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JAPAN
May 19, 2006

Japan fishes for skilled foreign workers

Japan hopes to import more foreign white-collar workers by adopting more flexible immigration policies, the government said Thursday in a bid to spruce up its international leadership.
JAPAN
May 19, 2006

Incidents reports drop nearly 20%

The number of incidents reported to police by members of the public dropped 19.5 percent in 2005 on the year to 1.4 million, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2006

Russian flirtation with the fascist threat

MOSCOW -- Today's Kremlin thinks that democracy was being built too quickly in Russia. The government does not say that it is against democracy, only that it is untimely and needs to be delayed -- a logic that manifests itself in most official decisions. Thus, at the beginning of the current decade,...
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Softbank, Vodafone set up firm

Softbank Corp. and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC, which recently sold its Japanese subsidiary to Softbank, announced Thursday that they are setting up a joint venture to develop and procure mobile phone handsets, software and digital content.
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2006

What's next, militarization of the Andes?

BUENOS AIRES -- While the world's attention is riveted on Iraq, the Colombia Plan, developed by the United States to fight drugs and leftwing guerrillas in Colombia, may soon be applied as a general strategy across the nations of the Andes, if not all of Latin America. Colombia, it seems, is only mentioned...
JAPAN
May 18, 2006

Annan asks Koizumi to give air support to U.N. in Iraq

Visiting U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan asked Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday to provide air support for U.N. activities in Iraq, opening the possibility that the Air Self-Defense Force will get a new mission there.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2006

Bankruptcies surged 14.9% in April

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan jumped 14.9 percent in April from the previous year to 1,087, with debts totaling 426.78 billion yen, and among them are contractors stung by a state crackdown on bid-rigging, Tokyo Shoko Research said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 18, 2006

"Rosslynd Piggott in collaboration with Roberto Giostra and Edison -- Yamazakura"

Shinsei Bank, Omotesando Hills Closes in 89 days
BUSINESS
May 18, 2006

Honda to build three new plants

Honda Motor Co. announced business expansion plans Wednesday that include construction of a new factory in Japan and two more in North America by 2010 to meet increasing demand for its vehicles.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

FTC searches contractors tied to defense bid-rigging

The Fair Trade Commission searched about 10 major contractors Tuesday for evidence that they rigged bids to get construction contracts from the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, sources said.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Reduce NHK channels, reorganize NTT: panel

An advisory panel to communications minister Heizo Takenaka proposed Tuesday that NHK user fees be lowered by reducing the number of the public broadcaster's channels.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2006

Isuzu netted record profit in 2005 on strong overseas sales

Truck maker Isuzu Motor Ltd. said Tuesday it set all-time highs in group pretax and operating profit in fiscal 2005, thanks to robust sales in the United States and Southeast Asia.
EDITORIALS
May 16, 2006

HIV toll rising in Japan

In the 23 years since the HIV virus was discovered, AIDS has become recognized as a "disease of the poor," one that is "incurable" but "100 percent preventable," in the words of its co-discoverer, Professor Luc Montagnier, president of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention. While over...
JAPAN
May 16, 2006

Old books find new life with young

Defying conventional wisdom, more young Japanese are getting interested in secondhand books -- not only to read but also taking pleasure in selling them at flea markets -- thanks in part to an enterprising young woman who started selling used books on the Internet.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
May 16, 2006

Stylewise

Sport couture
Japan Times
Reference / SO WHAT THE HECK IS THAT
May 16, 2006

Kishagasa

Dear Alice,
LIFE / Language
May 16, 2006

Baseball scoreless in language bout with sumo

When describing efforts by foreigners to gain a foothold in Japan, author/commentator and former president of ASI Market Research (Japan), Inc., George Fields, liked to apply the analogy of pro baseball players and sumo wrestlers. The former, for reasons we shall see, were held up as outsiders who forever...
EDITORIALS
May 15, 2006

Apolitical support to Africa

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi recently visited Ethiopia and Ghana to underscore Japan's continuing efforts to help Africa fight AIDS and other diseases, eliminate poverty and solve conflicts. His visit to sub-Saharan Africa was the first by a Japanese leader since Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori went...
JAPAN
May 15, 2006

Asian nations to get help saving energy

The Natural Resources and Energy Agency will formulate a plan to offer Japan's energy saving technologies and methods to rapidly growing Asian economies, agency officials said.
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2006

The post-Koizumi gauntlet

Japan's political future hinges on the successor to Junichiro Koizumi, whose tenure as president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and, hence, prime minister will end in four months. Opinion polls show Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is by far the most popular potential contender for the premiership,...
BUSINESS
May 14, 2006

Softbank, Apple to join cell phones with iPods

Softbank Corp. and Apple Computer Inc. are planning to develop mobile phones equipped with Apple's popular iPod music players, sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 14, 2006

Fuji TV's "Attention Please," Nihon TV's "Kin no A-sama X Gin no B-sama" and more

In the 1960s the most coveted job for women in Japan was that of a Japan Airlines flight attendant, which was considered both prestigious and a sure way of meeting rich and famous marriage prospects. Though more and more prestigious occupations have opened up for Japanese women since then, a certain...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 14, 2006

Bewitching tales of when a foreign woman takes a Japanese man

Though it boasts one of the highest living standards in the world and a crime rate that is low compared to other developed countries, many of its citizens believe that Japan is a very difficult place to live for non-Japanese. The most commonly held reason for this belief is that the language and social...
BUSINESS
May 13, 2006

Softbank plans online university

Softbank Corp. said Friday the education ministry has accepted its application to set up a four-year, all-online college.
JAPAN
May 13, 2006

Ailing waterfront redevelopers set for rehabilitation

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government filed Friday for court protection under the fast-track civil rehabilitation law for three public-private joint ventures set up in the 1980s for redeveloping a waterfront area along Tokyo Bay.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 13, 2006

Retired volunteer is a pioneer in world blind golf

Toshitake Hirose is tickled pink to think he is the only Japanese-Aussie in the world to be helping blind golfers play the game they love at the local and international levels.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
May 12, 2006

Kitting out the kids in the finest gear

It might seem safe to assume that with a rapidly dwindling number of kids being brought into the world here in Japan, the market for kids' clothes and toys would be shrinking fast. Not so: with fewer children around, more and more money is being spent on them, and a host of top-class kiddie stores are...
BUSINESS
May 12, 2006

DoCoMo, Microsoft eye music mart

NTT DoCoMo and Microsoft are teaming up to provide music services for mobile telephones in Japan, the companies said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2006

NEC reports 84% plunge in profit

NEC Corp. on Thursday reported an 84 percent plunge in profit for fiscal 2005 due to a drop in prices for computer chips, computers and mobile phones.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person