Search - u_times

 
 
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Celebrity politicians debut at extraordinary Diet session

Celebrity politicians, including TV personalities and a professional wrestler, attended a Diet session for the first time Tuesday since they were elected to the House of Councilors on July 29.
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 7, 2001

Lions edge BlueWave

Takashi Ishii and Kiyoshi Toyoda combined on a two-hitter and Scott McClain homered Monday as the Seibu Lions blanked the Orix BlueWave 1-0 to end their three-game losing streak.
COMMENTARY
Aug 6, 2001

Voodoo economics rule the day

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's oft-repeated slogan, "There will be no economic recovery without structural reforms," sounds familiar to most Japanese.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 5, 2001

The big day

When 645 guests descended on Tokyo's New Takanawa Hotel last month to celebrate the marriage of 46-year-old former pop idol Hideki Saijo to Miki Makihara, a 28-year-old "office lady" he'd been dating since the fall, the starstruck media gushed at length over the "super gorgeous" event.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 5, 2001

Down the aisle in style

As a little girl, I dreamed of getting married in a church amid beautiful European scenery -- or, if the wedding were held in Japan, then in the quiet setting of the woods of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2001

Aging craftsman proves human eye has edge over machines

UTSUNOMIYA, Tochigi Pref. -- The delicate hands and intuitive judgment of Yoshimasa Katori enable him do what no precision machine has ever accomplished -- polish glass into perfectly curved lenses.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Aug 5, 2001

Terrors, real and imagined

August means hot weather and ghost stories to add a little chill to the muggy air. Tonight, on TV Tokyo's "Sunday Big Special" (7 p.m.), host Tsurutaro Kataoka will explore various occultish phenomena for either your terrified delectation or your nonbelieving derision.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
Aug 5, 2001

When love breaks down

Yes -- I was beachball-eyed with love.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 5, 2001

If at first you don't succeed . . .

FUKUOKA -- Divorce and remarriage have been possible in Japan since feudal times, though until recently shame and social stigma ensured that few unhappy couples formalized their differences -- let alone took the plunge again.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 4, 2001

Reflections on a most unexpected career abroad

So often you hear of people who come to Japan for a few months and wake one day to find that many years have flown by. How comforting then to find that it also works in reverse.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 4, 2001

Felix

Most passengers boarded the RMS St. Helena in Cardiff, South Wales. Some went on board in Tenerife, Canary Islands. Felix, who is of Spanish-Cuban descent, joined the ship in Tenerife, as the resort island is his home. He had never set foot on St. Helena.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Bureaucrats declare 2,625 gifts, rewards and entertainment

The National Personnel Authority has released a report documenting gifts, rewards and entertainment expenses worth 5,000 yen or more that were reported by senior government officials in fiscal 2000, more than half of which were reported by Foreign Ministry officials.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2001

DoCoMo ups expectations for demand

NTT DoCoMo Inc. has revised upward its projection for domestic demand for mobile phones in 2010 in a sign that it is pinning high hopes on the popularity of phone functions in digital cameras, TV sets and refrigerators, company officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2001

JETRO says trade in IT decelerating

The Japan External Trade Organization said Thursday that global trade in products related to information technology, which has supported growth in world trade since 1999, has been slowing rapidly since the beginning of this year.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2001

Six banks expand writeoff estimates

Under pressure to get to the bottom of their bad loans, six major banks tripled their bad loan disposal projections for fiscal 2001 in revised business plans submitted to financial regulators Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 2, 2001

Blame misplaced in Okinawa rape case

I am deeply disturbed, although not surprised, by the news that Japanese weeklies are harassing the young woman who claims to have been publicly raped in late June in Okinawa. Even Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka evidently blames her for having been out so late, drinking, in a bar frequented by American...
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Aug 2, 2001

Salt tolerance and life's dispersal derby

Salt is an interesting mineral. We all need it. It is crucial to the operation of the cells that make up our bodies.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2001

A samurai flick for the MTV generation

Red Shadow Aka Kage Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Hiroyuki Nakano Running time: 108 minutes Language: JapaneseOpens Aug. 11 at Marunouchi Toei and other theaters Silent-era samurai movies fulfilled the same function as the westerns of W.S. Hart and Tom Mix: They entertained the common herd, particularly...
CULTURE / Art
Aug 1, 2001

A century down along the Sumida

In most of the great European capitals, wide, impressive rivers flow through the very heart of the cities, providing the perfect setting for stately buildings such as the Houses of Parliament in London or the Orsay Museum in Paris.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Producer promotes Asian women singers

Chika Asamoto is a professional saxophonist in her own right but nowadays she works chiefly as a producer to promote talented Asian female singers.
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2001

Breathing new life into the Tories

A political party that suffers a major defeat after 18 years in power is obviously in need of serious self-examination. If it repeats the experience four years later at an election marked by an unusually high degree of abstention, the need for wrenching change may well become inescapable.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2001

Elderly seen warming to overseas home-stays

Yujiro Hamada, 77, is typical of a rising number of middle-aged and elderly Japanese who have rejected more common overseas package tours in favor of extended stays abroad.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2001

Fear of enemies still guides CCP policy

"Who are our enemies? Who are our friends?" Mao Zedong asked in 1926. It is a useful question to keep in mind in the wake of the "friendship treaty" just signed between Russian President Putin and China's President Jiang Zemin.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2001

Chen seeks a 'middle way' for Taiwan

TAIPEI -- March 2000 saw a sea change: the election by universal suffrage of Chen Shui-bian as president of the Republic of China. The Nationalist Party (KMT) no longer ruled Taiwan. This finally put to rest the trite old misconception that ethnic Chinese are not ready for democracy.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jul 30, 2001

Is yellow journalism in vogue again?

Why do so many foreign commentators feel they can get away with anything they say about Japan?

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