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Japan Times
CULTURE / OTAKOOL
Sep 27, 2007

Akihabara's awful truths

While the Establishment packages Electric Town as a mecca for manga and anime obsessives, and a magnet for camera- toting tourists, the reality differs: 'Akiba' is alienating the geeks who once made it great
Reader Mail
Sep 26, 2007

U.S. double standards on Taiwan

Brad Glosserman's Sept. 13 article, "Lashing out at U.S. won't help Taiwan" -- about the fallout between the United States and Taiwan over a planned referendum on U.N. entry -- misses some key points. The U.S. claims that it opposes any change in the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, yet it repeatedly...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2007

Fukuda elected prime minister in Diet faceoff

New Liberal Democratic Party President Yasuo Fukuda was elected prime minister by a divided Diet on Tuesday afternoon amid the political turmoil stemming from Shinzo Abe's sudden resignation announcement two weeks ago.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Sep 26, 2007

Turning waste into rich resources

Visit Calcutta, even briefly, and you soon learn the rules of the road — or rather that there aren't many, if any. You will also meet some of the planet's most resourceful people, from street children to scientists who are masters of making very little go a long way.
Reader Mail
Sep 26, 2007

Osama has everything to gain

Regarding the Sept. 9 article "Bin Laden tells America: Turn to Islam or you perish": Notwithstanding his demand to "embrace Islam," Osama bin Laden makes some good points. The warning is simply artful baiting to draw Americans deeper into the mire of Iraq and the Middle East. He has everything to gain,...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 25, 2007

Rules for making 'friends' from faces

PRAGUE — I'm embarrassed to say that after reading Newsweek's recent cover story on Facebook, I joined. The majority of the social networking site's new members are people over 35: oldies like me. Still, it's uncool — and supposedly "old school" — to join because of pieces in "old media" like Newsweek....
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Sep 24, 2007

The Self-Defense Forces: living with a lie

NEW YORK — Many commentators have invoked historical analogies for U.S. President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq and its still unfolding aftermath, with some saying, correctly, that no exact historical analogies are possible for anything, the least of all this damnable war.
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2007

Incomprehensible abuse case

Regarding the Sept. 12 article "Life sentence upheld for fatal abuse of two kids": Just out of curiosity, how could the Hiroshima District Court rule that "there was no intent to murder because (Kenichi) Takao had confined the (6-year-old) boy in a plastic bag only to make him fear he would die"?
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2007

Don't bury battle's aftermath

Regarding the Sept. 12 article "Witness: Military ordered mass suicides": Such events in the Battle of Okinawa are a very significant part of our history and we must come to terms with it. This story is also consistent with what happened in other locations such as Burma, Iwo Jima, Guam, Saipan, and...
Reader Mail
Sep 23, 2007

Forced philosophy in Bhutan

Regarding David Howell's Aug. 30 article, "Happiness can't be legislated": Happiness is not measurable by economic and material prosperity, yet the Bhutanese regime makes every effort to force people to comply with the principles of happiness that a dictator propagated.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 21, 2007

Ozawa dances around the U.S. alliance

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) president Ichiro Ozawa's success in orchestrating the downfall of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is a major victory for his party. It is also arguably the first time since the resignation of Abe's grandfather, Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke in 1960, that a prime minister has...
Reader Mail
Sep 19, 2007

Statistical generalizations miss

I feel that author Agnes Chan shows very limited knowledge about India. In her Sept. 6 article, she makes sweeping statements such as: "Fifty-four percent of Bombay's 16 million residents live in the slums. Only 25 percent live in what would pass in developed countries as apartments and houses."
Reader Mail
Sep 19, 2007

A visit to Bombay's slums

Born, educated and bought up in Bombay, I was surprised to read Agnes Chan's Sept. 6 article, "Bombay's innocent victims of destitution" in a Japanese newspaper. It is noteworthy that UNICEF and the nongovernment organization AMRAE are starting a "Micro-Planning" project in Asia's biggest urban slum....
Reader Mail
Sep 19, 2007

'Criminality' at the gates

Regarding the Sept. 4 article "Hatoyama a hawk on . . . illegal immigrants": It is nice to know that Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama is irked by "immigrants" and that he links them with crime. How ironic it is, then, that recent funding scandals involving farm ministers, Vice Foreign Minister Yukiko...
Reader Mail
Sep 19, 2007

A bigger cost in the long run

I was a little taken aback by the simplistic view of Tom Plate's Sept. 5 article, "What's wrong with talking to save lives?" There is plenty wrong in the instances the author refers to. In the first place, while paying ransom to the Taliban may have saved the lives of those 19 naive and misguided South...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 19, 2007

