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BUSINESS
May 14, 2002

Mitsubishi Pharma profits up 229%

Mitsubishi Pharma Corp. said Monday that its group net profit soared 229.4 percent to 8.99 billion yen in fiscal 2001 due to cost-cutting and the U.S. government's authorization of a resumption of shipments from a U.S. plant.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Mar 17, 2002

The global village: small, but not always beautiful

The current No. 1 best seller in Japan is the cheery picture book "Sekai ga moshi hyakunin no mura dattara" ("If the World Were a Village of 100 People"; Magazine House), a retelling of a bit of "Netlore." Several years ago, the environmentalist Donella Meadows wrote a newspaper column on the global...
COMMUNITY
Dec 2, 2001

'Float on Earth' at Japan's snow resorts

You draw in a sharp, crisp breath of clean air, point your board straight ahead and blast off full speed down a short, steep drop, then up a narrow slope that launches you high in the air. Landing in a meter-deep pillow of fluffy, white snow that swallows your board, your bindings and your knees brings...
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 21, 2001

Japanese macaque

JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Jul 26, 2001

The king is a beast, but the queen is a democrat

Imagine a place where all the females give birth at the same time, where grandmothers nurse their daughters' children and baby-sit for them, and where all children are raised in a protective nursery. Where females join together in defending the community against dangerous strangers and those of the same...
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2001

From Here To Inanity

After you've sat through three hours of "Pearl Harbor" -- 90 minutes' worth of passionless romance, 45 minutes of incessant explosions and then a seemingly endless 45-minute coda -- while your butt is screaming to get off that seat and out the door, the final bomb drops. As the credits roll -- including...
COMMUNITY
Jun 10, 2001

Chic designs enliven condominium choices

With its outside walls clad entirely in wooden louver boards, a four-story building that opened last week in Tokyo's quiet Tomigaya residential district could easily be mistaken for a chic new gallery or boutique.
CULTURE / Art
May 9, 2001

The shock of the Nouveau

Like a femme fatale, Art Nouveau has long guarded her secrets well. Were her sinuous lines symbolic or erotic? Did she bring fresh beauty into the modern world, or exploit a fin de siecle taste for the decadent? And why did she suddenly disappear, after a rapid rise to fame?
COMMUNITY
May 6, 2001

Better safe than sorry

With many people worried about becoming the country's next crime statistic, the demand for advanced home- and personal-security products is on the rise.
LIFE / Travel
May 1, 2001

The end of a British institution?

LONDON -- The sleekly dressed man brandishing the Koran and standing on an upturned crate is getting very worked up. He points at a man in the crowd and shouts a retort, furious.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 30, 2001

Kitaro tunes in to a healing vibe

Kitaro, one of few Japanese musicians known internationally, has unshaken faith in his music. With enormous energy counterpointing his calm, modest and easy-going manner, he has handled huge projects in the past and has been called the pioneer of New Age music in Japan.
COMMUNITY
Jan 28, 2001

Rip'em up, tear 'em up

SAN FRANCISCO -- If you've ever had the pleasure of watching a U.S. college or pro football game on television, you'll notice one thing invariably. Just before the commercial they'll pan to a too-cute-to-be-true cheerleader.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2000

Amid uncertainties, the universe beckons

LONDON -- "You would hope that from this point on," said Jim Van Laak, manager of the space station Alpha, on Friday, "we will never have a period when humans are not living in space."
COMMUNITY
Jun 26, 2000

It's true! Chocolate is good for you!

The academic name for cacao beans is Theobroma cacao, which means "God's food." They are said to have first been found in pre-Columbian Mexico, where they were valued as an elixir of life among the royalty. The native Mexicans believed that with one block of crushed chocolate, one could work five to...
CULTURE / Music
Mar 31, 2000

Evolution of grunge and the cutting edge of simian style

It used to be that a band had to be dead and buried for a good decade before popping up in interviews and liner notes as an "influence." Not anymore. Though Kurt Cobain has been dead less than 10 years, the reverberations of the Seattle sound are beginning to be felt in Tokyo's live houses, most especially...
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2000

Firm to foster tots' enterprise spirit

OSAKA -- Alpha Corp., a company that dispatches baby sitters and runs nurseries in major hotels, will establish a school in Yokohama aimed at establishing the enterprise spirit in kindergarten and elementary school students, the Kyoto-based company said. Officials of the firm said classes at the new...
LIFE / Food & Drink / WINE WAYS
Dec 23, 1999

As millennium's end looms, go with the flow of timeless wine

In Japan eight is a lucky number. And in just eight days we'll be living the last day of the second millennium anno Domini.
COMMUNITY
Dec 9, 1999

How to learn more in less time

One of the great things about living in Tokyo is the opportunity to participate in the vast array of workshops that are offered every season. With Glenn Fraser's Accelerated Study Techniques Workshop, students and adult learners of all stripes will really be hitting the jackpot.
LIFE / Food & Drink / KISSA KULTUR
Nov 24, 1999

When the going gets tough, the tough drink coffee

When I was a child, my mother didn't hesitate to drag me along on her shopping sprees, and if she managed to find some bargains, she would celebrate (and reward my good behavior) by treating me to something sweet at the department store coffee shop.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 24, 1999

Australia out for justice in East Timor

SYDNEY -- Still the broken skulls are being unearthed. And still the United Nations talks on. Soon, Australia fears, the evidence of atrocities in East Timor will be scattered and, worse, forgotten.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 1999

Workers said exposed to A-bomb level radiation

The amount of that three of 14 workers irradiated in a nuclear accident at uranium-processing firm JCO Co. were exposed to is estimated to have been at least eight sievert, doctors said Thursday evening.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Mar 16, 1999

Sounds to soothe the savaged beast

Never drink a bottle of tequila with champagne chasers and then try to demonstrate your gymnastic prowess, I advise, lying here in my hospital bed.
JAPAN
Mar 18, 1997

Long-term radiation effects difficult to gauge, experts say

TOKAI, Ibaraki Pref. -- While facts continued to trickle out about the nation's worst radiation leakage, which occurred at the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant here last week, officials of the governmental Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. (PNC) kept claiming the leak posed no serious bodily...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2023

Japan to drop COVID border measures from Saturday

All incoming passengers are currently required to present proof of at least three COVID-19 vaccinations or have tested negative for the virus before departure.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 13, 2023

Study finds potential 'game-changer' in diagnosing Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's and affects more than 8.5 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 12, 2023

Move over 'Minions,' it’s Mario time at the movies

The iconic plumber Mario is set to make more at the box office than any animated movie. But don’t expect a Nintendo Cinematic Universe just yet.
Apr 12, 2023

Patent granted on anti-progressive effect on chronic kidney diseases of “FK-23” and “LFK” lactic acid bacteria materials

Nichinichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Iga City, Mie Prefecture; CEO & Representative Director: Masahiko Morishita, hereinafter, “Nichinichi Pharma”) obtained a patent (Japanese Patent No. 7153274) on the “anti-progressive effect on chronic kidney diseases” of the lactic acid bacteria...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 10, 2023

Bond market is overplaying the risk of a deep recession

Explaining the divide has become a Wall Street obsession — an urgent one, given the sway Treasuries hold in models designed to divine the future of inflation and Federal Reserve policy.

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