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BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2006

Manufacturers' confidence takes surprising drop

Confidence among major manufacturers dropped unexpectedly -- albeit slightly -- in the first quarter of the year due to high oil prices, marking the first decline in four quarters, according to the Bank of Japan's closely watched "tankan" survey released Monday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Apr 2, 2006

Rice rats and romance on the 'River of Nine Dragons'

The rusty boat farts, coughs and chugs slowly along the narrow river channel, a skinny boy perched on its prow shouting directions back to the captain (who does almost as much farting and coughing as his geriatric craft). There's the slop and slosh of oily water round my boots. Three rice rats are busy...
EDITORIALS
Apr 2, 2006

The opposition regroups

Mr. Seiji Maehara's decision to step down as chief of the Democratic Party of Japan, and to take responsibility for a recent e-mail fiasco in the Diet, came suddenly but too late. He leaves the spotlighted position without living up to party members' hopes that he would energize their goals. His resignation...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Apr 2, 2006

A torso squeaks -- but what does it say about the media?

OK, this is confession time. Even though I have lived in Japan for decades, there is something that still absolutely drives me up the wall -- so high up the wall, in fact, that I feel like Spiderman on a Shinjuku skyscraper.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2006

CPAs for Kanebo plead guilty

Three accountants who worked at auditing giant ChuoAoyama Pricewaterhouse Coopers pleaded guilty Thursday before the Tokyo District Court to charges of falsifying Kanebo Ltd.'s earnings in fiscal 2001 and 2002 and hiding over 160 billion yen in liabilities.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2006

Let free trade offset guest-worker limits

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Negative public opinion in the United States was the key factor behind the defeat of the proposed deal to turn over management of six U.S. ports to an Arab company. But the rejection of Dubai Ports World has disturbed America's trading partners and globalization advocates, who see...
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2006

Japan, U.S. strengthen ties to fight piracy

Japan and the United States agreed Thursday to enhance bilateral cooperation on the protection of intellectual property rights by exchanging information so they can address piracy problems in third countries, most notably China.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 31, 2006

Marriageproblems

It had a successful off-Broadway run and was turned into a television movie for American cable television network HBO starring Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 31, 2006

Metamorphosis through butoh

Like most butoh troupes, Sankai Juku shave their heads and paint themselves a ghostly white. But unlike their contemporaries, this second-generation butoh unit, founded by Artistic Director Ushio Amagatsu in 1975, has spent almost as much time abroad (especially with their many coproductions at the Thea^tre...
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2006

Rakuten, TBS to keep tieup negotiations going

Rakuten Inc. and Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. announced Wednesday they have agreed to extend their tieup talks for three months until the end of June.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2006

Justification needed before tax hike: Abe

The government must cut expenditures and gain public acceptance before raising the 5 percent consumption tax, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2006

Okinawa base opponents make a stand at Henoko

HENOKO, Okinawa Pref. -- To understand just how determined the opposition in Henoko, Okinawa, is to Tokyo's plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station here, just go to the turquoise waters off Camp Schwab.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2006

What next in Asahara trial saga?

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara's lawyers continue to protest the Tokyo High Court's dismissal Monday of their appeal of the cult guru's death sentence.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2006

Lawyer hopes 'go-between' can skip Diet

A lawyer representing the alleged go-between who gave an e-mail suggesting shady financial links between Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie and a son of Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe to an opposition lawmaker called Monday on the House of Representatives Disciplinary Committee...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 28, 2006

Cheese, eBye and reiki

Say cheese AP asks: "Where can I get a wide range of foreign cheeses in Japan? They are so expensive in supermarkets, and often not in good shape."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 28, 2006

Times get tough for teachers

English teaching in Japan is not what it used to be. Conditions are changing; the work is harder to come by, wages are falling, and staff are increasingly taking their employers to court.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 27, 2006

Building a better safety net for workers

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- A lot of public attention and worry nowadays surrounds the new risks that globalization and information technology create for our wages and livelihoods. But there has been far less constructive discussion of new ideas about how to confront these risks. In fact, we might be losing...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 27, 2006

Which management strategies raise corporate value?

Window-dressing and other fraudulent acts aimed at boosting share prices have led many Japanese to doubt whether it is really all that important to "maximize corporate value."
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2006

Foreign Ministry kept contracted studies secret

The Foreign Ministry has refrained from disclosing 58 percent of the research projects it commissioned from affiliated organizations or outside experts since 2002 due to confidentiality reasons, an internal ministry document showed Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 26, 2006

A fair ruling in Britain

In most legal rulings, even a casual observer can see reasonable arguments on both sides. This is not surprising. If both sides didn't have reasonable arguments, there wouldn't be a dispute to begin with, or any need for a ruling. But a decision handed down by Britain's Law Lords last week backing a...
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2006

Full solar eclipse bound for Web

A Webcast by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and other organizations will allow Japan to watch a full solar eclipse darken the daylight skies of Africa and Central Asia on Wednesday evening in Japan.
Japan Times
Features / JAPAN FASHION WEEK FALL/WINTER 06-07
Mar 26, 2006

Half a century of fine memories made from an impeccable 'fusion'

A stroll around Hanae Mori's retrospective, being held until April 11 at the New National Theater in Shinjuku, is for me like wandering back down memory lane: I remember admiring the floral dresses -- peonies or wisteria -- when, in a flash of brilliant color, they burst onto the catwalk for the first...
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2006

METI backs off banning sale of used electrical goods

Responding to an outcry from dealers in used goods and musicians, the government said Friday it will relax regulations on trade in noncertified used electrical items that were set to take effect April 1.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2006

Suginami Ward can't just put willing residents' info on Juki Net: court

The Tokyo District Court dismissed a demand Friday by Tokyo's Suginami Ward that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government accept partial data on residents for the national resident registry network.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2006

New envoy says he is not too soft on China

Tokyo's next ambassador to Beijing on Thursday played down concerns he might be too soft on China and said he will continue to put Japan's interests first when he takes up his post April 10.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Mar 24, 2006

Culture as soft power: grad school holds forum

The National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), a graduate school and research institute established in Tokyo in October 1997, will hold a forum titled "Culture as 'Soft Power': International Cultural Exchange of Government-Citizen Cooperation" on March 25. "Soft power" is a term used in...
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2006

Usen chief considering Livedoor integration

Usen Corp. President Yasuhide Uno said Thursday he is ready to consider integrating his firm's management with Livedoor Co., 12.74 percent of whose shares he bought from Fuji Television Network Inc.

Longform

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What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji