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Reader Mail
May 23, 2007

Superficial China-Japan entente

Regarding the May 10 article "And now to trilateralism," by Brad Glosserman and Bonnie Glaser: The supposed entente between China and Japan is superficial and will likely evaporate with the next insult from Japan or aggressive move by China in the East China Sea. The fundamental problem is not China's...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 22, 2007

Seeing from the Korean side

In February this year over 300 people attended the performing arts festival at a junior high school in Okayama. It was much the same as any other arts festival at any other junior high school in Japan; the students sang, danced, played music and performed skits for an audience made up of family and friends....
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

Baby drop rekindles memories

I sobbed Friday morning (May 11) when I read the front-page article "Calls flood Kumamoto hospital as it opens first baby hatch." Sixty-year old memories shocked me like jolts of electricity. After being abandoned in an orphanage, I spent many agonizing years not understanding the subliminal pain and...
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

Personhood is an achievement

I was excited by the May 5 article "Activists push for chimp to be declared a 'person,' " largely because of the fascinating philosophical issues it raises and the currents in modern culture that it exposes. Personally, I disagree with the notion of animals -- even high-order animals like chimpanzees,...
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

The toughest job in town

I just read an article in The Japan Times about the nation's record-low birthrate. I am one of the angry people who have four children in this country -- I am German and my husband is Japanese. If anybody would like to know why there are so few children, I would like to show them how hard it is to have...
JAPAN
May 18, 2007

Trail to Obara said overlooked in '92 death

Second of two parts
Reader Mail
May 16, 2007

Abe adviser is cause for concern

Regarding Ambassador Hisahiko Okazaki's April 30 article "Entente to balance China": Perhaps Okizaki's essay makes sense in its original Japanese. But its English translation comes across as muddled, disjointed ramblings. The only clear theme is his anti-China bias, which is consistent with some of...
LIFE / Language
May 15, 2007

Cliches energize conversation in any language

First of two parts
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 13, 2007

5,000 victories, throwback uniforms and the oiribukuro

In commemoration of their 5,000th victory in the history of the franchise, the Yomiuri Giants will wear throwback uniforms during some interleague games next month.
Reader Mail
May 13, 2007

More America bashing?

David Howell's April 27 article "America the not so beautiful" was an interesting read, but his argument contained too many holes and became another example of the kind of America bashing that is becoming quite popular in today's British press.
Reader Mail
May 13, 2007

Government's priorities misplaced

Regarding the April 22 article "Japan eyes buying U.S. F-22A, F-15FX fighters," Japan has a budget deficit of 16 percent, a public debt of 176 percent of GDP and an external debt of 150 trillion yen. Despite this, the government -- infatuated with military pomp and kit -- wants to spend a further 1...
JAPAN
May 12, 2007

Constitution referendum bill clears key committee

has been asked to cooperate (in the international community) and we ourselves need to protect the lives and assets of the people, and it is natural that we discuss what is (a suitable) new Constitution." The Constitution stipulates that any changes to the charter must be approved by a two-thirds majority...
Reader Mail
May 9, 2007

Roger Pulvers on target

The April 15 Roger Pulvers article "It was 40 (very different) years ago today . . ." was quite admirable and impressive. The analysis and comparison, all based on the truth, were very intriguing and persuasive. It helped me when I was down in the dumps after the re-election of Shintaro Ishihara. It...
Reader Mail
May 9, 2007

Impressive feature on India

I was very much impressed by the two-page feature in the Time Out section of the April 22 Japan Times about the large Indian diaspora in Japan. The trade between the two countries is now growing, and such articles provide and insight into the Indian mind.
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

East Timor wasn't a Dutch colony

East Timor was a Portuguese colony, not a Dutch colony as stated in the April 28 Kyodo News article titled "East Timor former sex slaves start speaking out." dan winters
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 6, 2007

New clarities set to cloud smoke screens of ambiguity

Last month, on April Fool's Day to be exact, I revealed some terms and expressions appearing in the forthcoming Japanese government publication, "The Dictionary of All-Too-True Japanese Words and Phrases." Actually, there is far more than meets the eye in this groundbreaking, earthy volume.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2007

Karel Van Wolferen: Insights into the new world disorder

When Karel Van Wolferen released his seminal book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" in the dying months of the bubble economy, the normally staid monthly magazine Chuo Koron described its impact as akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning. For once, the hype was merited. Little before had matched the...
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2007

Honoring the Constitution

Sixty years ago, the government and the people celebrated May 3 as the day the current Constitution went into force. In a departure from the Meiji Constitution, which stipulated that the nation "shall be reigned over and governed" by the emperor, the postwar Constitution "proclaims that sovereign power...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 3, 2007

Photos of preteen girls in thongs now big business

Asuka Izumi was modeling for a DVD in July 2005 when the director asked her to put on a string bikini. She was just 12 years old.
Reader Mail
May 2, 2007

Gun access fuels killings

Any person wanting to understand the past, present and future of gun murders in America need not look any further than page 5 of The Japan Times on April 18. The article titled "Gun-control debate looms after massacre" states that "since Columbine, which occurred eight years ago this week, there had...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 1, 2007

Yakuza dealt with my stalker

The Community page received more readers' mail regarding a previous article on stalking. This is the latest one:
EDITORIALS
Apr 30, 2007

Mr. Abe's summitry success

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had his first summit in the United States with President George W. Bush. Describing the aim of his U.S. visit, Mr. Abe said at a news conference in Camp David, "The biggest objective of this visit this time was to reaffirm the irreplaceable Japan-U.S. alliance and to make it...
Reader Mail
Apr 25, 2007

Witness accounts mean little

The April 11 article titled "Okinawa survivors recall ordered suicides" reports new light shed on the dark side of Japan's war history as Okinawans reveal their eye-and-ear witness accounts of military officials ordering Japanese citizens to commit suicide rather than be captured when the United States...

Longform

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