Search - 2003

 
 
EDITORIALS
Apr 7, 2005

Australia's leader 'discovers' Asia

The hallmark of Australian Prime Minister John Howard's eight years in office has been an unblinking orientation toward the United States. At one point, there was even talk of Australia acting as the U.S. "deputy sheriff" in East Asia. That outlook appears to be changing.
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2005

JAXA eyes moon shuttle by 2025

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has compiled a long-term space exploration program that calls for launching a domestically designed manned spacecraft to the moon within the next 20 years, JAXA officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2005

Import auto sales off 3.8% in '04; first fall in three years

Sales of new imported vehicles in Japan fell 3.8 percent in fiscal 2004 from the previous year to 268,703 units for the first decline in three years.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 6, 2005

Getting an eyeful at Goggle Central

The HQ of Japan's current '60s revival is a small office above a Chinese restaurant next to Koenji Station in Tokyo. That's the office of Sazanami Label, a record company started in 2003 by the band Goggle-A. Having formed in 1994 and with four studio albums behind them, they are veterans of this burgeoning...
CULTURE / Stage
Apr 6, 2005

Butoh creates beauty from misery

"Why are we in this form? Why do we have to be this particular shape? Why is the face on top of the neck? Our face could be on the soles of our feet. . . . Human beings are quite a strange kind of life form . . ."
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2005

Seibu Railway theme park hit for back tax

Amusement park operator Toshimaen Co., which is under the scandal-hit Seibu Railway Co. group, failed to declare 200 million yen in taxable income in connection with rent payments for a company house used privately by a female acquaintance of its former president, sources said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2005

Russia wastes time as AIDS crisis builds

NEW YORK -- In recent years, HIV/AIDS infection in Russia has been spreading at the fastest rate in the world. Several experts estimate that more than 1.5 million Russians are HIV-infected at present. According to World Bank estimates, that number could total 5.4 million to 14.5 million by 2020 unless...
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2005

Unstable bond unraveling

South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's March 23 statement denouncing Japan for its colonial past is bound to seriously damage Tokyo-Seoul relations that have been improving in recent years. The statement reverses positive diplomacy Seoul has pursued on the basis of a 2003 agreement between Roh and Prime...
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2005

Origami's global ambassador Akira Yoshizawa dies at age 94

Akira Yoshizawa, an origami master whose expressive paper gorillas made an art out of the craft tradition, died last month of heart failure and pneumonia, his wife said Sunday. He was 94.
COMMENTARY
Apr 4, 2005

Wild card in Filipino politics

MANILA -- Ideally, in a democracy the military is subordinate to the political leadership, which enjoys a popular mandate through universal elections. In reality, civil-military relations often have a different quality.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 3, 2005

Spanish pair leads Japan Open

Spain's Gemma Mengual and Paola Tirados took the lead over Japanese duo Emiko Suzuki and Saho Harada in the duet Saturday at the opening of the synchronized swimming Japan Open, which is also the national championships.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Apr 3, 2005

The rebirth of a salesman

For Atsushi Yamada, conductor of the New York City Opera, his presentation of Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madame Butterfly" to be staged in Tokyo and Nagoya in May will be something of a triumphant return.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2005

Nuclear foes want Rokkasho, Monju on U.N. nonproliferation agenda

KYOTO -- Japanese and international antinuclear groups plan to use an upcoming United Nations conference on nuclear nonproliferation to push for a moratorium on the Rokkasho atomic fuel reprocessing plant and the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor.
COMMENTARY
Apr 2, 2005

India-China rivalry sharpens

NEW DELHI -- When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrives in India next week, the rhetoric of cooperation between the two Asian giants will intensify. But one has only to scratch the surface to know the extent of the embedded mistrust and competition between the two.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2005

Alleged al-Qaeda link seeks vindication

A Bangladeshi businessman who was incorrectly alleged by police and the media last year as being linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network is seeking vindication.
Rugby
Apr 1, 2005

Rugby fans tell IRB: Give the 2011 World Cup to Japan

If the Japan Rugby Football Union is on the lookout for a theme song for its bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup, it could do a lot worse than the Ray Davies penned, "Give the People What They Want."
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2005

52 teachers penalized for anthem snub

The Tokyo Metropolitan board of education punished 52 public school teachers Thursday for refusing to stand up and sing the "Kimigayo" national anthem at March graduation ceremonies.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2005

End to deposit guarantee: How will it affect you?

The nearly decade-old blanket guarantee on bank deposits is to end Friday, reflecting an improvement in the creditworthiness of banks due to active bad-loan disposal efforts.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2005

No exception for Pyongyang

HONOLULU -- No issue more clearly illustrates the chasm in public perceptions that has developed between the United States and South Korea than the issue of human rights in North Korea.
EDITORIALS
Mar 30, 2005

Ready or not, a revolution it is

Fourteen years after the fall of the Soviet Union, democracy is showing fresh signs of life in yet another former Soviet republic: Kyrgyzstan. Last week, in a dramatic display of "people power," popular protests against disputed elections toppled President Askar Akayev, who had ruled the Central Asian...
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2005

Glass wool makers hit over cartel suspicions

The Fair Trade Commission searched 10 producers and sellers of glass wool Tuesday that are suspected of forming a cartel in violation of the Antimonopoly Law, officials of the antimonopoly watchdog said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 29, 2005

Exhausted Kurds desperate to leave

Two large portraits adorn the walls of the otherwise colorless apartment in a Tokyo charity home that Meryem Dogan shares with her two young children.

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