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Reader Mail
Jan 15, 2008

Reviews of films set in Japan

In the Jan. 4 article "Once again, here comes the West to the Orient," writer Kaori Shoji labels the film "Silk" Orientalist, but fails to provide any convincing evidence for this pejorative. Her one relevant criticism is that a village lord speaking English in pre-Meiji Japan would have been "an impossible...
Reader Mail
Jan 15, 2008

Out of time, out of place

Regarding the Jan. 9 article "Clear apology to sex slaves demanded": U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (California Democrat), who was in Tokyo on Jan. 8, once again belabored his favorite subject. Japan has periodically expressed regret over this issue. Their remorse is more than sufficient.
Reader Mail
Jan 15, 2008

Foot-dragging on smoking ban

Regarding the Jan. 8 article "Half of taxis now nonsmoking as 95 percent of Tokyo cabs join ban": If the effort really is "to prevent health damage from secondhand smoke," when will Japan join the rest of the civilized world and make all restaurants and bars 100 percent nonsmoking? How about protecting...
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2008

Refueling law enacted with regrets

By using a special provision in the Constitution, the ruling parties have voted into law a bill that enables the resumption of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean for antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan. The mission is expected to resume in mid-February....
Reader Mail
Jan 13, 2008

Motivations for leaving Serbia

Allow me to respond to professor Peter Prifti's Jan. 8 letter, "Albanians act out desperation," which was a response to my Jan. 3 article, "The case against Kosovo independence."
Reader Mail
Jan 13, 2008

To drink and drive is proof enough

Regarding the Jan. 9 article "Drunk driver gets 7½ years for killing kids": A sentence this short is a parody of justice and an insult to the Ogami family and every victim of those who have driven under the influence of alcohol.
Reader Mail
Jan 13, 2008

Stakes in fingerprint registration

Kathleen Morikawa's Jan. 8 Zeit Gist article, "Following in our fingerprints," is one of the best summaries of the movement against fingerprinting in alien registration from 1955 to 2000. Contrary to her claim, though, the government never gave in.
Reader Mail
Jan 13, 2008

Get used to lower domestic sales

The Jan. 8 article " '07 vehicle sales lowest in 35 years" indicates that Japan is finally waking up to reality. Domestic sales in Japan will decline in nearly every sector. Fewer people mean lower sales. There is no cure but immigration, and that will never happen on the scale needed to produce results...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 12, 2008

Lower House rams through antiterrorism bill

For the first time in half a century, the Lower House on Friday overrode the Upper, ramming a bill through the Diet to resume the Maritime Self-Defense Force refueling duty in the Indian Ocean.
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2008

MSDF bill step closer to ruling bloc's ultimate OK

An opposition-controlled Upper House panel Thursday rejected a special antiterrorism bill to enable the Maritime Self-Defense Force to resume its refueling operations in the Indian Ocean, in a last-minute bid to block its expected passage Friday in the ruling bloc-dominated Lower House.
COMMENTARY
Jan 10, 2008

Mistaken economic policies

Another year, another budget. And yet another increase in public debt as tax revenues yet again fail to provide the funds needed even for the budget's highly restricted outlays.
Reader Mail
Jan 10, 2008

Report may have popped a dream

I've been teaching for 17 years in Houston, Texas, and have always dreamed of teaching in Japan. However, after reading the (Jan. 5) article and learning the truth about working conditions, maybe my dream has ended. I can only imagine how hard it would be to struggle financially in an unfamiliar country...
Reader Mail
Jan 8, 2008

Misguided efforts against Serbs

Thank you for publishing professor Raju Thomas' Jan. 3 article, "The case against Kosovo independence." For over 60 years, Albanian extremists have sought to create an ethnically and religiously "pure" Kosovo by ethnically cleansing and slaughtering Kosovo's non-Albanian inhabitants and destroying...
Reader Mail
Jan 8, 2008

Albanians act out of desperation

Regarding professor Raju Thomas' Jan. 3 article"The case against Kosovo independence": Thomas should know better. People do not take up arms against their rulers and risk their lives for no good reason. They do so out of desperation, as a last resort.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 8, 2008

