why is there suffering?," has received. At a loss for a logical argument against his proposal, many have resigned to attacking Singer's character or making completely irrelevant claims.
Reader Mail
Jun 1, 2008

Dealing with Nanjing's history

In reference to the May 22 article "Nanjing victim's libeler loses appeal": I am pleased that the Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling against Shudo Higashinakano's book "The Nanking Massacre: Fact Versus Fiction."
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Zeroing in on relative Truth

In his May 25 letter, "The reconciliation of opposites," William Johnston explains that Peter Singer's May 19 article, influenced by the rationalism that has "invaded the Western world since the time of the Greeks," made him laugh because, in a word, "everything is one and not one."
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Existence of God and misery

Peter Singer's May 19 article, "If there's a god, then why is there suffering," seemed a little . . . hmmm . . . how would Albert Einstein put it? Childish.
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Defensive overkill mystifies

I read the May 23 front-page article "Anime stokes ire of Muslims" with some concern, as it reminded me yet again how insignificant events get blown out of proportion when it comes to the Muslim world. The chairman of the fatwa committee of Cairo said the scene "depicts Muslims as terrorists, which is...
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Mutual back-scratching alleged

In his May 25 Asian Bookshelf article, Donald Richie reviews "America and Other Poems" by Nobuo Ayukawa -- an anthology selected and translated by Shogo Oketani and Leza Lowitz. Strangely, however, Richie's glowing review omits to mention that this is the same Lowitz who edited his own "Japan Journals."...
Reader Mail
May 29, 2008

Use of fur beats alternatives

Regarding the April 17 article "Designer's 'ecological' line slammed as 'green-wash' ": While it was very interesting to read Chie Imai's idea of mixing recycled synthetics with real furs, I felt the tone of the headline, and the coverage given to the response from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment...
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2008

G8 summit, Doha agenda and the future of the WTO

YOKOHAMA — The world trading system, based originally on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and now the World Trade Organization (WTO), celebrated its 60th anniversary Jan. 1. During its lifetime, tariffs declined to just one-tenth of what they were, while the volume of world trade grew...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 28, 2008

Burying our heads in the sand

We've all heard the warning, "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is."
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
May 27, 2008

Tycoon aims to speed up politics

Business tycoon Hiroshi Okuda is said to be meeting frequently but secretly with leading figures of both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan, apparently with an eye to reorganizing the political landscape after general elections expected in the not-too-distant...

Longform

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