Search - u_times

 
 
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2000

New combined ministry seeks 20 trillion yen budget

The General Affairs Ministry, to be created in January, will seek a budget for fiscal 2001 that is 18.3 percent larger than the combined initial budget of its three predecessor organizations for fiscal 2000, government officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2000

Tokyo Internet costs almost double N.Y. charges

The cost of continuously using the Internet in Tokyo for 24 hours is nearly twice as high as that in New York, according to a survey released Friday by the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2000

LDP sidelines 17.2 billion yen loan to China

The Liberal Democratic Party said Thursday that it will postpone approval of a plan to loan 17.2 billion yen to China to protest recent Chinese naval activity in and around Japanese territorial waters, LDP officials said.
COMMENTARY
Aug 25, 2000

Turbulent times await Mori

Japan's new political season will open in late September, when an extraordinary Diet session starts after the summer recess. Politics in the upcoming year will be marked by three potential turning points.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2000

The children must be protected

Increasing media coverage of horrendous cases of child abuse, complete with gruesome details of serious injury or death, seems to indicate that the problem is getting out of control in this country. Until not so long ago, an issue that was widely believed to be a private family matter received scant...
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2000

Toxic powdered milk sees Snow plant closure

SAPPORO -- The Hokkaido Prefectural Government on Wednesday ordered Snow Brand Milk Products Co. to suspend operations for an unspecified period at its plant in Taiki, Hokkaido, after discovering a bacterial toxin in samples of powdered skim milk produced there, officials said.
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 24, 2000

Shooting the breeze with affable Eddie

Sanfrecce Hiroshima manager Eddie Thomson HIROSHIMA -- Former Australian national team coach Eddie Thomson is the longest-serving manager in the J. League, but two weeks ago he announced that he would be leaving Sanfrecce Hiroshima at the end of the current season. However, the affable, 53-year-old...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Aug 24, 2000

Where new discoveries and old favorites await

For exploring the world of sake, nothing is more helpful than a reliable sake retailer with a wide and varying selection. There are many such retailers in all parts of Japan, and developing a good relationship with one is key.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Aug 23, 2000

Eye scream

lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/uc004810.jpg Not only did the U.S. government give us the Internet, but it has posted a recipe for vanilla ice cream as well. It's actually a photo of a recipe handwritten by Thomas Jefferson, one of the architects of that government, sometime in the 1780s. Click on "Holograph...
LIFE / Travel
Aug 23, 2000

Among the ghosts of the kamikaze

CHIRAN, Kagoshima Pref. -- An aerial view of the Satsuma Peninsula, glimpsed from a light, low-flying craft such as a glider, would reveal a pastoral landscape of striking warmth, with green volcanic peaks, white stucco-faced houses and time-worn hot-spring inns tucked away down leafy lanes. In this...
COMMUNITY / BODY AND SOUL
Aug 21, 2000

Homocysteine a new heart attack threat

Even if your regular medical checkup shows a low cholesterol level, don't celebrate too soon: Recent medical research has revealed another bad guy in the blood.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 21, 2000

Addressing the growing role of NGOs

The post-Cold War era has witnessed the rise to prominence of many types of nonstate players on the international stage, including international, regional and subregional organizations, trade regimes, multinational corporations and nongovernmental organizations. The last group has perhaps drawn the most...
COMMUNITY
Aug 20, 2000

You only live once

LONDON -- Virgin Group boss Sir Richard Branson is one of the world's most well-known and visible entrepreneurs. Recently knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, the word "tycoon" would normally apply to a businessman with his financial and political clout.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2000

Suffer the stolen children

Mahatma Gandhi, asked what he thought of European civilization, replied, "I think it's a very good idea."
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2000

Lawyers resign from beleaguered Nepalese man's case

Five lawyers representing a Nepalese man acquitted of robbery and murder by a district court resigned Friday to protest the Tokyo High Court's decision not to appoint them as his defense team during the state's appeal of the ruling.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2000

Tanaka says no to factions, holds on to freedom

One of the questions surrounding a group of Liberal Democratic Party members trying to stand up to the old guard is who the group would support in the next LDP presidential race.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2000

NTT urged to sell DoCoMo stake to promote competition

A trade ministry advisory panel has released a draft report Thursday that calls for terminating Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.'s monopoly on local telephone networks.
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2000

LDP reformists to take issues to voters outside Tokyo, Ishihara says

Since issuing the call for reform of the Liberal Democratic Party more than a month ago, Nobuteru Ishihara has been bombarded with questions from reporters and political observers:
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2000

Secondhand comic book firm tapping into American interest in 'manga'

Savoring his success dealing in secondhand comic books and character items in Japan, Masuzo Furukawa, president of Mandarake Inc., is now eyeing an overseas market he believes is thirsting for Japanese "manga" culture.
COMMENTARY
Aug 18, 2000

World War II lessons go unlearned

On Aug. 15, 1945, Japan unconditionally surrendered to the U.S.-led Allied Powers, ending World War II. An estimated 3 million Japanese military personnel and civilians died in the war.
COMMUNITY
Aug 17, 2000

Paper wings that bear dreams aloft

It is a bright, sunshiny day in Musashino Central Park in Tokyo's Musashino City, but the wind is a little strong for the participants in the Japan Paper Airplane Association semifinal flyoffs.
COMMUNITY
Aug 17, 2000

Preparing to teach for the next 500 years

It is remarkable that in 150 years of mainstream education, there has been little serious investigation into how the human brain learns. An exception is the work of Bulgarian scientist Dr. Georgi Lozanov, who began studies and experiments in the 1950s.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2000

Support the economy -- take a vacation

If all you knew about Japan was what you saw on Japanese TV, you might think the Japanese are the most well-traveled citizens in the world. No other broadcast culture offers as many travel programs in which happy-go-lucky celebrity guides see the sights, interact freely with the natives and, most importantly,...
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2000

Mount Bandai may erupt soon: agency

The Meteorological Agency warned Wednesday afternoon that Mount Bandai in Fukushima Prefecture could soon have a minor eruption.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 17, 2000

People-to-people ties will reunite Korea

Probably the most clear-cut dissimilarity between Germany when it was divided and the present state of affairs on the Korean Peninsula is the status of cross-border people-to-people contacts and relations. In the long years of Germany's division, a multitude of communication channels existed between...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 17, 2000

IAAF playing it for laughs with Sotomayor decision

"We're all created equal. Some are just more equal than others."

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