Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2005

Readers respond to recent topics on the Community Page

Bad influence

Regarding readers' stories about Japanese cops ( Aug. 9,16 ), police here ought to be viewed favorably. Japan has long been renowned for having the safest streets in the world, thanks in no small way to honest and diligent police officers.

But no more. Now, law enforcement has changed dramatically. Exam-smart but practicaly-useless elites have been corrupting the bureaucracy of the law enforcement system.

Under the control of the good-for-nothing bureaucrats, police officers are demoralized. We Japanese are sick of the laughable but unforgivable behavior of the ridiculous police directors.

It would be a miracle if any law enforcement system could remain sound under such miserable direction as the Japanese police force receive at present. -- Keisuke, Kakamigahara

Too dangerous

The days of honest, hardworking cops are long over. Japan is absolutely third-world when it comes to police treatment of foreign nationals.

It is a major factor in my decision to move back to Canada in January after 27 years. I feel bad for my Japanese employees, but it's simply getting too dangerous to be a foreigner here. -- Wallace, Japan

Stupid analogy

I can't believe the analogy drawn by M ( Write back - Aug. 16) between the dropping of the atomic bombs and the Holocaust.

Somebody fix this guy.

The analogy is stupid. I am not saying any of what happened in the war -- or even the war itself -- is right, but this peacenik should stop with his talk of victims of what and whom. Stupid analogies are not needed. -- J

A matter of honor

As an American a generation removed from WWII, but who has fought in war, and abhors it, it would seem to me that Japan should at least apologize, if not make reparations, for the atrocities committed in a World War that Japan helped cause -- without warning.

That there were Koreans who suffered from the A-bombs is sad, but Japan started the war, not the U.S. The war was for the survival of our country . . . and Japan. But the U.S. did not start it.

Japan, a country so steeped in honor and "saving face" in every fabric of its history, acted totally without honor.

I would not wish the horror of an atomic bomb on any enemy. But nor would I wish the Bataan death march, or the unimaginable cruelty dished out to Allied POWs.

Why can Japan not admit it's role in causing unspeakable horror for millions of citizens of the world? The U.S. and other Allies treated our defeated foes kindly. Would Japan have done the same? -- T

U.S. indictment

What America did by dropping bombs on Japan is quite tantamount to what Hitler did for Jews.

We, the people of the world, have not yet indicted America. -- Takagi, Fuji

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