Search - 2003

 
 
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2005

Koizumi reinvents race as issue-specific affair

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is changing the face of election campaigns, and one place this is being felt is the Liberal Democratic Party's Kyoto prefectural chapter, which traditionally has been the LDP's nerve center for local candidates.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2005

Panel refuses to link Isahaya to fish damage

The Environmental Dispute Coordination Commission on Tuesday rejected a request by fishermen to determine that a major government reclamation project in Kyushu has damaged the local fishery industry, saying a causal link cannot be scientifically confirmed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2005

Postal rebel Yashiro to run against New Komeito pick

Former posts minister Eita Yashiro declared Monday he will run as an independent in the Tokyo No. 12 district in the Sept. 11 general election and tendered his resignation from the Liberal Democratic Party, alleging he was betrayed by LDP executives.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2005

Government looking to boost adoption rate

The welfare ministry plans to dispatch staff across the country who specialize in finding foster parents for kids separated from their biological parents because of abuse or other problems, it was learned Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2005

Pat Robertson gives religion a black eye

NEW YORK -- Statements broadcast last week by television evangelist and former U.S. presidential candidate Pat Robertson throw a disturbing light on the influence of religion in American politics. Robertson told his audience that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 28, 2005

Privacy of sperm donors leaves lives in limbo

Emi Nishimura's identity quest began the hard way.
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2005

Cell transplant lets man forgo heart pump system

A 61-year-old man who had a serious heart condition was released from a hospital Saturday after his condition recovered enough to do away with a left ventricular assist system, or LVAS, following a transplant of his own bone marrow cells, the Saitama Medical Center announced.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2005

Interns would keep patients, not kin, in dark about cancer

Japanese medical interns, who rarely have chances to reveal terminal-stage cancer diagnosis in their daily work, generally say they would inform patients' families about cancer before patients, a joint survey by Japanese and U.S. groups showed Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2005

North Korea deports asylum-seeker

North Korea has deported a Gunma Prefecture man who illegally entered the communist country, Pyongyang's state-run news agency, KCNA, reported Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2005

Toyota top income earner in Japan for a sixth year

Toyota Motor Corp. was Japan's biggest corporate income earner in fiscal 2004 for the sixth straight year, credit research agency Teikoku Databank said Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2005

Keidanren to officially back Koizumi

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) will officially back the Liberal Democratic Party in the Sept. 11 Lower House election as a show of support for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reforms, sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

U.S beef faces further study, bureaucratic steps

More study on the risk of imported U.S. beef being infected with mad cow disease is needed before reopening the Japanese market, a food safety panel said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Court nixes policy payout to family of journalist slain in Iraq

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday rejected a demand by the wife and son of a freelance photojournalist assassinated in Iraq to receive insurance benefits over his death.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Suit denying pair's wartime beheading spree fails

The Tokyo District Court dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday filed by the relatives of two executed Japanese soldiers against two newspapers and a journalist over publications that said the two competed to be the first to behead 100 Chinese in 1937 during the advance on Nanjing.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

JAXA looks to resume Aussie tests on rocket-borne unmanned SST model

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will resume flight tests on a small unmanned plane as early as next month in its quest to develop a next-generation supersonic transport aircraft.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 24, 2005

The best from a bygone era

I was recently tempted to term the handsome old Bridgestone Museum as "the last of a dying breed." But that hardly seems appropriate any more, considering the Nihonbashi art space's ongoing evolution. Instead, the Bridgestone might be better described as "a survivor" -- and one of the best -- from a...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 23, 2005

Takahashi to run in Tokyo marathon

Sydney Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi will return to a competitive marathon race in Tokyo in November after an injury-caused two-year absence, her management office said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2005

Bird flu detected at Ibaraki farm

Authorities have detected an outbreak of bird flu at a poultry farm in Ibaraki Prefecture, the agriculture ministry said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2005

LDP again at the crossroads

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi views the forthcoming general election, set for Sept. 11, as a national referendum on his top-priority plan to privatize the postal system. "I would like to ask the people whether they are for or against postal privatization," he told a nationally televised press conference,...
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2005

Beef hits highest price since '03

The retail price of beef is at its highest level since the first case of mad cow disease in the United States was discovered in December 2003, the farm ministry said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2005

LDP rebels launch another new party

Koki Kobayashi and three other rebels from the Liberal Democratic Party formed a new party Sunday, with Yasuo Tanaka, the outspoken governor of Nagano Prefecture, taking the top position.
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2005

For safer travel over 65

The National Police Agency chose "Striving for the World's Safest Road Traffic" as the main theme of its 2005 white paper made public recently. This is the first time in about a quarter-century that traffic safety has been the main feature of the annual report, thus denoting the agency's enthusiasm for...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 21, 2005

Hoshino, the next manager of the Giants? Not so fast!

The Nikkan Sports paper claimed in back-to-back front pages on Aug. 11-12 that former Chunichi Dragons and Hanshin Tigers manager Senichi Hoshino has been offered the job to head the Yomiuri Giants in 2006.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2005

Party leaders head out on the national stump

Ruling and opposition leaders traveled to various parts of the country Saturday to seek public support ahead of the Sept. 11 general election.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2005

Sufjan Stevens: "Illinois"

Sounding at times like The Moody Blues' "Days of Future Past" as interpreted by a roomful of high-school band geeks, "Illinois" is a 22-track concept album loosely based on the U.S. state of Illinois.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2005

Asylum in Japan eludes Myanmar's close-knit Chin minority

Hundreds of asylum-seekers from Myanmar have come to Japan to escape persecution since the 1980s, including those belonging to ethnic minorities like the Rohingya and Kachin, and dozens have so far been recognized here as refugees.

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