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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2004

End of an era as Haneda hotel shuts its doors

The only hotel operating on the premises of Tokyo's Haneda airport and the scene of many historic events shut down Thursday after four decades of operation.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2004

Japan Post seeks fresh bite of parcel-delivery pie

Japan Post said Wednesday it will base charges for its Yu-Pack parcel service on size rather than on weight, effective Friday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 29, 2004

Fan power prevails as crisis in Japanese baseball subsides

It appears we will come out of the so-called Japanese baseball crisis with the two-league system intact, six teams each in the Central and Pacific circuits, a new team in Sendai and interleague play in 2005.
EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 2004

The road to 'sports citizenship'

The good news about Japanese professional baseball last week was that the players averted a second weekend strike following a last-minute agreement with management. A week earlier, an unprecedented walkout had been staged in protest against a merger deal between the Kintetsu Baffaloes and the Orix BlueWave...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 28, 2004

Is Japan's military involvement in Iraq hurting its global image?

Marc Bunch Tax consultant, 31 No, I don't think that it has been because I don't think Japan's involvement has been so significant. Domestically it's big news, but internationally, Japan is not too associated with the U.S. compared with the U.K. or Australia.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 27, 2004

The sky should be the limit for Kashmir

India and Pakistan are still holding on to their own rigid positions. India keeps harping that Kashmir can only be one of a list of subjects to be discussed. Pakistan disagrees and argues that Kashmir is a central issue that has to be tackled first.
EDITORIALS
Sep 26, 2004

Google: mirror or lamp?

Google, the world's most popular search engine, hasn't even been around for a decade -- it was founded in 1998 -- yet it is already hard to remember life without it. It has its rivals, notably Yahoo, Microsoft, Ask Jeeves, which launched a test version in Japan last month, and now Amazon, whose fancy...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 26, 2004

Japan's abandoned kids live with the label

The murders of 4-year-old Kazuto Hayashi and his 3-year-old brother Hayato by an acquaintance of their father two weeks ago in Tochigi Prefecture has sparked outrage over Japan's insufficient child-welfare system. Though local police and child-welfare officials were aware the two boys were being beaten,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2004

New PlayStation enjoys limelight

CHIBA -- The country's largest video game show kicked off its three-day annual run here Friday, with a record 117 firms showcasing their latest products and nearly 500 new game titles unveiled.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2004

Vodafone unveils 3G models for yearend season

Vodafone K.K. on Wednesday unveiled seven cell phone models for the yearend shopping season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 22, 2004

Stop usif you'veheard thisone before

The Quiet American Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Philip Noyce Running time: 101 minutes Language: English Now showing [See Japan Times movie listings] When Graham Greene penned his novel "The Quiet American" in 1954, he was set on capturing a particular point in time in late,...
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2004

Smaller PlayStation 2 set to debut

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it will release a smaller PlayStation 2 model in November at home and overseas.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 21, 2004

Office space and garbage

The office I am starting a small business and looking for an office. I hear that you have to pay many months -- up to a year -- to rent an office. Is this true and is there anything I can do about it?
EDITORIALS
Sep 19, 2004

Please mute that sunflower

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American transcendentalist philosopher, once said that the rose speaks all languages. Little did he know it could sing, as well -- or at least that 168 years after he uttered his profoundly metaphoric remark a literal-minded Japanese corporation would invent a way for roses and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 19, 2004

Kondo trumpets his way

For six nights this week six different combinations of Japanese musicians will gather with bassist Bill Laswell and saxophonist John Zorn at the Pit Inn in Shinjuku. Among those onstage will be drummers Tatsuya Yoshida of The Ruins and Yoshigaki Yasuhiro of Rovo, guitarist and manipulator of electronics...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Sep 19, 2004

Wat a middle-aged way not to get so wet

There are good times to arrive in Bangkok weighed down with expensive camera gear, recording equipment and a snappy new tropical suit just tailored in Singapore.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2004

Chechen-Arab connection goes far back

CHICAGO -- As gunmen seized a school full of hostages in southern Russia last week, President Vladimir Putin had held a meeting that might have seemed to some like a distraction.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2004

Uniqlo chain plans to enter U.S. market in 2006

Fast Retailing Co., a casual-clothing store chain known for its Uniqlo brand, will try to enter the U.S. market as early as 2006, company President Genichi Tamatsuka said in a recent interview.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2004

Summit not expected to see beef ban's end

Japan and the United States will probably not make major progress toward lifting Japan's ban on U.S. beef imports during next week's bilateral summit, farm minister Yoshiyuki Kamei indicated Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2004

Road tolls to get cheaper -- for some

The government plans to cut expressway tolls nationwide by 30 percent between midnight and 4 a.m. for cars equipped with an electronic toll collection system, transport minister Nobuteru Ishihara said Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2004

IRCJ begins assessing Daiei's assets

The state-backed Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan has begun analyzing financial data provided by Daiei Inc. without a formal request from the struggling retailer, the minister in charge of industrial revitalization said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 17, 2004

An oil shock on the horizon?

LONDON -- The world is now drinking 84 million barrels of oil each day. The figure may be meaningless to most people but to energy planners, security strategists and environmentalists it spells growing disappointment and danger. Why so? Because only a short while ago the figure was 72 million barrels,...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Sep 17, 2004

Chance of player strike increases

The first strike in the history of Japanese baseball looked increasingly likely Thursday after representatives of the country's professional baseball teams ruled out a key player demand.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2004

KDDI, Japan Telecom to undercut NTT

Gearing up for a price war in the country's fixed-line phone market, KDDI Corp. and Japan Telecom Co. both said Wednesday they would introduce a basic monthly fee cheaper than that of industry behemoth NTT Corp., along with a single long-distance rate.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 15, 2004

You can't beat an old master

Coffee Jiko Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Hou Hsiao- hsien Running time: 103 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Yasujiro Ozu's trademark style -- the low camera angles, the straight cuts, the actors talking at the camera in medium closeup...
CULTURE / Art
Sep 15, 2004

Inside out and round and round the Yamanote

Johnnie Walker's A.R.T. gallery (Art Residency Tokyo), which opened last October, extends his philanthropic mission to promote cultural exchange between foreign and Japanese artists. Offering a window into Tokyo for many young hopefuls as well as a meeting point for the more established, the gallery...
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2004

Canon, Toshiba to sell flat-panel TVs

Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday they will start selling large-screen flat-panel TVs next year that boast better images and consume less power than plasma display panels and liquid crystal displays.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?