As some foreigners read The Japan Times Weekly, I would like the Weekly staff to take caution of photos used in the paper. The photo of students who passed the entrance exams of the University of Tokyo on page 6 of the March 15 issue is way too big, and I simply don't understand why the photo was run. I wonder what readers, especially foreigners, thought when they saw the photo. They must have thought Japan is still a society in which the name of the university people graduate from counts, with the University of Tokyo on top of a hierarchy. Or they must have thought such a photo fuels an idea that Japanese make a great deal of academic records. Some may say I should relax as the photo represents just one scene familiar to Japanese in this season. But am I the only one who was disgusted?

Having technology to yield energy from corn commercially available is wonderful as it helps shift away from reliance on fossil fuels. However, the boom in biofuel leads investors to pump speculative money into commodity markets, as well as causing surging grain prices and food prices. In the article "Myanmar has a new energy plan - it's nuts" of the March 22 issue, I sense there is something strange about the political and social moves on biofuel energy. I even thought "it's nuts" is a typo for "it's not."

Meanwhile, the article "Agricultural crisis pushes India's farmers to suicide" in the same issue brought me beyond sorrow; it made me angry.

As I use the Weekly as an English study material, I thought articles that show the bright sides of the world would be more suitable, but I realize it is important to face reality. I would like to read articles that open my eyes to what is going on in the world now and what may happen in the future, even if they show the dark sides of the world.

I subscribe to the Weekly not only for studying English, but also for learning about current affairs in print. I watch TV and listen to the radio every day, which helps me understand what is happening in the world, but written words give more profound contents and give me a clear image of what is happening. Sometimes I encounter difficult vocabulary, but I try to read the newspaper from front to back.

After reading the article "photos document five years of the Iraq war" in the March 22 issue, I realized that photos give us a huge impact. Humans are usually rational, but wars change us into different creatures.

In response to Yasuko Kubo's article on divorce rates in Japan and Germany, I would like to say that I believe the divorce rate in Japan will likely stay flat. Many Japanese women who become housewives are not afforded the same opportunities as their Western counterparts.

Once Japanese women are married, they are often forced to rely on their partners for money, whether they like it or not.

I do not see this situation changing at any time in the near future.

The Japan Times Weekly: April 5, 2008
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