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CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Mar 13, 2005

Fuji's "Dead Age" tries to bridge babyboomers and youngsters' culture gap and more

Though baby boomers control the creative side of the television industry, a huge part of their audience is a lot younger, a divide that often results in stilted programming.
EDITORIALS
Mar 11, 2005

Recalling the alternative to peace

It has been 60 years since U.S. bombers destroyed much of Tokyo in the spring of 1945. Survivors of the "Great Tokyo Air Raids" -- most of them now in their 70s and 80s -- are few and far between. Words like "B-nijuku" (B-29), "bokugo" (air-raid shelter) and "shoidan" (incendiary bomb) are no longer...
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2005

SMFG to issue shares to up capital

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group said Thursday it will effect a much-needed capital boost worth some 210 billion yen by issuing preferred shares.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2005

Brother to launch unit in China

Sewing machine maker Brother Industries Ltd. said Tuesday it will launch a wholly owned wholesale unit in China later this month to enhance sales in the fast-growing market.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 8, 2005

What should the government do about repeat child-sex offenders?

Nicholas Chase Art assistant, 18 It's a solution to have a list of sex offenders for the police but not the public -- that's insane. It scares people and incites violence. I think that prisoners should be graded on their potential to re-offend.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2005

Capital spending rises a disappointing 3.5%

Corporate capital spending grew a disappointing 3.5 percent in the October-December quarter from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Monday, making it likely that gross domestic product data for the period will be revised downward.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 8, 2005

Meditation, body work and TAC fundraising

Thanks to Vipassana Rose kindly sent a postcard after completing her most recent Vipassana course in Kyoto.
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2005

Risk-free deposit era nears dusk

With Japanese banks regaining financial health, the ad hoc regime of full-deposit insurance is about to end. Beginning April 1, deposits will be protected only up to 10 million yen in principal plus interest -- the same limit that was in force until 1996 when it was removed temporarily amid growing instability...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 5, 2005

Classy acts to follow in voice, audition coaching

Last month, Alice Hackett and Robert Tsonos were facing each other onstage in "Les Liasons Dangereuses," produced by Tokyo International Players. Now they are facing me, talking about coaching and training actors, writers, businesspeople and teachers -- anyone who needs help with projecting personality,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Investment managers push Indian stock funds

Investors are taking an interest in Indian stocks as "high-risk, high-return" investments gain favor in a country where interest rates are virtually zero, stock prices seesaw and deposit protection will soon be curtailed.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Surcharges considered for falsified financial reports

The governing Liberal Democratic Party will propose a bill to impose surcharges on companies falsifying their financial statements, members of an LDP panel on corporate accounting said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2005

Horie lauds new rules, says 'friendly' deal was dead end

Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie said Thursday he welcomes the capital market regulations set to be introduced in the wake of his firm's controversial bid to acquire Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 1, 2005

More pet care, honey and advice on quacks

Pet service In reply to a dog owner in Tokyo last year seeking a sitter or pet hotel while abroad, here are Susan and Takashi Shiobara with a great service: Pet Mate, located in the Fuchu/Koganei area of west Tokyo, offers petsitting at the owner's home while they're away as well as dog walking services...
Rugby
Feb 27, 2005

Rugby legends Johnson, Eales to visit Tokyo

Two giants of rugby union -- both in terms of ability and stature -- are heading to Tokyo in June.
Features
Feb 27, 2005

Workings of a watershed

One day, in just a few years' time, people all over Japan will begin to find unexpected official letters in their mailboxes. Perhaps anxious that they have done something wrong, or failed to make a payment, it will be with considerable tredipation that most seek out the contents.
Features
Feb 27, 2005

New order in court

May 21, 2004, was an epoch-making day for Japan; it was the day the Diet passed a law to introduce a new criminal court system that will involve ordinary citizens in the administration of justice for the first time in postwar history.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 26, 2005

The woes of the misunderstood 'gaijin'

I've been a nonnative speaker of Japanese for 12 years now. I'll go weeks without speaking a word of English, since where I live, I'm the only "gaijin." But after several years of consistent hard work, I have trained the 700 people on my island to understand my gaijin Japanese. We are almost at the point...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 23, 2005

Foreign stars to battle Japan stars in March 14 charity game

Kudos: To Bobby Valentine, Trey Hillman, Tsutomu Ito, Kazuhiko Ushijima and all the players who will participate in the Pro Yakyu Charity Game at Tokyo Dome on Monday, March 14.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 22, 2005

What should banks do about cashcard skimming?

Haruko Iwasaki Accountant, 22 Credit cards have insurance, but cash cards don't. The Japanese banks just say to customers that they will keep their, but they can't promise to protect it.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2005

In praise of a 'billy sook'

With spring just around the corner, what images pop into the mind? Naturally, you're thinking cherry blossoms and daffodils, spring lambs and fluffy chickens, dolls and kites, eggs and chocolate. But some of you will also be thinking rabbits, and you are in luck, because next month brings the publication...
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2005

Cell phone firms losing battle against junk mail

Cell phone users in Japan are being swamped with junk e-mail despite all-out efforts by telephone companies to combat the nuisance.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2005

Centrair chief brimming with confidence

Central Japan International Airport, opening today near Nagoya, will serve as a key center for the exchange of people, commodities and information between Japan and the rest of the world, said Yukihisa Hirano, president of the new airport's operating company.
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 16, 2005

Tale of the spy who loved Brandt

"Democracy" is an iconic buzzword of our times. What Webster's dictionary defines as "government in which the people hold the ruling power either directly or through elected representatives" is routinely held out, particularly by the current leader of the world's foremost military-industrial complex,...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 15, 2005

Compromised NHK needs closer scrutiny

As someone who toiled for several years inside NHK during the early 1990s, it is bemusing to see the simplistic criticism of the quasi-official broadcaster by the Japanese media.
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 15, 2005

Nonresidents buy record 15 trillion yen in stocks, bonds

Nonresident investors remained net buyers of Japanese stocks and bonds in 2004 for the second straight year, with net purchases reaching a record 14.99 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 13, 2005

Japan makes great genres, but . . .

THE MIDNIGHT EYE GUIDE TO NEW JAPANESE FILM, by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp, foreword by Hideo Nakata. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 366 pp., 151 b/w photos, $22.95 (paper). The authors of this very interesting new compendium on recent Japanese cinema would agree, I think, that the "new" in their title...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Feb 13, 2005

Iraq election exposed two faces of China

HONG KONG -- One unintended consequence of the Jan. 30 election in Iraq was that it exposed the hypocrisy and shortsightedness of China's policy toward Hong Kong and reunification with Taiwan. China not only expressed support for the rushed national election in its controlled press; it also donated $1...

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji