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Reader Mail
Oct 11, 2007

Examples of exploitation abound

Regarding the Sept. 29 article "Putting the red light on human trafficking": I once had a student who worked in a Tokyo ward office dealing with alien registration who used to tell me stories of young ladies from the Philippines and other Asian countries coming to her desk and pleading with her to be...
Reader Mail
Oct 11, 2007

Romaji could ease the problem

I was amused and pleased by Shinichi Terada's Oct. 2 article, "Kanji, kana trip search engines." I called attention to similar problems in my 1987 book "The Fifth Generation Fallacy" (Oxford University Press) and more recently in "Ideogram: Chinese Characters and the Myth of Disembodied Meaning" (University...
COMMENTARY
Oct 11, 2007

Six-party talks make progress

HONOLULU — The joint declaration from the recently concluded round of six-party talks in Beijing points to a significant step forward, provided Pyongyang follows through as promised with a significant series of denuclearization steps between now and the end of the year. As has often been the trend...
Reader Mail
Oct 11, 2007

'Capitalism' not the only recipe

(University of California professor) Gregory Clark, in his Oct. 3 article, "Wealth related to the culture of nations" provides a false economic history to justify his strange theory. Massive amounts of money coming to Britain due to colonization of Bengal in 1757, in addition to profits from the slave...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2007

Videotaping interrogations worth a look?

When the Toyama Prefectural Police announced in January they had found the real culprit in two rape cases in 2002 — for which 40-year-old Hiroshi Yanagihara had already been convicted and served time — it was no surprise to legal experts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2007

Ozawa's Afghan gambit rejected

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura on Tuesday rejected Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa's suggestion that Japan participate in NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
Reader Mail
Oct 9, 2007

Fujimori viewed as a hero

Regarding the Sept. 26 article "'Last samurai' still has support in thankful Japan": For many Peruvians like myself, Alberto Fujimori (recently extradited from Chile to Peru) is the greatest Peruvian President of the last century.
COMMENTARY
Oct 8, 2007

Getting Japan's politics wrong

Western media have reported Japan's new prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, as drab and unexciting and even as "lukewarm pizza." But anyone who watched him during his more than three-year stint as chief Cabinet secretary would know that he has a sharp mind and a laid-back sense of humor.
Reader Mail
Oct 7, 2007

Ammunition against Japan

Regarding the Sept. 30 article "110,000 protest history text revision order": It surprises me that in a democratic country like Japan a single ministry (education) is able to affect internal and international politics so negatively. Okinawans are not the only ones who have criticized past and present...
Reader Mail
Oct 7, 2007

Poor example for educators

Regarding the Sept. 28 article "Tokai tasked with continuing education reforms": Increasing the number of teachers in the schools is not the solution. Improving the attitudes and integrity of everyone concerned -- from the education minister to the classroom teachers -- can help a lot.
Reader Mail
Oct 7, 2007

Domestic stand doomed Abe

In his Sept. 20 article, "Decline of the Liberal Democratic Party," Gwynne Dyer blames the downfall of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration on its continuation of Japan's post-World War II subservience to the United States in matters of foreign policy. He boldly proclaims that the "deeply...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / ON THE ROAD
Oct 7, 2007

A Golden Age everywhere but at home

More high-profile new cars are hitting the market than have been seen for nearly 20 years, creating buzz everywhere but Japan.
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2007

Ruling bloc, in rare twist, hands MSDF bill to opposition

The ruling coalition Friday submitted to the opposition camp the draft of a new bill to continue the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan — a key goal of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in the current Diet session....
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2007

Flawed reliance on confessions

With the lay judge system scheduled to be introduced by May 2009, a system should be developed to ensure that investigators' records of suspects' oral statements are trustworthy. Recent cases involving false confessions highlight the urgent need for such a system.
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2007

A reason to forgo pregnancy

Regarding the Sept. 28 article "191 multiple refusals of pregnant women found": The world knows that the population of Japan is declining. I have heard some say that this is due to marriages in which a man finds a wife only to take care of him. I have heard others say it is because married couples don't...
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2007

Limited value of katakana

Regarding the Sept. 23 article "Japanese: a language in a state of flux": Having spent much time in Japan, I can say that the only katakana I find useful is company names, brand names and some signs (such as the one for "toilet"). This is all based on visual recognition, rather than a phonetic comprehension. ...
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2007

What good are these hospitals?

