Search - 2003

 
 
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2006

Honda hopes Zest helps spice up its minicar lineup

Honda Motor Co. unveiled the Zest minivehicle Thursday, aiming to survive in the increasingly competitive domestic minicar market.
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2006

Expressway reform bears bitter fruit

A decision made earlier this month with regard to expressway construction underscores the concerns over expressway reform legislation that existed when Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pushed it in 2004. He used to say that the reorganization of Japan Highway Public Corp. and three other expressway corporations...
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2006

New defense bid-rigging warrants served

Prosecutors served new arrest warrants Tuesday on a former and two current Defense Facilities Administration Agency officials who allegedly rigged bids for construction projects at U.S. bases in Yamaguchi and Nagasaki prefectures in fiscal 2003, sources said.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Japan Post Corp. names eight execs

The board of Japan Post Corp., the holding company formed in January to prepare for the privatization of the country's postal system, appointed its eight senior executives Tuesday, including Sakon Uda, principal at McKinsey & Co., and Akira Uno, former chairman of SMBC Consulting Co., company officials...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2006

Lower House members not quite as rich

The average value of assets held by 479 House of Representatives lawmakers elected last September is 49.78 million yen excluding equities, according to a Kyodo News survey based on declarations released Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2006

N. Korean envoy threatened Japan with missile launches over sanctions

North Korea's top envoy for normalization talks with Japan said in bilateral discussions earlier this month his country would use a "strong physical response" to economic sanctions by Tokyo, sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2006

Shimizu got defense contracts without tenders

Major construction company Shimizu Corp., already linked to bid rigging involving the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, won contracts worth nearly 9 billion yen from the agency without undergoing public tenders, documents show.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 19, 2006

Wolf in sheep's clothing

With more power than an F1 Ferrari, Honda or McLaren, souped-up Nissan Skyline saloons have been the Japanese street racer's weapon of choice for decades. More recently, the sedate-looking Skyline's street cred has gone global, with Australia and Britain in particular reverberating to the roar of Japan's...
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...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 18, 2006

All eyes on Mourinho ahead of Barcelona-Chelsea showdown

LONDON -- As Jose Mourinho has won the domestic title in Portugal and England plus the UEFA Cup and Champions League with FC Porto, there would appear few tests left for the Chelsea manager to face.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2006

Economy grew 5.5% in quarter

The economy grew at a robust annualized rate of 5.5 percent in real terms in the October-December period for the fourth-straight quarter of growth, the Cabinet Office said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Ex-liquor union exec arrested

Police arrested a former official of a liquor retailer union Thursday on suspicion of damaging the group by losing most of the 14.4 billion yen in pension funds that had been invested in foreign bonds, sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2006

Spike in postal remittances to North Korea scrutinized

Japan has seen a sharp increase in the number of postal remittances to North Korea in recent years, an opposition lawmaker said Thursday.
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.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Feb 17, 2006

Tokyo's major drag . . . redefined

Labeled the Champs Elysees of Tokyo, tree-lined "brand boulevard" Omotesando is one of Japan's most treasured strips. Acting as a conduit between the posh Aoyama district and youth mecca Harajuku, it houses a wealth of highly original retail experiences.
OLYMPICS
Feb 16, 2006

Okazaki misses out on medal in 500

Veteran speed skater Tomomi Okazaki was overtaken in the second run of the women's 500-meter event Tuesday, narrowly missing out on a podium finish at the Turin Olympics.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2006

Answers to the questions swirling around Livedoor

Prosecutors on Monday charged Livedoor Co., its former president, Takafumi Horie, and three other Livedoor executives, along with subsidiary Livedoor Marketing Co., with violating the securities law.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2006

Soga did brief tutoring in North: Jenkins

SADO, Niigata Pref. (Kyodo) Ex-U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins, who spent four decades in North Korea and now lives in Japan, said Wednesday his wife, freed Pyongyang abductee Hitomi Soga, only had to coach six men and women, including army officers, in Japanese on three occasions in the North between...
CULTURE / Art
Feb 16, 2006

"ART/ROOM -- Bedroom"

Art Front Gallery Closes in 13 days
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2006

Firm searched over sensitive tech exports

Tokyo police raided on Monday the Kawasaki headquarters of Mitutoyo Corp. on suspicion the manufacturer of precision equipment illegally exported products that could be used to make nuclear weapons to China and Thailand from 2001 to 2002.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 12, 2006

Will the Giants play as good as they look this season?

To say 2006 will be a pivotal year for the Yomiuri Giants would be an understatement, especially after that fifth-place, limp-to-the-finish-line showing in 2005.
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 11, 2006

Ogura announces retirement

Former Japan striker Takafumi Ogura has announced his retirement after a 14-year professional playing career, officials of his J. League first-division club Ventforet Kofu said Friday.

Longform

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