Search - 2004

 
 
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2005

Political parties' fundraising under 300 billion yen, off 10%

Political parties and affiliated organizations collected a combined 290.8 billion yen in political funds in 2004, a 9.8 percent decline from the previous year and below the 300 billion yen mark for the second time since the early 1990s, a Kyodo News survey revealed Thursday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 18, 2005

Batista's number didn't justify his massive salary

The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, as you read here in these pages, will pay a whopping 525 million yen (almost $4.5 million) to buy out the second year of the contract of third baseman Tony Batista, ending the Japan career of "Mr. Nonchalant."
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2005

Liquor retailer group a big political donor

The political arm of a scandal-hit association of liquor retailers made at least 210 million yen in political donations in the five years to 2004, it was learned Saturday.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2005

Tamiflu linked to teens' deaths

Two teenage boys who took the antiviral drug Tamiflu exhibited abnormal behavior that led to their deaths, with one jumping in front of an oncoming truck last year and the other falling from the ninth floor of a building earlier this year, health ministry and other sources said Saturday.
MULTIMEDIA
Oct 30, 2005

Speaking volumes

Kaori Shoji
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2005

Visa violations dropping but fingerprint revival eyed

Visa violators in Japan are on the wane, but the fingerprinting of foreigners may soon be revived, according to the 2005 Immigration Control report released Tuesday by the Immigration Bureau.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2005

Capital spending surges 7.3%

Companies' capital spending grew 7.3 percent from a year earlier in the April-June period on an all-industry basis for the ninth straight quarter of expansion, the Finance Ministry reported Monday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2005

Asia's ever expanding arms market

A sia's economic growth has many effects, not least of which is providing more money for governments to buy arms. So it should come as no surprise that the most authoritative assessment of the world's conventional arms market puts Asian nations at the top of the list of arms purchasers.
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2005

For safer travel over 65

The National Police Agency chose "Striving for the World's Safest Road Traffic" as the main theme of its 2005 white paper made public recently. This is the first time in about a quarter-century that traffic safety has been the main feature of the annual report, thus denoting the agency's enthusiasm for...
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2005

Japan Post stands firm on parcel delivery quest

Despite Monday's Upper House rejection of the bills to privatize Japan Post, the organization is expected to step up its door-to-door parcel delivery business, analysts and industry insiders say.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2005

Collusive ripoff 'from heaven'?

The bid-rigging scandal involving major bridge builders has again brought into public view the structural collusive relationship between private enterprise and the public sector. The scope of the criminal investigation -- which originally targeted projects ordered by local bureaus of the Land, Infrastructure...
EDITORIALS
Jul 9, 2005

'Hello, fingerprint, please'

In an effort to check an increase in crimes committed by foreigners, the government is moving toward introducing compulsory fingerprinting for foreigners entering and leaving Japan -- a move that is expected to draw fire from foreign residents in Japan and possibly lead to conflicts with some foreign...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jul 9, 2005

Five signs of the coming Golden Age of trance

In the fast and chaotic protoculture growing around psychedelic trance in Japan, it is often difficult at best and futile at worst to try to get a genuine fix on the direction in which we are headed.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2005

Lawmakers' average income drops to new low

The average annual income reported by members of both houses of the Diet dropped to a record-low 23.59 million yen in 2004, down 5 percent from the previous low of 24.81 million yen in 2003, according to a tally by Kyodo News based on annual reports released Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2005

Four salesmen arrested over home-improvements scam

Police arrested four former salesmen Thursday on suspicion of deceiving several individuals -- most of them elderly -- into signing contracts for unnecessary home renovations.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 31, 2005

Global airlines confront fuel crisis, consolidation

Members of the International Air Transport Association gathered Monday in Tokyo to find ways to survive high fuel prices and severe price competition.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2005

ANA doubles profit on back of strong international demand

All Nippon Airways Co.'s group operating profit more than doubled from the previous year to 77.7 billion yen in fiscal 2004 led by strong demand for international flights and rigorous cost-reduction efforts, the carrier said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2005

Bitter medicine to build trust

Political parties are bracing for a new round of joint parliamentary panel talks on social security reform. The biggest issue is how to integrate disparate and unequal parts of the public pension system. Prospects for final agreement look uncertain at best, given the wide differences that exist between...
MORE SPORTS
Mar 16, 2005

Arakawa, Ando, Suguri strive to continue Japan's world reign

MOSCOW -- Heading into the World Figure Skating Championships in Moscow, Japan's women skaters, once so dominant, are now a question mark.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 5, 2005

Marinos face major threat from rejuvenated Jubilo

Here is a team-by-team preview of the 18 clubs in the J. League's first division this season:
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2005

Vstone leader Yamato gears up for RoboCup

OSAKA -- Members of Team OSAKA bubbled over with excitement after their teammate scored a goal in a penalty-kick shootout, leading the team to victory in a sort of world soccer championship. The little goal-scorer is a 39-cm humanoid robot named VisiON.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

Current account surplus hits record high

Japan's current account surplus rose 17.9 percent in 2004 from a year earlier to a record 18.59 trillion yen.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2005

McDonald's Japan posts first profit in three years

McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) said Thursday it returned to profit in 2004 for the first time in three years.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 9, 2005

Red Sox boosting association with Japanese baseball

The 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox are one of the major league teams becoming increasingly involved with Japanese baseball as evidenced by the recent signing of Japanese pitcher Denney Tomori and an agreement to send two coaches and two players from the BoSox organization to join the Fukuoka...
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2005

North Korea trade can slip through any sanctions cracks

Five a.m. in Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market: A Setagaya Ward sushi chef chooses a 4,800 yen box of sea urchin from North Korea over a 6,500 yen box shipped from Hokkaido.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 26, 2005

Baseball luminaries give Eagles GM Kuehnert big send off

More than 200 people attended the "Marty Kuehnert-Shi Iwai GM Shunin to Saranaru Nippon Yakyu Kai no Hatten o Negau Kai" (Party to Congratulate Mr. Marty Kuehnert on His Appointment as General Manager and Praying for the Success of Japanese Baseball) at a Tokyo hotel on Friday, Jan. 21, in honor of the...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 5, 2005

Who's who (and where) among '05 foreign players

Happy New Year. Five days into 2005, and the 12 Japan pro baseball teams have spent the offseason wheeling and dealing, acquiring and firing foreign players. Confused about who left and who is left? Following is a team-by-team rundown of who's gone and who's on at this point.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Dec 23, 2004

President had a better year than most

WASHINGTON -- As this supercharged political year of 2004 comes to a close, it seems appropriate to take a look at where Americans stand, and what they decided and changed in the past year.

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