In recent years the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe has dominated headlines worldwide. Reading about Mugabe's fraudulent election this year I have been shocked to discover that the international community is doing little to overthrow the dictator. It is hard to understand how a major power such as the United States is not intervening. And the United Nations should also be able to intervene through diplomacy, and lessen the threat of violence and get aid to the Southern African nation's poor people. It is a sad truth that most nations seem only to be concerned about feathering their own nests when it comes to a country like Zimbabwe.

The issues surrounding Zimbabwe are enormously complicated and so I think all countries, led by the major powers, should negotiate with Mugabe's regime in a cooperative manner. We must not forget that helping people suffering under oppressive rulers is the correct thing to do.

I think that 24-hour convenience stores are not necessary (Page 8, July 26) and it is great that the government is looking into having this type of shop refrain from staying open all night.

Not only would shorter hours reduce consumption of energy and greenhouse gas emissions, but it would likely lead to a decrease in crime and delinquency as well. Of course there are some advantages of around-the-clock stores, for example, as a refuge for women who seek safety, especially in the middle of the night. And the stores do provide employment for many young people. However, the waste of energy is a great problem, and the stores often actually attract criminals and are hangouts for delinquent teenagers. A few decades ago people did without 24-hour stores so we, too, can learn to do without them now

Japan is known to people overseas as a hyperindustrial society, which is based on the idea of making more of one thing in order to have more of another thing. For instance, the country builds more roads to have more cars.

Japan boomed as it industrialized after World War II. The new buildings, the whole infrastructure was rebuilt and the concept of "making new" became so popular that Japan, even though it is 25 times smaller in size than the United States, today it has twice as much concrete covering its land.

Not only has the concept of making more to have more taken hold in industry, but it has also taken hold of Japanese consumers. How many people throughout the nation have the need to upgrade to the most up-to-date products, the brand new iPod or the newest cell phone, the iPhone, or the latest fashions, and so on? Furthermore, Japanese people get rid of almost anything that becomes out-of-date. What a waste of resources!

Japanese people work so many hours a day merely to buy things that in a short time they will no longer want or need. Wouldn't it be better to spend less time at that, less time at work making the money to buy new products, and more time with their families and friends? Or how about using that time to make the environment cleaner, first of all, by not buying the latest products?

People should start putting their time, money and energy into making their lives better.

The Japan Times Weekly: August 2, 2008
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