Following in our fingerprints

It was a quarter of a century ago on an autumn day in 1982 that I decided to engage in a small act of civil disobedience by refusing to give my fingerprint. Little did I realize I was stepping into a decades-long controversy that would be both an education and a circus.
Reader Mail
Jan 6, 2008

Regaining the trust of neighbors

Jun Hongo's Dec. 21 article, "To survive corporate scandal or to crumble" -- about corporate conduct -- points out a clear contrast: Companies that tell the truth, apologize and mend their ways will regain customers' trust, while those that continue with coverups and denials won't. And rightly so; food...
Reader Mail
Jan 6, 2008

Sexual division of labor

In the Jan. 1 Zeit Gist article, "Seeking life in balance," writer Michael Hassett says some insightful things about policymakers' responses to the birthrate decline. But he misses one important factor -- the "rational decision-making" of women concerning their fertility. In cultures throughout the world,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2008

Waseda grad school to groom true newshounds

There is no doubt that Japan has produced its share of top-notch journalists: noted political writer Takashi Tachibana, war photographer Ryuichi Hirokawa and videographer Kenji Nagai, who was shot dead in September while reporting close up on the unrest in Myanmar, to cite but a few.
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2008

India's policy toward neighbors

In his Dec. 26 article, "China puts muscle to policy," Brahma Chellaney seems to have put great effort in vilifying China from every angle possible while presenting India as a guaranteed victim of every move China makes in Tibet and beyond.
Reader Mail
Jan 3, 2008

Where is the whale research?

My work has brought me in touch with quite a few Japanese researchers who have been published in internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journals. Their institutions have ethics committees that review their proposals before they are permitted to begin animal studies or human trials.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2008

'07 political storm really the calm before '08?

Last year was full of political turmoil — from scandals and arrests to suicide and a divided Diet — but there is no time to rest because 2008 may turn out to be a historical turning point if there is a general election, depending on which side wins, analysts say.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2008

What the U.S. presidential hopefuls see when they look East

OSAKA — The Iowa caucus kicks off Thursday in what is expected to be a hard-fought battle for the U.S. presidency. The November election itself will end the era of George W. Bush and offer the victor a chance to reshape America's role internationally.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 1, 2008

Seeking a life in balance

A task force set out earlier this year to bring more balance to the the grueling lifestyles that have become engrained in Japanese society over the past century. In November, a set of employment guidelines were formally adopted by the government.
Reader Mail
Jan 1, 2008

Teachers still being kept in the dark

Regarding the Dec. 26 article "Firm reneges on promised jobs for Nova teachers": G.education Co. certainly appears to be continuing in the footsteps of the English-teaching company Nova with regard to the treatment of teachers. I was a Nova teacher and had to leave Japan in November after the schools...
COMMENTARY
Dec 31, 2007

Killing cycle claimed Bhutto

WATERLOO, Canada — Born amid the mass killings of partition in 1947, Pakistan has never escaped the cycle of violence, volatility and bloodshed. Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007) is the latest casualty of that murderous cycle.
Reader Mail
Dec 30, 2007

'Terrorists' walking the streets

Regarding the Dec. 22 front-page article "Mob crackdown targets bosses, bidders": Is there any possible excuse for the National Police Agency and the Japanese government allowing terrorists with guns, swords and knives to freely roam the streets of Japan killing whomsoever they please? Surely, it is...
BASKETBALL
Dec 28, 2007

Apache guard Aoki continues climb to stardom

There are times this season when Cohey Aoki is the best offensive player on the basketball court.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WITNESS TO WAR
Dec 28, 2007

Student nurse recalls horror of Okinawa fighting

Thirteenth in a series
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2007

Overly rosy view of U.S.-Aussie ties

Regarding Ralph Cossa's Dec. 24 article, "U.S., Australia 'still mates'": Cossa warps his analysis to fit his preconceived hopes and political ideology, and does so with a superficiality, sophistry and flippancy that demands a response. As Cossa says, the United States needs to "get over 9/11," and,...

Longform

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