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Reader Mail
Aug 15, 2007

Research needed on dolphin meat

Regarding the Aug. 1 article "Taiji Officials: dolphin meat 'toxic waste,'" Taiji town (Wakayama Prefecture) has a long history of engagement in dolphin fisheries, and many people have been enjoying dolphin meat for a long time. Boys and girls customarily have eaten the boiled internal organs of dolphins...
EDITORIALS
Aug 14, 2007

A force for change in the Diet

The first tangible effect of the Democratic Party of Japan's victory in the July 29 Upper House election has come in the selection of veteran DPJ councilor Mr. Satsuki Eda as president of the chamber. For the first time since 1956, the Liberal Democratic Party has given up the post to an opposition party....
Reader Mail
Aug 12, 2007

Fortuitous courtesy on a train

Roger Pulvers' July 29 Counterpoint article, "Erring voyager roots for Japanese courtesy that can't be beat," could not have been more timely. I read it within 48 hours of experiencing the same brand of uniquely Japanese courtesy of which Pulvers writes so admiringly. On the way to Tokyo Station on...
Reader Mail
Aug 8, 2007

Photo of corpse added nothing

The photo that accompanied the Aug. 1 front-page article "South Korea reacts with outrage at murder of second hostage" was disturbing and distasteful. I cannot imagine how Shim Sung Min's family reacted to the image of his corpse. The publication of the Reuters photo comforted no one and contributed...
Reader Mail
Aug 8, 2007

Fees hold back Kansai Airport

I am glad to see a second runway at Kansai Airport. But as stated in a recent article, the high cost of landing fees is keeping airlines from continuing to operate at KIX. I used to enjoy a flight to Chicago, where I could catch a connecting flight to my home state of Florida. That flight no longer...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 8, 2007

Should Abe stay or go? Japan debates the LDP's electoral defeat

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has told the Japanese public that despite his ruling coalition government's devastating defeat in the July 29 Upper House elections, he will do "the responsible thing": He will stay on as the party's leader and as Japan's prime minister.
Reader Mail
Aug 8, 2007

Another quack therapy let loose

The July 31 article "Lymph-drainage therapy uses massage to cleanse the body" promotes a "therapy" that does not have one shred of scientific evidence behind it. It is practiced by people who "listen to the flow of lymph" as if it can actually be heard.
EDITORIALS
Aug 6, 2007

Flagging spirit to abolish nukes

The 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the first use of a nuclear weapon in history, comes amid circumstances not necessarily favorable for abolishing nuclear weapons. The Aug. 6, 1945, bombing of Hiroshima killed some 140,000 people; the bombing of Nagasaki three days later, some 70,...
Reader Mail
Aug 5, 2007

Unlimited self-righteousness

Regarding Robert Harte's July 29 letter, "Brazen demand for apology," in response to Kiroku Hanai's article: Whose demand is brazen? Harte's comment is a typical example of American self-righteousness and hubris.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 4, 2007

The times, they've been a changin'

Thumbing through some faded photographs of my early days in Japan, I find a mustachioed face with shoulder-length hair and water-clear eyes, eyes perhaps indicative of a vast open space behind. My face.
Reader Mail
Aug 1, 2007

NHK may have fallen into a trap

Regarding the July 19 article "NHK to be first here with programs on Net": NHK appears to have fallen into the same trap that the BBC has. It has swallowed the DRM (digital rights management) "snake oil."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 31, 2007

'Eikaiwa' vets look beyond Big Four

Globalization, the Internet and increased mobility have made the planet a smaller place. The world is now often referred to as a global community, and its lingua franca is undoubtedly English. It is the official language of air traffic control and the de facto language of both international business...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jul 31, 2007

What's the most important issue when it comes to voting?

EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 2007

Suspicions that threaten ties

The standoff between Britain and Russia over the November 2006 murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko continues with no signs of compromise from either side. A failure to strike a mutually acceptable deal could not only damage relations between the two countries but also cause the overall relationship...
COMMENTARY
Jul 30, 2007

Ending the nuclear threat

UNITED NATIONS — Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, security planners the world over have lost considerable sleep contemplating the prospect of terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.
Reader Mail
Jul 29, 2007

The blame for nonacceptance

Roger Pulvers makes some valid points in his July 22 article, "Outsiders or not, that is the question," but misses the main one, which is that foreigners are excluded from the core workforce. In 10 years of living in Japan, I never met a gaijin salaryman. All...
Reader Mail
Jul 29, 2007

Holocaust comparison ludicrous

In his July 23 article, "U.S. owes A-bomb apology," Kiroku Hanai writes: "Most people in the contemporary world view Auschwitz (the Holocaust), Hiroshima and Nagasaki (the nuclear bombings) and Kosovo (ethnic cleansing) in the same context." No. Most people in the contemporary world are practical enough...
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2007

Time to pass judgment

As the Upper House election campaign enters its final phase, polls suggest that the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito are facing a tough battle. But as Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa has said, the results will not be known until the ballot boxes are opened. In...
Reader Mail
Jul 25, 2007

Admirable, humorous production

The popular American TV cartoon "The Simpsons" is universally and consistently described as America's, or TV's, "favorite dysfunctional family." So it was in the July 12 Associated Press article "Vermont town named home of 'The Simpsons.' "
Reader Mail
Jul 25, 2007

More garbage seen off the trail

An article last month regarding trash on the trail to Mount Fuji quoted a 20-year-old volunteer university student as saying, "I'd hate for people to see the trash around here and think it means Japan is a culture of garbage."
Reader Mail
Jul 25, 2007

U.S.-Japan ties of convenience

Regarding the July 4 article "U.S., SDF face new challenges 50 years on": The relationship between Japan's Self-Defense Forces and America's armed forces would appear to be a marriage of convenience.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 25, 2007

Our world is being driven by denial

As an environmental columnist, one question that repeatedly comes to mind is, "How much denial is humanly possible?"
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2007

German standard serves history

Regarding Florian Coulmas' wrongheaded article of July 8, "Act of missionary hypocrisy": We can of course agree with Coulmas' weighty pronouncements that Japanese governments and legislators tend not to be as concerned as they might with an honest admission of Japan's wartime atrocities. But...
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2007

Untimely reports of CCP's demise

Regarding Tom Plate's July 13 article, "Breaking Point of China's communists": Plate talked of the prediction by Tor Christian Hildan, the Norwegian ambassador to China, that the Chinese Communist Party will fall, and ridiculed Beijing's defensive response to Hildan's comments.
Reader Mail
Jul 22, 2007

Resolution demonstrates cynicism

Regarding the July 14 article "Conservatives want U.S. reps to kill apology motion": Prostitutes have been used by soldiers in every military since the beginning of time, and still are today. They can be found near every military base in every country. With regard to the past, whether women became prostitutes...
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2007

Murakami took to stocks early, a genuine 'activist'

Yoshiaki Murakami, the self-proclaimed "professional of all professional players in the stock market," began investing while still a child.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jul 20, 2007

A quick exit from Tokyo

In the lexicon of Japanese travel, the expression "An-Kin-Tan" — an abbreviated reading of the three kanji for yasui, chikai and mijikai — refers to journeys that are cheap, close and short.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2007

Is Frank Hsieh a moderate?

WASHINGTON — Frank Hsieh Chang-ting has been nominated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as their presidential candidate. Many in Taipei now believe he has a good chance of winning the election, assuming he does not withdraw as he has said he would if indicted on the corruption allegations...
Reader Mail
Jul 18, 2007

Farcical vision of Olympics

Regarding the July 7 Associated Press article "Youth Olympics set for 2010 debut": I can't imagine a greater travesty than an Olympics "meant to drag kids from computer screens and onto the playing fields." What a crying shame that the minds of men would hold this farcical vision of an Olympics -- some...

Longform

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