Search - 2003

 
 
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2005

Chubu airport has high air-freight hopes

When Central Japan International Airport in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, opens Thursday, it hopes to become the nation's main international air freight hub.
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2005

Flawed compromise takes effect

The Kyoto Protocol on climate change takes effect Wednesday after more than seven years of difficult and complex negotiations aimed at reducing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. Perhaps future generations will remember Feb. 16, 2005, as the day the world launched a determined...
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 16, 2005

Tale of the spy who loved Brandt

"Democracy" is an iconic buzzword of our times. What Webster's dictionary defines as "government in which the people hold the ruling power either directly or through elected representatives" is routinely held out, particularly by the current leader of the world's foremost military-industrial complex,...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 15, 2005

Compromised NHK needs closer scrutiny

As someone who toiled for several years inside NHK during the early 1990s, it is bemusing to see the simplistic criticism of the quasi-official broadcaster by the Japanese media.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

Current account surplus hits record high

Japan's current account surplus rose 17.9 percent in 2004 from a year earlier to a record 18.59 trillion yen.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2005

BOJ's English Web site popular

Demand for English-language information about the Bank of Japan has grown in recent years.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 13, 2005

Pushing the boundaries of the Tokyo tribunal

BEYOND THE "JUDGEMENT OF CIVILIZATION": The Intellectual Legacy of the Japanese War Crimes Trials, 1946-1949, by Kei Ushimura, translated by Steven J. Ericson. Tokyo: LTCB International Library (No. 14), 2003, 336 pp., unpriced (cloth). This is a provocative examination of the Tokyo war crimes tribunal...
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2005

Cross-strait flights unlikely to narrow gap

New Year! Finally, there's a bit of good news to report in cross-strait relations. During this holiday period, the first direct flights are taking place between mainland China and Taiwan since the 1949 Chinese civil war. But while both sides applaud these charter flights as an important step forward,...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 11, 2005

Kitajima says that despite the fame, he is still the same

It has been nearly six months now since he shot to stardom at the Athens Olympics, but swimmer Kosuke Kitajima says that, in spite of all that has transpired since, fame has not altered his personality, though it has changed his life.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2005

Machinery orders up 4.4% in '04

Core private-sector machinery orders expanded 4.4 percent in 2004 from the previous year, marking a second straight annual increase, the government said Thursday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Feb 11, 2005

Sweetest temptations

Japan's unique take on Valentine's Day sees women present their men with chocolate on February 14th, while the recipients reciprocate, often with branded trinkets or jewelry, one month later.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2005

McDonald's Japan posts first profit in three years

McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) said Thursday it returned to profit in 2004 for the first time in three years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2005

Ramen food courts seek to slake slurping throngs

Ramen eateries in Tokyo have started banding together in food court-style complexes in response to red-hot competition.
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2005

Household spending up 0.5% in '04

Monthly household spending averaged 304,203 yen in 2004, up a real 0.5 percent from the previous year, the government said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 9, 2005

Chimeras and shadows

In the service of the imagination of photographer Yuki Onodera, familiar objects become dreamily unsettled by memories and movements and, by degrees, disengage to the point of of unreality.
EDITORIALS
Feb 8, 2005

Concern over the first vCJD case

Japan last week confirmed its first case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human version of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The disease is said to spread through the consumption of beef products from cows infected with BSE. In Britain, which reported a high...
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2005

LDP missing the big picture

How to privatize postal services is the biggest issue in the regular Diet session. The government plans to introduce a privatization package in mid-March, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has vowed to "get it through the current session at all costs." But with many members of the Liberal Democratic...
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2005

Vodafone K.K. inserts Morrow as president as subscribers fall

The Japanese unit of global mobile-phone carrier Vodafone Group Plc. said Monday that Bill Morrow, head of the group's British operations, will replace Shiro Tsuda as president just two months after Tsuda assumed the position.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 7, 2005

Sanctions against Cuba only assist Castro

MOSCOW -- To go or not to go? To trade or not to trade? To invest or not to invest? These are the questions asked nowadays by many Western governments following a recent EU decision to lift sanctions against Havana.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Feb 7, 2005

Amendment must be made easier to ensure prosperity for Japan

On Jan. 18, Keidanren released a report on basic national issues including constitutional revision and diplomatic and national security policies. It was the first time this business lobby had put together a set of proposals on these matters.
EDITORIALS
Feb 6, 2005

Prohibition in Bhutan

The news out of the Himalayas last week was all about Nepal, where King Gyanendra on Tuesday dissolved the government and proclaimed a state of emergency. (The move was billed as an attempt to end an intractable Maoist insurgency; observers predict it will only feed the flames.) But if you think Nepal...
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2005

Nissan to return to Pakistan with four-model lineup

Nissan Motor Co. said Friday it will release four models in Pakistani this month, re-entering that market after more than four years of absence.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2005

North Korea trade can slip through any sanctions cracks

Five a.m. in Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market: A Setagaya Ward sushi chef chooses a 4,800 yen box of sea urchin from North Korea over a 6,500 yen box shipped from Hokkaido.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 4, 2005

Ai-chan, Umemura picked for worlds

Teenager Ai Fukuhara was selected along with Aya Umemura on Thursday to compete in the women's singles competition at the World Table Tennis Championships this spring in Shanghai.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Feb 4, 2005

Ancient Asakusa still central to community

The day in Asakusa begins with the tolling of the Senso-ji bell at 6 a.m. The temple bell, located behind two bronze bodhisattva statues dating back to 1678, is one of the nine official Time Bells of Edo, established in 1692.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2005

Toyota sees 1 trillion yen year as profit rises 3.5%

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday its group net profit in the October-December period rose 3.5 percent from a year earlier to 296.5 billion yen, clearing the way for its profit for the year to March to exceed 1 trillion yen for a second consecutive year.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 1, 2005

Weary Davenport ready to do her thing

Coming off a tough loss to Serena Williams in the Australian Open final on the weekend, Lindsay Davenport faces a tough task applying her weary body to this week's Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament in Tokyo.

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