Search - u_times

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2009

Opening the door to foreigners

Massive layoffs from the current economic crisis are falling heavily on foreign workers, many of whom are opting to leave the country to seek work back home.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 30, 2009

Architects Klein, Dytham find freedom and fun in Tokyo

Within three weeks of stepping off the plane at Narita, 26-year-old Astrid Klein and 24-year-old Mark Dytham found themselves holed up in an Ikebukuro love hotel, using hastily acquired T-squares to draw up plans for a hair salon in Ginza — one of the most expensive strips of real estate in the world....
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2009

Realism urged on disputed islands

The government should take a realistic approach instead of demanding the collective return of all four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, panelists at a discussion said Monday in Tokyo.
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Apr 28, 2009

When will High-Touch Town be cleaned up?

Dear Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara,
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 26, 2009

Fans point way to watch NPB games online

There were several responses to the column of April 12 with information on how and where fans can find Japanese baseball games streamed via the Internet.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Apr 26, 2009

Locating the Navitime Navigator on the map

Before actor Ian Moore gets on any train in Tokyo, he's careful to peek inside and check the carriage. Chances are his face is plastered on an advertisement in there somewhere, not quite sufficiently hidden behind the mustache and green-and- white helmet that for the last six years have transformed him...
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2009

Lower House panel takes up contentious immigration bill

A Lower House panel Friday began deliberating a controversial bill that would revise the immigration law by strengthening state control over foreigners and illegal entry by shifting responsibility for alien registration to the central government from municipalities and increasing penalties for violators....
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Apr 25, 2009

Expand your options to enjoy budding boost of flower power

Now that the cherry blossom season is over, many of us sit under the bare cherry trees and ponder: What next? For two weeks of O-hanami we had a place to go, a place to meet and a party to indulge in. Life seems dull now without cherry blossom-viewing parties.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 25, 2009

Environmentalist David Suzuki has words of warning for ancestral homeland

Long before baseball's Ichiro moved to the northwest coast of the United States of America, another Suzuki had made a name for himself higher up, across the border in British Columbia, Canada. Dr. David Suzuki, environmentalist, scientist, TV producer and writer, was voted, in a nationwide poll in 2004,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2009

Yokohama opens anniversary expo for preview

YOKOHAMA — Under the theme "Set Sail!" an exposition commemorating the 150th anniversary of the opening of Yokohama port kicks off Tuesday. Organizers say the event combines mechanical and technological spectacles with environmentally friendly messages.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 24, 2009

After Tokyo, the Michelin Guide heads to Kansai

Speaking last week about Michelin's decision to release its Kyoto/Osaka dining guide this October, Jean-Luc Naret punctuates his sentences with the practiced smile of a man who has worked in the hospitality industry for a long time. If sales of the Tokyo Michelin Guide are anything to go by, there's...
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Apr 24, 2009

Top scorer Parker sidelined with injury

Michael Parker, the bj-league's leading scorer this season, will be sidelined for two to three weeks with a right knee injury, Rizing Fukuoka coach John Neumann said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 24, 2009

Netsuke: delicate treats for the dandies of Edo

Until modern times, Japan seems to have been almost unique in having no tradition of jewelry, apart from the stone beads and gold accessories found in burial mounds from the last few centuries of the prehistoric period until circa seventh century. Elaborate necklaces, bracelets and diadems could be seen...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 24, 2009

Sake goes abroad, brings back fans

Times are tough for the sake industry. Gone are the days when Japan's once-beloved national beverage held a place at every table; now, in a market flooded with beer, wine and shochu, sake struggles to compete. Domestic consumption has fallen every year since 1995, hitting a record low of 700,000 kiloliters...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Apr 23, 2009

Serial blood donor Wataru Takekuma

Wataru Takekuma, 36, is a government worker in Toyama Prefecture's Kurobe City. With a population of 43,000, Kurobe is one of the four areas in Japan that made it to the 2008 UNESCO list of the 12 most abundant subsurface water resources in Asia. Takekuma was born and raised in this town where people...
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2009

Woman rescued from train tracks

A woman who fell off a platform at JR Shinjuku Station in Tokyo was pulled from the Yamanote Line tracks by two bystanders Tuesday afternoon, said one of the rescuers, Canadian Robert Wright.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 2009

Attack on bureaucrat pay ousts city mayor

Shinichi Takehara, mayor of Akune, Kagoshima Prefecture, was ousted by lawmakers after criticizing bureaucrats' pay, saying most earned more than three times the average salary of the city's 24,000 citizens.
Japan Times
Events / WHERE IT'S AT
Apr 21, 2009

Embassy officials brush up, show off Japanese skills

Once a year, embassy officials in Japan are given a chance to showcase their Japanese ability at the Japanese Speech Contest for Foreign Embassy Officials. This year's contest was held on April 11 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward and, as always, the speeches were open to the public.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 20, 2009

Aso's gift-tax cut for rich puts wealth gap issue on back burner

Who are the people that are suffering the most as this global depression unfolds? Clearly, it is the weakest members of society who are getting the worst deal. That, sadly, is the way it has always worked. There's not much that can be done about this particular fact of life.
Japan Times
SUMO
Apr 19, 2009

Hakuho remains student of sumo despite success

Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho says his style of sumo is nothing special.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 19, 2009

Chiba's governor may soon be whisked away to his home planet

In the latest installment of Suntory's series of TV commericals for Boss canned coffee, the extraterrestrial Tommy Lee Jones, who has been sent to Earth to study the human race, runs for governor of an unnamed prefecture and wins by a landslide. The excitement is short-lived, though, as his inappropriate...
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Apr 19, 2009

Flying machines, dancing for defense, an Imperial wedding and a bark suppressor

100 YEARS AGO
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 19, 2009

A rip and a burp and the land is ours

It's that time of year when Japan's media are meticulously monitoring the iconic cherry-blossom front as it passes up through the archipelago in a wave of warming temperatures and bursting buds.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Apr 19, 2009

A plea to address pro basketball's future in Japan

Dear Prime Minister Aso,
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2009

Takashimaya store built in 1933 to be protected

Takashimaya's 76-year-old department store in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district will likely be designated an Important Cultural Property now that its managers have relented after repeatedly declining unofficial government requests.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years