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SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 18, 2006

Job of England manager becoming tougher by the day

LONDON -- Some time in the next few weeks there will be a puff of white smoke from the Football Association's headquarters in Soho Square and a new England manager will be announced. From that moment the life of Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor will never be the same.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2006

A test for Thai democracy

SINGAPORE -- One year after he was re-elected in a landslide, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been forced to dissolve the National Assembly and call a snap election. Although his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party commands a 75 percent majority in the assembly, Thaksin is embattled.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2006

S&P move blow for Vodafone

Standard & Poor's said Monday it has put the A-plus long-term debt rating of Vodafone K.K., the Japanese unit of the British mobile phone company, on its CreditWatch with negative implications because its financial standing might weaken if Vodafone Group PLC decide to sell it to Softbank Corp.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2006

Mizuho enters cell phone credit cards

NTT DoCoMo Inc., Mizuho Bank and Credit Saison Co. will tie up on a service allowing cell phones to be used as credit cards, sources said Saturday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 5, 2006

Japan's social norms shaped by law

LAW IN EVERYDAY JAPAN: Sex, Sumo, Suicide, and Statutes, by Mark D. West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005, 279 pp., $19.95 (paper). This is a superb book that explores the interaction of law, society and culture over a range of intriguing topics. In seven captivating case studies, Mark West...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2006

U.S. KC-130 relocation mulled

Japan and the United States are planning to change the relocation site for the command center for the U.S. KC-130 midair refueling aircraft unit from a Japanese base in Kagoshima Prefecture to a U.S. base in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, according to Japanese government sources.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2006

IC-tagged produce coming to a grocer near you

Supermarkets are following department stores in introducing integrated circuit tags for their goods, believing that easing the payment process will make shopping more convenient for customers and help increase profits.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2006

Solving the energy puzzle

LONDON -- Energy security and politics do not mix well. Energy security requires huge long-term investment, freedom from political interference and social tranquillity. Politicians live in the short term, love to interfere and tend to deliver nasty surprises that economic forecasters usually fail to...
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2006

JAL boots, reseats serial e-mailer

A male passenger who refused to stop sending e-mail from his mobile phone caused a one-hour delay in a plane's departure from Kagoshima airport on Friday, Japan Airlines said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2006

Livedoor fraud made 6 billion yen: sources

Bogus share swap allegedly concocted to pad group's financial statements
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2006

Toshiba faces major hurdles with Westinghouse

Toshiba's CEO had good reason to sound a trifle defensive about his company's $5.4 billion purchase of U.S.-based nuclear power company Westinghouse.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2006

Travails of Mr. Thaksin

Thailand's prime minister, Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, is a survivor. Since taking office five years ago, he has weathered allegations of corruption and malfeasance, charges of nepotism, an insurgency in Thailand's southern provinces and even a public rebuke by the king. Yet, he has bested every challenge...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 19, 2006

Decades of peace have yet to heal Vietnam's wounds

VIET NAM AT PEACE, by Philip Jones Griffiths. London: Trolley, 2005, 312 pp., £39.95 (cloth). This is the final volume in Philip Jones Griffiths' epoch trilogy on Vietnam spanning 40 years. His classic "Vietnam, Inc" (1971) and "Agent Orange" (2003) focus on war and its consequences. Here, we are given...
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2006

Corporate character goods harness power of 'cute'

A traditional seasoning flies off store shelves after the bottles begin sporting a cartoon panda. A droplet-shaped character turns a little-known manufacturer into a household name.
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2006

The world according to the Pentagon

The U.S. Department of Defense has released its vision of the world, the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). The four-year review of U.S. military strategy provides the Pentagon's assessment of global trends and its responses to them. The QDR receives a lot of attention, but it is important to remember...
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2006

Wiretaps led to 18 arrests in 2005

Police conducted authorized wiretaps in one murder case and four drug cases leading to 18 arrests in 2005, Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura told a Cabinet meeting Friday.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2006

Sharp's third-quarter profit climbs to record 26 billion yen

Sharp Corp. said Wednesday its net profit jumped 26 percent to a quarterly record of 26.26 billion yen for the three months through December, driven by continued strength in its liquid crystal display TV sales.
OLYMPICS
Jan 31, 2006

Blogs by Olympics participants to be banned

The Japanese Olympic Committee is telling athletes competing at the Turin Winter Olympic Games not to open web logs because the Olympic Charter bans athletes' journalist activities when the games are on, and violators will be disqualified.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2006

Individual investors frazzled in wake of 'Livedoor shock'

Yoshikazu Tsugiyama is devastated that his Livedoor shares have nosedived.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2006

Bravia, Vaio sales buoy Sony earnings forecast

Sony Corp. said Thursday it revised its earnings forecast for the full year through March 31 from a net loss of 10 billion yen to a net profit of 70 billion yen, buoyed by stronger-than-expected sales of Bravia TVs and Vaio PCs over the holidays.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2006

Pair held over hidden ATM cameras

Police arrested two men Tuesday in connection with the discovery of hidden miniature cameras installed at automated teller machines in the greater Tokyo area earlier this year.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 24, 2006

Can Japan absorb foreign influx?

When discussing the recent ethnic riots in France, The Economist newsmagazine ("Minority Reports," Nov. 10, 2005) posed an important question: How come some countries assimilate immigrants more peacefully than others?
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 20, 2006

Serfs up, say TIP

Written at a time when his country was faltering after the Crimean War but was still clinging to feudalism, Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" examines a Russia in the midst of social transformation. Tokyo International Players aim to give fresh impetus to this ageless play, to be performed from Jan....
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2006

Wholesale prices rose again in '05 as oil surged

Wholesale prices jumped 1.7 percent in 2005 from the previous year for the second straight yearly rise and marking the biggest increase since 1989, due mainly to higher crude oil prices, the Bank of Japan said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jan 14, 2006

New KDDI handsets boast voice access to navigation

KDDI Corp. will introduce three new handsets for its au mobile phone service next month that will allow customers to orally control its EZ Navi Walk navigation service.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.