Search - 2005

 
 
EDITORIALS
Jun 18, 2007

Efficient use of farmland

The government's white paper on agriculture for fiscal 2006 calls for greater domestic production as world population growth and increased bioethanol production put the squeeze on grain supplies for food. The United Nations estimates that the world's population, which stood at 6.5 billion in 2006, will...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 12, 2007

Japan's green strides belie spotty record

Last month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought a leading role in the fight against climate change when he proposed a global initiative to halve greenhouse gas emis sions by 2050.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2007

Revenues tumble at major life insurers

Premium revenues for the nation's major life insurers dropped in business 2006, reflecting fallout from revelations of an industrywide failure to properly pay out benefits, according to their earnings reports released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2007

Kankeiren chief leaves a booming Kansai in debt

OSAKA — When Yoshihisa Akiyama steps down as head of the Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiren) next Monday, he will leave behind a booming Kansai economy thanks to the federation's focus on greater trade with China.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2007

Strengthen India-Japan ties

Japan and India are two of the largest democracies in Asia, sharing a commitment to the rule of law and respect for human rights. Japan and India have continued to develop friendly relations founded on a long history of exchanges.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Apr 15, 2007

Train fan's dream buy is derailed online

Internet-auction sites allow people to sell and buy, at the click of a mouse or with a push on a cellphone button, almost anything from brand bags to resort condominiums to moldy Imperial Japanese Army uniforms. And, according to a 2005 report by Nomura Research Institute, in Japan it's a market that...
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2007

Murakami testifies in his own insider-trading trial

Yoshiaki Murakami, Japan's best-known fund manager, took the stand for the first time in his own trial Tuesday, telling the court he initially owned up to insider trading to save other executives of his fund from being prosecuted.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2007

Murakami no inside trader, Horie testifies

Convicted Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie on Tuesday found himself again before the Tokyo District Court, this time testifying in defense of financier Yoshiaki Murakami against charges of insider trading.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2007

Nakai resubmits funds report; utility expenditures now zero

Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Hiroshi Nakai said his 2005 political funds report, which was filed with a huge amount in the utility expenses column for an office that had no utility bills, has been corrected and resubmitted to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 18, 2007

Tuffy and Nori: Will they be comeback players of the year?

Former teammates Tuffy Rhodes and Norihiro Nakamura are trying out with Japanese baseball clubs in an effort to extend their careers, and the spring camps of the Orix Buffaloes and Chunichi Dragons have become more interesting with focus on their comeback attempts.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 6, 2007

Innocence is presumed but bail is not a given

There are some things money can't buy, but to get out of jail, bail can be an option for some.
EDITORIALS
Jan 20, 2007

Come clean on political funds

Suspicions are growing over the use of political funds and the accuracy of mandatory reports on such funds. Specifically, the suspicions have been aroused by media reports that five Cabinet ministers and two Liberal Democratic Party executives had declared a combined 689 million yen as "office expenses"...
EDITORIALS
Jan 9, 2007

Driving a train under pressure

On the morning of April 25, 2005, a "rapid service" (express) commuter train derailed along a curve between Tsukaguchi and Amagasaki stations on the West Japan Railway Co.'s Fukuchiyama Line in Hyogo Prefecture, slamming into a nine-story condominium building near the tracks. The accident killed 106...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2007

Japan's peculiar silence on rights abuses

NEW YORK -- From Dec. 10-16, Japan observed "Korea Human Rights Week," a new occasion stipulated by the June 2006 North Korean Human Rights Act. The act, which built on Japan's cosponsorship of the 2005 United Nations General Assembly resolution, is supposed to increase public awareness of, and prevent,...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 10, 2006

Setting it straight about Matsuzaka's free agency status

As the deadline (Dec. 14) approaches for the Boston Red Sox to sign posted Seibu Lions Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, let me clarify -- once and for all -- one key point seemingly misunderstood by many.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Oct 30, 2006

Will private equity boom in Japan? It did in Europe

After booming in the United States and Europe, private equity finally seems to have set its sights on Japan. Two of the world's top three private equity firms -- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group -- have each opened offices in Japan or expanded their existing Japan operations over...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2006

IC you're old enough to buy cigarettes: new vending machines

Driven by growing concerns over potential health problems of underage smoking, the tobacco industry will introduce vending machines featuring an age-verification system in 2008 to prevent minors from buying cigarettes.
EDITORIALS
Oct 11, 2006

Fear of another arms race

North Korea's announcement that it went ahead with a nuclear-weapons test Monday appeared timed to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's summit with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun -- a day after his summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 28, 2006

Lions win feels like a defeat

TOKOROZAWA, Saitama Pref. -- Extra innings, and all for nothing.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2006

Next prime minister must find a NEET solution

, 20, takes part in a government-sponsored job training program in Fussa, Tokyo, in early August. KYODO PHOTO
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2006

Political party donations hit a low in '05

Political parties and groups raised 132.8 billion yen in funds during 2005, down 3.8 percent, or 5.3 billion yen, from the previous year, the lowest since the bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said Thursday.

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