Regarding the Sept. 28 article "Woman rejected by seven hospitals (in Mie Prefecture) after giving birth": The fact that this happened to a non-Japanese woman is not only disgusting but also against everything that hospitals and the medical profession stand for. Where do these establishments get off,...
Reader Mail
Oct 4, 2007

Middle names stop the show

When I saw the title of Thomas Dillon's Sept. 30 article, "The curse of the middle name," I just knew what to expect. And, I wasn't wrong. Mr. Dillon, I hear you!
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 4, 2007

The camera and the truth

With his fake documentary purporting to show serving President George W. Bush's assassination, director Gabriel Range has made this year's most controversial movie
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2007

Heading for a French Sixth Republic?

PARIS — Nearly 50 years after the creation of the Fifth Republic by Gen. Charles de Gaulle, French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to change France's fundamental institutions. An expert council will send him its proposals by Nov. 1.
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2007

Real cost of self-sufficiency

Regarding the Sept. 18 editorial, "Self-sufficiency amid diversity": Perhaps I am missing something, but in every article about Japan's food self-sufficiency that I have read so far, the word "oil" is never mentioned. Where I live, out in the countryside, besides bird songs and distant ambulance sirens,...
Reader Mail
Oct 2, 2007

Hurdles to teaching English

Regarding the article "Is it all over for Nova?" on the Sept. 25 Community page: I used to work at Nova as an assistant trainer until about two years ago. I quit because I was worried about the company's future at that time.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Oct 2, 2007

Japan faces hunger pains as poor slip through net

First in a two-part series
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2007

Dilemma for America's left

Ted Rall's Sept. 24 article, "Ugly truth of antiwar lefties," makes some important points about the hypocrisy of the antiwar movement. What he fails to point out, however, is how rightwing, prowar interests have so strongly defined the debate that the left is now forced to sculpt their argument to be...
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2007

Union accepts Nova teachers

Regarding the Sept. 25 article in the Community section "Advice for teachers": The statement that "The General Union and Nambu decided on a policy that we won't take new members if Nova goes bankrupt" is not an accurate reflection of the General Union's policy. The General Union has no special policy...
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2007

Time to kill the dolphin cull

Kudos to Nigel Barker for his brutally honest photos, and to Boyd Harnell for his equally succinct commentary, for the Sept. 19 article "Tokyo sanctions an extended cull of Taiji dolphins." As a former resident of Japan, I know that in some corners there are those who not only will never see the cruelty...
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2007

'Modern' Japanese harder to read

I found Tomoko Otake's Sept. 23 article, "Japanese: a language in a state of flux" -- about the invasion of modern Japanese by gairaigo (foreign loan words) -- very interesting. Fifteen years ago, as an education ministry scholarship student, I studied Japanese at the International Center of Keio University....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 30, 2007

Cancer may kill, but it can also revitalize a flagging media career

Right now there's a commercial on TV for the American insurance company AFLAC featuring veteran journalist Shuntaro Torigoe, who was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. It shows the 67-year-old reporter in what looks like home videos undergoing tests, or about to be operated on, or clowning around with...
CULTURE / Books
Sep 30, 2007

The Murakami addiction

Murakami Haruki: The Simulacrum in Contemporary Japanese Culture, by Michael R. Seats, 2006, 384 pp., $70 (cloth) Haruki Murakami's novels have much in common with potato chips. Both are often addictive and both are often ultimately unsatisfying. Yet one can't help but buy another bag of chips at the...
Reader Mail
Sep 30, 2007

English school has been good to us

Regarding the Sept. 21 front-page article "Nova may close hundreds of schools": As a Nova student for 11 years, I think it's a shame that Nova has been so criticized by the media. We love Nova's system, which includes flexible lesson-time schedules, voice rooms (one ticket lets us be there seven hours...

Longform

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