With the increase in the price of bread, pasta and other food staples, and with people's anxiety about the safety of imported food, it is no wonder that people have begun to eat more rice. Despite restrictions on the production of rice in Japan, I believe there are many rice fields that have remained intact. We should lift the ristrictions on the production of rice and put more of the nation's resources to good use. Producing more rice nationally will keep the price of the staple reasonable, allowing us to reduce our daily expenses as well as relieve our anxiety about food safety, with the added benefit of increasing our food self-sufficiency.

I agree with the opinion "objectives are the subject of negotiations, not a precondition for them," voiced in the July 5 commentary "Diplomacy with Iran is the best way forward." I also found the wording of the article eloquent.

Articles I often agree with from the editorial section of the newspaper are often taken from The Washington Post. At the other end of the spectrum I often find myself disagreeing with the editorials from The Wall Street Journal. I think the correct way to read a newspaper, no matter what language it is written in, is to critically analyze the content of its articles. I hope the Weekly can always introduce a wide range of opinions from around the world that are thought provoking and not always from the same perspective.

When we consider food safety, I believe people are always better off buying domestic, local produce. This has become much more clear since scandals involving the overuse of pesticides in imported produce and food poisoning cases involving gyoza from China have come to light.

But consumers' trust in domestic products has declined due to the avalanche of scandals involving the falsification of indicators such as expiration dates and place of production. The July 12 issue of the Weekly reported that a food traceability law is likely to be established soon. I think the government has been too slow in its enforcement of such a law. I hope the law will be well organized without loopholes, and in order to make sure that it is, experienced experts to supervise food producers and employees must be provided.

Nowadays, a complicated logistic system is one of the biggest problems in reference to food safety. One solution would be for consumers to get local products, such as vegetables, fruit, fish or milk, as often as possible.

The article in the July 5 issue of the Weekly, "In 2050 your lover may be a ... robot," is mind-boggling and scary. We have had robots now for quite a while and there are some fields where they are useful, especially when a dangerous or dirty job has to be done, or in the case of a very delicate and precise operation. However, when it comes to human emotions, I can't agree. If, as Mr. Levy says, in 40 years a person should have the choice between a human being and a robot for a romantic relationship, I wonder what kind of people will then populate this Earth. Could it be that human intelligence is deteriorating and ending up in stupidity?

The Japan Times Weekly: July 19, 2008
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