Search - 2003

 
 
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.
EDITORIALS
Feb 1, 2005

Flying high over the Taiwan Strait

The victory of the opposition Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan elections last December was widely seen as a rebuke of President Chen Shui-bian and an opportunity for the People's Republic of China. In theory, a democratic check on Mr. Chen allows Beijing to retake the initiative...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 31, 2005

Far-fetched redesigns between the lines

NEW YORK -- "Contrapuntal reading," as Edward Said called it, is the ability to read between the lines. The reader must be able to have what is referred to, but not described, play off the main descriptive concern. This ability is particularly important with novels written while empire-building was in...
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2005

Woman gives birth with partial womb

A woman whose womb was partially preserved during an operation to treat advanced-stage cervical cancer gave birth last fall, the first such case in Japan, hospital officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
Features
Jan 30, 2005

'Secret' writer joins Diet drama

There are lawyers-turned-politicians. There are bureaucrats-turned-politicians. There are professors-turned-politicians . . . sports players-turned-politicians . . . actors-turned-politicians . . . and so on.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2005

Roppongi: from ashes to 'High Touch Town'

The Roppongi district of Tokyo has been through a turbulent time in the 60 years since it was destroyed by firebombing during World War II.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2005

Jobless rate edges to six-year low

Japan's unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percent to a six-year low of 4.4 percent in December.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2005

Population up 0.05% in 2004

Japan's population rose to about 127,687,000 in 2004, up by 0.05 percent from a year earlier, according to a preliminary government report on estimated demographic shifts obtained by Kyodo News.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2005

U.S. eyes education, medicine sectors

The United States wants to expand U.S. investors' presence in Japan's education and medical services markets, a U.S. State Department official said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2005

Hansen's sanitariums were houses of horror

Five state-run sanitariums and a research center kept a macabre collection of dead babies and fetuses taken from Hansen's disease patients, according to a report released Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2005

Hashimoto should be charged, inquest says

committee called (the prosecution's decision) unjust," DPJ Secretary General Tatsuo Kawabata said as he challenged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi during a Diet session Thursday. He asked Koizumi, who heads the LDP, if he still believes Hashimoto's explanation that he probably received the JDA donation...
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2005

Mitsubishi Heavy chief to take reins at MMC

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Chairman Takashi Nishioka is set to double as chairman of struggling carmaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp., sources close to the Mitsubishi group said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Jan 28, 2005

Epson's bold gamble leaves door ajar for Canon

Pole position in Japan's home printer market changed hands in 2004 for the first time in eight years, with the two principal rivals in the sector pursuing starkly contrasting product strategies.
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2005

Trimming a lifetime perquisite

The Japanese public has expressed anger over the fact that members of the Diet are entitled to such fat pensions. In response, a parliamentary panel has recommended that there be at least a 70-percent increase in premiums and a 30-percent cut in payouts. These proposals probably will take effect in fiscal...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

Execs face charges in revolving door death

Police on Wednesday handed prosecutors their case against six executives in connection with the death of a 6-year-old boy who was crushed in an automatic revolving door at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills commercial complex in March.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

China now Japan's top trade partner

trade," said Yukari Sato, chief economist at Credit Suisse First Boston Securities (Japan) Ltd. Economists and government officials predict that Japan's trade with China will grow further, given lower tariffs and an improving investment climate spurred by China's entry into the World Trade Organization...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Stock option income counts as salary: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that proceeds from exercising stock options should be regarded as a part of salary and thus subject to a higher tax rate than for one-time income.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2005

Koizumi plans blocwide postal powwow

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he intends to talk out his contentious postal privatization plan with the ruling bloc so related bills can be approved by the Diet within the current 150-day session.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jan 26, 2005

Know your Shins!

Ask the band directly, what are The Shins about, and the four friends' free-for-all flow of deadpan wit, wild metaphor and the occasional outburst of song (evidence of not just a clever group of people but a happy one) stops cold.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jan 26, 2005

Talkin' Bertolt

Between his return from the United States after World War II, and his death in 1956, playwright Bertolt Brecht, with his Berliner Ensemble, created one of the finest acting companies in the world -- one which became a testing-ground for his theatrical exploration and challenged the theatrical conventions...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?