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JAPAN
Mar 11, 2007

Sex slave history erased from texts; '93 apology next?

Former education minister Nariaki Nakayama takes pride in an achievement he and about 130 fellow members of the Liberal Democratic Party took the past decade to accomplish: getting references to Japan's wartime sex slaves struck from most authorized history texts for junior high schools.
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2007

Choosing denial over justice

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is following the latest trend: denial. Iran's president denies that the Holocaust happened and he has many followers. Some groups deny statistics showing violence against women despite the quantity or quality of data. I am going to follow the trend: I will deny myself the visit...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2007

Just what is Abe trying to say?

Last Sunday our fickle prime minister, Shinzo Abe, stated that he would stand by the 1993 apology for forcing Asian women to have sex with Japanese troops during World War II. This reader is terribly confused: Just three days earlier Abe had reiterated that there was no evidence of "coercion" by Japan's...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 11, 2007

Signing of Matsuzaka likely helping interest in Japanese baseball grow overseas

I thought there was going to be an increased interest in Japanese baseball in other countries, particularly in North America, after Hideo Nomo made it big with the Los Angeles Dodgers 12 years ago in 1995.
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2007

Education ministry needs reform

There's been a lot of talk about education reform; unfortunately, the reform presently being advanced by the education ministry has little to no reality on the ground. Our struggle as an international couple trying to give our 15-year-old son a decent education has been one of never-ending disappointment....
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 11, 2007

Hayakawa's early goal gives Yokohama FC derby victory

YOKOHAMA -- Newly promoted Yokohama FC beat Yokohama F. Marinos 1-0 in their derby match on Saturday evening, Tomonobu Hayakawa giving his side its first-ever victory in the top flight with an early goal.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2007

To persevere with little hope

Japan and North Korea last week ended two days of talks in Hanoi without progress toward normalizing diplomatic relations between them. They could not set a date for the next round and merely agreed to continue consultations. Although little optimism is warranted, Japan needs to pursue the talks with...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2007

A romantic political platform

Regarding Hidesato Sakakibara's March 4 letter, "Myth of Japanese homogeneity": Education minister Bunmei Ibuki may be "clueless" about Japan's degree of homogeneity -- but where did Sakakibara get the idea that the "Jomon" and "Yayoi" people were "races"? And in what musty anthropology tome did he read...
Reader Mail
Mar 11, 2007

Bigger issues to deal with

Regarding Hidesato Sakakibara's Feb. 28 letter, "Term 'gaijin' has run its course": Sakakibara's awareness that the term "gaijin" upsets many foreigners living in Japan is nice to know. It doesn't bother me, though, because there are too many other important things to deal with. And the habit will never...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 11, 2007

What happens when blog bullies get hot under the collar

In April last year, Jiji Press technology reporter Tsuruaki Yukawa felt as if he had enemies all around him.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2007

Long road to rehabilitation

The announcement last June by Yubari, Hokkaido, a former coal-mining town now known for the Yubari brand of melon, that it had effectively gone bankrupt sent shock waves throughout the nation because many cities, towns and villages face a similar financial crisis. The city has adopted, and the government...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Mar 11, 2007

Jimmy Wales: Power to the Wikipeople

An Internet search for almost anything these days will likely lead you straight to Wikipedia, the worldwide online encyclopedia.
BASKETBALL
Mar 11, 2007

Evessa top 89ers

The first-place Osaka Evessa outscored the visiting Sendai 89ers 30-18 in the second quarter en route to a 99-88 win in bj-league action on Saturday.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 11, 2007

Searching for responsibility in starting and losing a war

Who Was Responsible? From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor, edited by James E. Auer, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 2006, 410 pp., 4,000 yen (cloth) Yomiuri journalists worked for 14 months investigating: "Who was responsible for starting the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, why they did so and why the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 11, 2007

Female foreigners are OK in Japan, so long as they're not Asian

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's refusal to apologize anew for Japan's sex-slave policy during World War II has a different meaning in Japan than it does abroad. The issue has come around again because the U.S. Congress is considering a resolution to demand that Japan clearly accept responsibility for the...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Mar 11, 2007

What will happen to all that Japanese boomers' cash?

Hurry! Don't miss out! Yamaha, the giant musical-instrument manufacturer, is offering three-month ukulele courses! Or, the more adventurous can avail themselves of the services of travel agents at JTB who are promoting a six-day tour -- or an eight-day rongubakeeshon (long vacation) tour of Hawaii, where...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 11, 2007

What made Japan join the fast-food nations?

Modern Japanese Cuisine: Food, Power and National Identity, by Katarzyna J. Cwiertka. London: Reaktion Books, 2006, 240 pp., 89 b/w illustrations, £22.50 (cloth) While it is true that we are what we eat, it is equally true that we eat what we are -- that is, our cuisine often mirrors our condition....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 10, 2007

Many questions facing Wenger and underachieving Gunners

LONDON -- In France Arsene Wenger was known as the Nearly Man.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building