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Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 4, 2006

Movies with musical theme screened for free in Ebisu

The "Star Light Cinema Festival" is currently screening popular movies with a musical theme free of charge at Yebisu Garden Palace in Ebisu, Tokyo. It is the seventh time that the shopping complex has hosted the festival.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 4, 2006

Architect's exhibition reveals simple aesthetic

Yoshihide Okuma (1905-1984) came to prominence as an architect in the postwar era, establishing a signature style of traditional wooden housing that harked back toward Japan's past when the country itself was undergoing rapid modernization.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2006

Softbank cuts ties with SBI Holdings

Internet and telecom conglomerate Softbank Corp. said Wednesday its group has ended its capital ties with SBI Holdings Inc., the holding company of the SBI Group firms, with the sale of its remaining 19.2 percent stake in SBI Holdings to Goldman Sachs Japan Ltd.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2006

Retail gasoline prices nearing record high

Nippon Oil Corp. and other major oil companies raised wholesale prices of gasoline and other petroleum products Tuesday by 4 yen to 10 yen per liter from last month, primarily because of higher costs of crude oil.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Aug 1, 2006

Island travel and Mac help

Airport on Ogasawara? J and partner have heard that there is an air service to Ogasawara (the Bonin Islands) -- described in my book Insider's Tokyo (2001) as "Tokyo furthest flung outpost."
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 1, 2006

Can NHK justify its huge collection costs?

NHK spends a massive 76.9 billion yen per year on its fee collection system, which equates to some 12.4 percent of the national broadcaster annual operating income.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2006

EU membership sharpens Central, East Europe's competitive edge

See related story Is bigger better for European Union?
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2006

Mitsubishi Electric profit doubles

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Friday its group net profit jumped more than twofold from a year before to a record high 24.9 billion yen in the three months ending in June, thanks to vigorous sales of mobile phone handsets.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2006

'Koizumi's children' no longer

"Koizumi's children" are making their ways out of the nest and into the factionalized world of the Liberal Democratic Party.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2006

North-bound exports tightened

The government will tighten controls on the transfer of information technology and export of IT-related products to North Korea by revising trade control regulations this fall, official sources said.
BUSINESS
Jul 28, 2006

U.S. beef coming soon; consumers skeptical

Thursday's decision by the government to resume beef imports from the United States is drawing a mixed response from consumers.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Abe may leave faction before LDP leadership race

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is thinking of leaving his faction before the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election in September to garner broader support, sources close to Abe said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2006

Harm in delayed action

The recent revelation that 21 people have died of carbon-monoxide poisoning caused by malfunctioning gas water heaters points to a lack of awareness and slow action on the part of the parties involved -- the manufacturer and its parent company, Paloma Industries Ltd. and Paloma Co., the Ministry of Economy,...
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2006

Abe defends Japan's denial of entry to North Korean group

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe on Tuesday defended Japan's rejection of requests by five North Koreans to enter the country, saying the action was appropriate in view of stricter regulations imposed following Pyongyang's July 5 missile launches.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2006

Japan, Indonesia hold disaster talks

Indonesia and Japan on Monday held their second meeting of a joint committee on improving Indonesia's disaster management and establishing a tsunami early warning system.
LIFE / Language
Jul 25, 2006

When muzukashii means more than 'difficult'

I wish I had a share of Google stock for every time I have heard a Japanese person tell me that their language is "aimai na gengo (an ambiguous language)." How did this bizarre notion originate, and why do many Japanese entertain it? And what's more, can a language itself be ambiguous, apart from the...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 24, 2006

Cutting corporate taxes best course for Japan

The government's 2006 basic policy on economic and fiscal management and structural reforms, approved by the Cabinet on July 7, established two national pillars of economic policy for the coming decade -- the pursuit of growth in a shrinking population, and the rebuilding of state finances to reinforce...
EDITORIALS
Jul 24, 2006

Story worsens with each telling

The investigation into the mid-May murder of a 7-year-old boy in the community of Fujisato, Akita Prefecture, has taken a second bizarre twist since 33-year-old Ms. Suzuka Hatakeyama, who lived two houses away from the boy's home, was arrested June 4 on suspicion of dumping the boy's body by a river,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 23, 2006

Faces of terrorism

The Richman's Cafe seemed an unlikely place to meet a terrorist, but at least it was well lit and public.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2006

Koizumi apologizes to emigrants

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi officially apologized Friday to Japanese who moved to the Dominican Republic with the promise of a Caribbean paradise and fertile farmland under a state-promoted emigration project between 1956 and 1959 and instead found sterile land and starvation.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2006

'Hirohito memo' won't affect shrine visits: Koizumi

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that a reported memorandum saying the late Emperor Hirohito was upset about Yasukuni Shrine's decision to enshrine 14-Class A war criminals will not affect his contentious visits.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2006

Magic touch in East Timor

Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, 56, is the $14 billion man. During 2005, while serving as foreign minister, he is credited with playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in rescuing Timor Sea resource negotiations between Australia and East Timor. Talks had hit an impasse, partly owing to the abrasive style of...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2006

Ex-additive salesman warns of hidden dangers

A one-time food-additives salesman and chemist is using his insider information to warn people about the dangers lurking in the prepared-food sections at supermarkets and convenience stores.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 21, 2006

Swiss pianist plays Bach

Pianist Karl-Andreas Kolly has performed both chamber music and as a soloist since studying with Hans Schicker at the Music Academy in Zurich. Kolly performs an all-Bach program at Suda Hall in Tokyo on July 27.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2006

Antarctic pioneer releases historic footage of aurora

An early participant in Japan's Antarctic expeditions said Wednesday that a 16-mm film of the aurora australis he has kept for nearly 50 years will be shown publicly from Friday.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’