Search - 2005

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2008

Life without parole finding support in Diet

With less than a year before Japan embarks on the lay judge system, some lawmakers are raising concerns that having to choose between the death sentence and the second most severe punishment — life with the possibility of parole after 10 years — will be too daunting a burden for the nonprofessionals...
SOCCER
Jul 17, 2008

AC Milan completes deal for Ronaldinho

MILAN, Italy (AP) Ronaldinho was transferred to AC Milan late Tuesday, leaving FC Barcelona after the club's new coach declared the team would plan for next season without the Brazilian playmaker.
JAPAN / Q&A
Jul 17, 2008

Isle row with Seoul a longtime affair

Japan announced this week that a new supplementary education guideline will describe South Korea-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan, which Seoul calls the East Sea, as part of Japanese territory. The move enraged South Korea, which recalled its ambassador to Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 13, 2008

Ukraine's path will set the course for Russia

MOSCOW — Russia and the West are losing each other yet again. The magnetic attraction and repulsion between the two has been going on for centuries. Indeed, historians have counted as many as 25 such cycles since the reign of Czar Ivan III.
COMMENTARY
Jul 13, 2008

Cigarettes, lies and impressionable film fans

MADRAS, India — Humphrey Bogart used to seduce women through his smoke rings. In a movie like "Casablanca," much of this Hollywood star's playboy persona came from the cigarette he held between his fingers. That the tobacco stick finally finished him is something that all his fans, especially female,...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jul 13, 2008

Focused Tamesue follows his own path in search of Olympic glory

I have a confession to make, and it won't send an electric shock through your nervous system, nor will it instantly give you a Don King hairdo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2008

U.S. author spreads 'made-in-China' boycott word

Curiosity is the only thing that drove author Sara Bongiorni into launching her family boycott of Chinese products in 2005.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jul 12, 2008

Climbing Mount Misen

I recently took a group of tourists on a sail through the Seto Inland Sea for three days. Our destination was Miyajima, home of the Great Torii Gate and Itsukushima Shrine (built in A.D. 593), a World Heritage site since 1996.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2008

Market for mobile 'manga' taking off

A wave of digital and mobile phone technology is sweeping through the Japanese publishing industry as the market for electronic publishing continues to take off.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 11, 2008

Scott Murphy

"I didn't know anything about Japanese, or Japan at all, and I spoke English on stage and no one understood what I was saying."
BUSINESS
Jul 11, 2008

Japan caves to gadget makers on 'iPod tax'

Japan will stop pushing for legislation to charge royalties on the sales of iPods and other portable digital music players, giving in to opposition from electronics makers, officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2008

Confectioners spice things up with hot chili, soy sauce sweets

The Japanese sweets scene is heating up and getting salty to boot.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 10, 2008

G8 trying to have it both ways on nukes

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — On July 1, 1968, world leaders signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, in which nonnuclear weapons states agreed to never produce or acquire such arms while countries possessing them agreed to eventually scrap their arsenals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 10, 2008

Island chanteuse Hajime finds tranquillity on Saturn

It wouldn't be the obvious place to look. And yet singer Hajime Chitose was seeking a new peace of mind when, 1.3 billion km away, she found what she was looking for.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 9, 2008

Nature stifling wind power in Japan

CHOSHI, Chiba Pref. — About a 2 1/2-hour drive east of central Tokyo, on the edge of the Kanto plain, stands one of the closest wind farms to the capital, whirring away as it generates up to 25,500 kw of clean electricity.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008

Toyako businesses seek long-term benefit

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Takuji Okamoto, 69, has run a tiny noodle shop with his wife, Chieko, for 23 years at the Lake Toya hot springs resort area.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008

Summit aiming to offset all its CO2 emissions

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Debate on global warming can heat up sometimes, but the Group of Eight summit shouldn't be contributing to climate change.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 8, 2008

Japan's last frontier took time to tame, cultivate image

Hokkaido, where the Group of Eight summit is taking place in Toyako, is known for its hot springs, ski resorts, seafood and magnificent scenery.
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2008

Nursing care in trouble

Nursing care establishments are suffering from a severe labor shortage as many workers quit each year because of low wages and harsh working conditions. The government should realize that if this trend continues, the nation's nursing care system could collapse. Improving the wages and working conditions...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2008

Thickheadedness on African debt

ACCRA, Ghana — In the runup to the Group of Eight meeting in Japan last week, activists of all stripes were working hard to ensure that their issue would be on the agenda. While the agenda changes from year to year, one item has become a mainstay: debt relief. The fact that this issue repeatedly resurfaces...
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

Food crisis, Africa aid at center stage

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — The three-day Group of Eight summit kicked off Monday in Toyako with Japan's leadership of the G8 being tested by a raft of new global challenges.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008

G8 leaders cast Tanabata wishes

TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Everyone has hopes for the future, a reflection of their past experiences. The world leaders gathered for the Group of Eight summit are no exception — as evidenced by what they wrote on pieces of paper hung Monday from bamboo trees in the Japanese wish-making tradition of the July...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami