search

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2002

North Korea: signs of trouble but no evil

CAMBRIDGE, England -- I have just returned from a week visit to North Korea, one of the countries on U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil." I was one of three British academics running a workshop under a new technical assistance program inaugurated when the two countries opened diplomatic relations...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Feb 14, 2002

Take time to savor Ryoanji's splendors

The stone garden at Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto is perhaps the most famous of all Japanese gardens, and in 1994 it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Feb 14, 2002

Of arms races and sex battles

On Valentine's Day, what better subject to tackle than sex? Well, maybe love, but that's not what gets evolutionary biologists all hot and bothered. Sex is where it's at -- the battle between the sexes. Males and females interact like two superpowers engaged in an arms race -- each escalation in arms...
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2002

Kinden Corp. penalized over evaded taxes

OSAKA -- Electrical contractor Kinden Corp. failed to declare about 900 million yen in corporate income in the three business years to March 31, 2000, and has been ordered to pay 300 million yen in back taxes and penalties, industry sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2002

Refiners face crackdown on sulfur in diesel and gas

The industry ministry plans to cut the legally allowable density of sulfur in diesel oil to one-fiftieth of the current limit around fiscal 2008, ministry officials said.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Feb 14, 2002

Investors must beware the tides of March

The specter of hard times toward the March end of the business year looms large.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2002

Reading between the lines

According to the financial mandarins of the Group of Seven, the global economy has turned the corner. Despite recession in Japan and the United States, the world's leading economies, and the shock created by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the international outlook has improved. The statement released...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2002

Prosecutors seek death for Aum's sarin maker

Prosecutors demanded the death sentence Tuesday for a former senior member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult charged with murder, including the deaths resulting from the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2002

Imperial Couple to visit Poland and Hungary in July

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will make a two-week official goodwill visit to Poland and Hungary in July, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2002

JobTimes goes online

A new online recruiting site opens its doors today, targeting university students and people searching for employment in a bilingual environment.
COMMENTARY
Feb 13, 2002

Wrong cure for Japan's economic ills

So U.S. President George W. Bush has decided the future of Asia depends on overcoming Japan's puzzling, decade-long economic stagnation. But do he or his advisers understand what is really wrong with that economy?
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2002

Fujitsu, Accenture to join hands

Fujitsu Ltd. and Accenture Corp. said Tuesday they will jointly provide information technology-based solutions to firms seeking to improve their business strategies.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2002

Business confidence still near record low: survey

Business confidence in Japan remained virtually unchanged in the October-December period, edging up by just a point over the previous quarter as concerns over the economy and unemployment continued to weigh heavily on managers' minds, according to a survey released by the government Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2002

Northwest expansion on track despite Sept. 11

The business expansion plans of Northwest Airlines tied to the opening of a new runway at Narita airport and a new terminal at Detroit Metropolitan Airport have been largely unaffected by the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a Tokyo-based executive of the airline.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2002

Southeast Asia receives terrorism wake-up call

HONG KONG -- The wake-up call has been loud and clear. As the alarm sounded, it confirmed that terrorism in Southeast Asia is a problem in need of attention. The most urgent wake-up call did not come from the southern Philippines, where around 650 U.S. troops are now being deployed as Washington opens...
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2002

Owners to be shamed into quake-proofing buildings

The Itabashi Ward Office in Tokyo will submit to the ward assembly a draft disaster-prevention ordinance believed to be the first in Japan to penalize owners of buildings that do not measure up to quake-resistant standards, according to ward officials.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 13, 2002

Marc-Andre Hamelin

Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin was the only classical musician to play live at the 2001 Grammy Awards Ceremony, a distinction that some of his peers might find dubious and others downright horrifying. It isn't clear what benefit the gig afforded Hamelin in terms of record sales, but in a roundabout...
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 13, 2002

Ishii holds 'last' press conference

Southpaw Kazuhisa Ishii, whose contract details with the Los Angeles Dodgers were officially announced in Los Angeles on Friday, held what he called his "last" press conference Monday, a day after returning to Japan to wait for his visa.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 13, 2002

Korean art of fine living

In celebration of the upcoming 2002 World Cup soccer finals co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum will hold an exhibition titled "Masterpieces of Korean Art from the Joseon Dynasty" from Feb. 19. The exhibition consists of 300 works of art of the Joseon, or Yi, Dynasty...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Feb 13, 2002

Michelle Wilson: 'Wake Up Call'

With searing vocals, Michelle Willson delivers her clear-eyed statements on work, love and life from a woman's point of view. And in that regard, nearly every cut on her fourth release, on which she teams up with the tight, rocking Evil Gal Festival Orchestra, is a wake-up call.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past