Tokyo sanctions an extended cull of Taiji dolphins

The photos accompanying this article were shot covertly despite escalating intimidation by members of the Isana Fishery Union in Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture, who appear to be increasingly fearful that continuing publicity in Japan and abroad will threaten their widely condemned but profitable annual dolphin...
Reader Mail
Sep 19, 2007

Tactless time to ham it up

Regarding the Sept. 5 photograph and article "Iraq troop drawdown may no longer be taboo idea for Bush": From the cheerful smiles of the soldiers posing with U.S. President George W. Bush, one might think this was a picnic photograph taken on the lawn of the White House. It is just more Republican propaganda...
Reader Mail
Sep 16, 2007

Poor sense of visitor comfort

Regarding a recent article on promoting tourism to Japan: It is true that Kyoto is struggling with how to change itself into one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. I think one reason Kyoto is not a popular travel destination is that the quality of people who professionally deal with...
Reader Mail
Sep 16, 2007

Okinawa's old tattoo culture

While I enjoyed the Sept. 6 article "Japanese tattoo art carves its mark in the mainstream," I think the writer left out a very important prefecture with regard to the tattoo industry in Japan. Okinawa had mainstream studios long before they became popular on the mainland.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 16, 2007

A night out — with divorce on the rocks

Ask a friend to name a detective, and legendary sleuths such as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Kosuke Kindaichi will probably figure in their reply. Regardless of nationalities, detectives seem to be familiar to many — provided they are fictional characters.
Reader Mail
Sep 16, 2007

Deplorable distortion of message

I agree with Vipan Chandra's opinion in his Sept. 5 letter, "Message of a war-crimes judge," that Japanese nationalists distort the message of the late Indian Justice Radhabinod Pal, who believed that wartime leaders accused at the Tokyo Tribunal were not guilty. That a monument to the judge stands right...
COMMENTARY
Sep 15, 2007

Taiwan's sad quest for U.N. membership

WATERLOO, Ontario — As the United Nations General Assembly begins its annual session later this month, it will refuse once again to confront an issue where the denial of reality intersects with a negation of the world body's core values.
Reader Mail
Sep 12, 2007

Character can't stave off disaster

Tom Plate's comments on Thai vitality and resilience in his Aug. 28 article, "Thai character trumps flaws of politics," were, in my opinion, spot on. He went on to say that due to this national character, Thailand would never become a "gloomy" Myanmar or North Korea. But if one looks deeper, Plate seems...
Reader Mail
Sep 12, 2007

Living with the 'Sea of Japan'

Regarding the Aug. 29 article "Despite Korean efforts, geographic conference backs Sea of Japan name": The Koreans need to get over it and move on. Hasn't the name "Sea of Japan" been in use for at least two centuries? It would be more intelligent to move on to more progressive issues, such as creating...
Reader Mail
Sep 12, 2007

Pursuit of happiness in Bhutan

In his Aug. 30 article, "Happiness can't be legislated," David Howell writes that "It is not for state authorities to determine which kind of happiness (people) should pursue." He then criticizes the Kingdom of Bhutan for "outlawing television," insisting that everyone wear national dress, and confining...
COMMENTARY
Sep 11, 2007

Stopping sexual abuse of Russian kids

NEW YORK — One of the regrettable consequences of the uneven economic expansion that Russia has experienced in recent times has been the increase in child abuse, particularly child prostitution.
COMMUNITY
Sep 11, 2007

Have your say

The scapegoating of Asa Two thumbs up for James Eriksson and Debito Arudou on their article (Zeit Gist, Sept. 4), the first and only in Japan that actually looks at the facts of the whole (Asashoryu) situation and doesn't just follow the bandwagon of "Asa-bashing."
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

What happens in a big quake?

Regarding the Aug. 31 article "Woman's failed hospital hunt irks minister": It is incomprehensible that nine hospitals turned away a woman who was about to give birth. Does that mean there was not one bed, not one doctor, not one nurse who could have helped this poor woman, and that all the patients...
Reader Mail
Sep 9, 2007

Shaky notion of superiority

Regarding the Sept. 2 Associated Press article datelined San Francisco, "Court rules naval sonar drills trump whale safety": It's tough being a mammal without thumbs, a flag, and weaponry. Writer Mark Twain did not put man at the top of the mammalian totem pole, with reason. What creature endowed with...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 9, 2007

Cardboard-bun incident serves up more distaste for China

Though it wasn't the most significant news story of the summer, the video that circulated worldwide in early July about the Dalian street vendor who sold pork buns stuffed with cardboard was certainly the most fun for local news outlets since it involved two subjects Japanese media can't get enough of:...

Longform

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