Vox Populi - Opinion : The Asahi Shimbun

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Vox Populi

VOX POPULI: Down, but not out: How one Kyushu city is rallying againOctober 21, 2017Heavy machinery was being employed to scoop out river silt from deserted homes inundated with mud and rocks. In nearby "kaki" persimmon orchards, ripening fruit was awaiting harvest. I recently visited the
VOX POPULI: Meiji Era march merges Vienna and Ichikawa to magical effectOctober 20, 2017In the early 20th century, a musical piece titled "Tekona March" made a splash in Vienna, Austria. Tekona is the name of a legendary beauty mentioned in "Manyoshu" (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), the
VOX POPULI: Good friendships are made around the ‘shichirin’ charcoal grillOctober 19, 2017Just around this time last year, I was with a group of fathers of young children, sitting around a "shichirin" traditional small charcoal grill set up in an elementary school playground in Ageo, Saitama
VOX POPULI: Encounters of the rare kind to be had with the humble 'bunko'October 18, 2017At this year's All Japan Library Conference earlier this month, the president of the publishing house Bungeishunju Ltd. made an appeal to libraries to stop lending "bunko" (pocket-edition) paperbacks, when
VOX POPULI: ‘Yose’ vaudeville endures because laughter is still the best medicineOctober 17, 2017I don't remember exactly when I last set foot in a "yose" vaudeville theater. But having heard about a vaudeville show called "Michinoku Sendai Yose" that began seven years ago and has continued every month
VOX POPULI: Kobe Steel could use a real-life Hanzawa Naoki to keep it in lineOctober 16, 2017Writer Jun Ikeido, known for his Hanzawa Naoki series of novels featuring a bank employee with a strong sense of justice struggling his way up the corporate ladder, has written many novels about corporate
VOX POPULI: Abe's political maneuvering evokes Meiji Era underhand dealOctober 14, 2017Tomoatsu Godai (1836-1885), a prominent entrepreneur of the Meiji Era (1868-1912), was depicted in the NHK drama series "Asa ga Kita" (Morning has come) that ran for six months through spring 2016. The
VOX POPULI: Senaga would be enraged by U.S. oppression in Okinawa todayOctober 13, 2017During the U. S. occupation of Okinawa from 1945 to 1972, no one annoyed the occupation authorities more than Kamejiro Senaga (1907-2001), who was mayor of Naha during the 1950s. They threw him in jail, froze
VOX POPULI: Son’s eyes offer glimpse of how Che could have grown wearyOctober 12, 2017"Ernesto," a film produced jointly by Japan and Cuba, opens with a scene in which Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1928-1967), a major figure in the Cuban Revolution, walks the streets of Hiroshima in summer 1959. It
VOX POPULI: Cool-headed voters needed when campaign trail gets heatedOctober 11, 2017American economist Richard Thaler, professor of behavioral science and economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, has been awarded this year's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
VOX POPULI: Temperamental fall skies put cloud watchers in their elementOctober 10, 2017True to the old Japanese saying that the autumn sky is always in flux, this is the season when it is practically impossible to predict the weather. You need a jacket when the day is wet and chilly. But the
VOX POPULI: Snapping turtles get a bad rap because of bite, but is that fair?October 9, 2017There are many jobs in the world that involve working with animals, but it is probably rare that a prefectural government in Japan has a position dedicated to dealing with turtles. Takeshi Imazu, a 34-year-old
VOX POPULI: ICAN’s Nobel Peace Prize is the icing on the cake for peace effortOctober 7, 2017"Genbaku Shokei" (Atomic bomb vignette), a poem by Tamiki Hara (1905-1951), tears at my heart every time I read it. It starts: "This is a human person/ Please look at how an A-bomb changes the human body. "Hara
VOX POPULI: Could a ‘sneaker revolution’ kick off a healthier work culture?October 6, 2017In a typical school history book photograph of Ryoma Sakamoto (1836-1867), who played a prominent role in engineering the Meiji Restoration of 1868, his hair is untidy and he is clad in a wrinkled "hakama"
VOX POPULI: Can TEPCO still be trusted after past disasters and attitudes?October 5, 2017The other day, Tokyo Electric Power Co. President Tomoaki Kobayakawa pledged to ensure that the utility will place a higher priority on safety than on profitability in its operations. Kobayakawa’s pledge
VOX POPULI: It is time the U.S. pro-gun lobby woke up to the folly of its fetishOctober 4, 2017An advertisement that appeared in the United States in 1922 touted the Thompson submachine gun as the “ideal weapon” to protect large land, ranches and plantations. The submachine gun could fire 1,500 rounds
VOX POPULI: Historical love letters reveal so much about the heart and mindOctober 3, 2017A love letter written by author Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) to the woman who would become his wife goes: "I love you. I love you more than I can ever love anyone. I am therefore happy--as happy as a
VOX POPULI: Here's hoping for at least some hypocrisy from our politiciansOctober 2, 2017When a company is at the brink of bankruptcy, its chief executive, if he or she is a responsible leader, probably thinks about the fate of the employees before anything else. Each employee has a family and
VOX POPULI: Spirit of never give up echoes in Nankichi Niimi’s works even nowSeptember 30, 2017In the city of Handa in Aichi Prefecture, where author Nankichi Niimi (1913-1943) was born, the banks of the Yakachigawa river are now ablaze with 3 million "higanbana" (red spider lilies). In "Gongitsune"
VOX POPULI: ‘Banzai’ cheers never sounded so inappropriate in the Lower HouseSeptember 29, 2017When holding a celebratory event to which the emperor has been invited, what would be the appropriate "three cheers" word for the populace to utter in unison in His Majesty's presence?When this debate arose
VOX POPULI: Court artist evolves from 'sprint' sketching to 'marathon'September 28, 2017
VOX POPULI: ‘Goeika’ recital will soothe souls 3 years on from Ontake eruptionSeptember 27, 2017
VOX POPULI: With self-serving priorities, Abe evokes Ozaki more than OshioSeptember 26, 2017
VOX POPULI: Cosmos garden's glorious blooms not written in stars this yearSeptember 25, 2017
VOX POPULI: Court ruling on nuclear disaster a fresh reminder of the heartacheSeptember 23, 2017
VOX POPULI: Perhaps it’s time to make use of expanding ‘ownerless’ landSeptember 22, 2017
VOX POPULI: Scrap the law that favors rich people becoming politiciansSeptember 21, 2017

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