Search - 2005

 
 
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2008

Keidanren: Immigrant worker influx vital to halt labor shortage

Japan should expedite an increase in immigrant labor to engage in fields ranging from welfare to manufacturing, construction and agriculture to offset the shrinking domestic workforce, the nation's largest business lobby said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2008

Hosoda revives call to hold early election

A Lower House election should be held as soon as possible to break the political standstill created by the divided Diet, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda said Tuesday.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 15, 2008

LDP — a party defined by factions

Apart from one brief interval, the Liberal Democratic Party has been in power since it was formed in 1955, and every time it picks a new leader internal factions vie for power.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 12, 2008

In territory and war, it's hard to apologize

TROUBLED APOLOGIES AMONG JAPAN, KOREA AND THE UNITED STATES by Alexis Dudden. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008, 167 pp., $40 (cloth) Alexis Dudden engagingly explores how the nexus of politics, war memory and apology shapes contemporary trilateral relations between Korea, Japan and the United...
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Oct 11, 2008

Nakajima follows father's path, chooses own route to success

In his first campaign as a full-time pilot in the highest level of motor sports, Kazuki Nakajima is, if not rapidly but gradually, seizing a position and recognition by driving steadily and patiently.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 11, 2008

Offering shelter from life's storms

"It's the single most stressful job I've ever had. It's also the best job," says Briar Simpson of Tokyo's Animal Refuge Kansai.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2008

Little Tokyo looks to get back its vibes with new development

The last time Little Tokyo tried getting back to its Japanese roots, it was in the early 1980s with the Japanese Village Plaza, a warren of sweets shops, tea stands and trinket stores under sloping glazed-tile roofs.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / HOTELS & RESTAURANTS
Oct 10, 2008

Westin Tokyo celebrates new look

The Westin Hotel Tokyo in Ebisu Garden Place has completed renovations of its 22nd floor restaurants: Victor's, Compass Rose and Yebisu.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 10, 2008

A little Cali in salaryman central

Wine quite literally takes center stage at Wine Kurasu (Wine Crow) in Shinbashi. Tables are spotlighted dramatically so that rich ruby colors spill out from your wine glass onto the white surface, while the customers sit back under softer lighting and get to the business of contemplating the subtle play...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 9, 2008

Black humor sets Hollywood alight

JAPAN
Oct 9, 2008

Public seen tiring of hereditary politics

Japan's history is one of family dynasties, from the Emperor's 1,400-year lineage to the father-son inheritance of kabuki theater roles. And then there's the Cabinet chosen by Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 8, 2008

Tuna's just too cheap

A prime slice of fatty, creamy otoro — belly-meat of Bluefin tuna — isn't cheap. These days in Tokyo, you can expect to pay at least ¥10,000 ($100) for a goodly portion of the stuff.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 7, 2008

'New politics' of Thai opposition

SINGAPORE — Somchai Wongsawat, Thailand's 26th prime minister, has assumed the top position amid an unresolved political crisis. Unfortunately, the appointment of Somchai guarantees the continuation of massive protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which accuses the new premier of being...
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2008

MMC chief sees rough road ahead for autos

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Osamu Masuko said Monday that the auto industry can expect to face a harsher business environment over the next few years.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 2008

Ministry rebuts Aso editorial in N.Y. Times

The New York Times printed a letter Sunday from the Foreign Ministry criticizing an editorial that described Prime Minister Taro Aso as a pugnacious nationalist.
COMMENTARY
Oct 6, 2008

Farewell to Thabo Mbeki

It was widely believed of South Africa's outgoing president, Thabo Mbeki, that the only time when he wasn't plotting was when he was asleep. More than his bizarre views on AIDS or even his failure to do much for South Africa's poor, it was that reputation as an inveterate plotter that finally brought...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 5, 2008

So you think U.S. democracy's dying? Well, you're probably right

The national conventions of the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties are now but fast-fading memories. The only thing that I really wanted to know once they were over was: Who has the balloon concession for these events, because there's obviously a lot of easy money to be made from hot air.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2008

Diet 'juniors' and Japan's politics of descent

One of the busiest people on TV right now is Daigo Naito, a 30-year-old who dresses and gesticulates like a rock star while speaking in the tones of a narcotized 16-year-old. Daigo isn't a comedian, though his droning delivery elicits laughs, and he's not really a rock star, though he did start his show...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2008

Experts back idea of public bailout in U.S.

Painful as it may be, acting swiftly to tackle the U.S. financial crisis with a public bailout is the right move — and perhaps the chief lesson from Japan's bad debt debacle of the 1990s, economists and politicians here say.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2008

Kawamura to show receipts for all office expenditures

Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura repeated Friday that he has used his political funds legally and said his office is preparing to disclose receipts that back up his suspiciously high expenditures.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 4, 2008

Music firm goes to seed for a rockin' good future

Last year, all too aware that sales of CDs were dropping, Douglas Allsopp of Buffalo Records went along to the annual fair of promotional goods at Tokyo's Big Sight to look for a possible additional venture.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2008

Justice Ministry should 'respect' rulings on executions, Mori says

Justice Minister Eisuke Mori supports the death penalty because it helps maintain the social order and eases the mental pain of crime victims' families.
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2008

Kawamura under fire over office expenses

The political support groups of Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura logged about ¥22 million in expenditures over the past three years — with almost ¥15 million spent on office and personnel fees — even though the home of his secretary was registered as a rent-free office.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan