Metropolis Japan

September 1, 2012

Mediabox

Mail bonding

Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2012

WOMEN IN LABOR

Regarding “Holding Up Half The Sky” (Last Word, Aug 16): Chinese female astronaut, Liu Yang, and J-pop star Kyary Pamyu Pamyu? Sounds like a fine ménage-a-trois to me—@ramenscoffer

Regarding “Post-Natal Recession” (Feature Aug 17): The writer [Mike DeJong] has written a studious and well-researched piece on women’s job prospects in Japan. But he fails to address a very real aspect of the situation. Most Japanese women don’t want to work. They simply want to have a ready salary for a few years in order to attract a suitable husband, and then settle down looking after kids. I have met countless qualified and talented women who have actively chosen that life path, and have no desire to do anything more stimulating than excessively mother their kids until they (the kids) are middle-aged.—Doug Chapman

When will Japan wake up to the 21st century? All the developed countries around the world have started to tap into women’s greater skills of people management, organization, multi-tasking and inter-corporate political maneuvering. But Japan’s ruling class of rich men in their 60s is not going to hand over the reins to anyone, not even their sons, until they pop their clogs. It’s sad to see so many young, talented people—men and women alike—working in convenience stores because the old b*stards won’t step aside.—xfgroaner

My boss is a woman and I hate her!—@balldashinquiry

Right on Metropolis, front line in the gender war—@sackrace94

JUSTIFACTION

Regarding “To Nuke or Not To Nuke” (The Last Word, Aug 3): Am I the only one who has seen the orders justifying the use of nuclear weapons in the closing days of WW2, or who thought the excuses of why they were used didn’t wash? The reasoning behind the actions were summed up in the orders (viewable in the Hiroshima Peace Museum) as being for two reasons: retribution for the bombing of Pearl Harbor; and an opportunity to test a nuclear bomb on a live population. All the other revisionist reasoning and justifications that have been given for the actions of that day in 1945 are just trying to assuage or ignore the feeling of guilt that (rightfully so) should have risen from such a monstrous decision.—Justify what?

Under the Geneva Convention, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings are defined as crimes against humanity and Truman as a war criminal. Claiming that the mass murder of 200,000 saved more lives is pure science fiction, with no legal or moral founding: otherwise it could be used by Hitler, Breivik and other mass murderers as a defense. Sidell’s comments are offensive and his ideology Neanderthalic at best!—Monty Carlo