Search - 2005

 
 
EDITORIALS
Mar 20, 2008

Getting serious about child care

The government is pushing improvement of child-care services and in doing so it aims to stem the decline in birthrate. It anticipates that the number of children aged 5 or younger who would use such services will increase by about 1 million to about 3 million in 10 years.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 20, 2008

Are Japan's leaders merely readers on climate change?

Japanese people often wrongly pronounce "l" as "r," or "r" as "l." So, "leader" can be pronounced as "reader."
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2008

BOJ boss lacking Finance Ministry ties unthinkable

Tuesday's nomination of another former top Finance Ministry bureaucrat, Koji Tanami, for the Bank of Japan governorship shows the government continues to want someone with a background in the ministry at the post.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2008

Dollar plummets to near 13-year low against yen

The dollar nosedived below ¥96.00 Monday for the first time in nearly 13 years as fears of a U.S. financial industry meltdown persist amid America's festering subprime mortgage loan crisis.
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2008

Punishing bureaucratic neglect

The Supreme Court earlier this month upheld a suspended prison sentence for a former health ministry official who had been found guilty of failing to prevent the sale and use of HIV-contaminated blood products that resulted in the death of a patient suffering from impaired liver function. It concluded...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2008

G20 climate talks end divided

CHIBA — The Group of 20 environment and energy ministers vowed Sunday to continue their fight against global warming but fell short of reaching a consensus on a framework to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2008

World needs revolution in climate change: Blair

CHIBA — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday urged both developed and developing countries to break their stalemate and reach a global deal that will allow all major carbon dioxide emitters to take collective action on climate change.
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2008

Renewable energy surges forward

Renewable energy is developing rapidly in terms of investment and energy production. The Renewable Energy 2007 Global Status Report made public in late February is food for thought for energy policymakers, citizens, and power and other companies. Renewable electricity generation capacity reached an estimated...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 16, 2008

Time for Takahashi to read the handwriting on the wall

There is nothing sadder in sports than seeing a once-great athlete who has hung around too long.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2008

G20 energy chiefs push for more egalitarian climate pact

CHIBA — Energy and environment ministers from 20 top emitters of carbon dioxide kicked off a discussion Saturday to explore the creation of an international framework for fighting global warming to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
LIFE / WEEK 3
Mar 16, 2008

Skeptics nix 'comedy' drive to officially fight the flab

A sharply besuited young woman comes home and finds her dad downing a mug of beer in the kitchen, with an assortment of snacks on the table. She playfully warns him, pointing to his potbelly: "Oto-san (Daddy)! You're drinking again! You are eating too much, aren't you? Metaborikku Shindoromu (Metabolic...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 15, 2008

Redknapp happy with decision to remain at Portsmouth

LONDON — The trouble with the English is that we want it all ways.
COMMENTARY
Mar 14, 2008

Burma sanctions don't work

NEW DELHI — Burma today ranks as one of the world's most isolated and sanctioned nations — a situation unlikely to be changed by its ruling junta scheduling a May referendum on a draft constitution and facilitating U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's third visit in six months.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2008

Back to square one after a lifetime of work

With spring comes the annual wage negotiations, when unions press employers for higher pay. These days, however, an increasing number of the workers at the bargaining table are themselves in the autumn of life — 60 or older.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 14, 2008

James Murphy's 'magic plastic discs'

"Cod sperm sacs, I had that," muses James Murphy, multitalented record producer, DJ, founder of New York's DFA Records and mastermind behind dance-punk phenomenon LCD Soundsystem. Apparently, despite averaging two or three trips a year to Japan, the country — in particular its restaurants — still...
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / BJ-LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Mar 14, 2008

Apache's Aoki still the man at FT line

When the game clock stops, you can still score points in bunches.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2008

Taking the next step on Iran

LOS ANGELES — The approval of fresh sanctions on Iran marks the third time that the United Nations Security Council has been galvanized to stem the Islamic Republic's feared uranium enrichment efforts. Unfortunately, the new sanctions are unlikely to be any more effective than the first two rounds....
Japan Times
SOCCER
Mar 13, 2008

Torres sends Liverpool into CL quarters

MILAN, Italy (AP) Fernando Torres scored a second-half goal to give visiting Liverpool a 1-0 victory over 10-man Inter Milan on Tuesday and send the Reds to the European Champions League quarterfinals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 13, 2008

A graceful step onto Edo's stage

'Now that his life-long dream of having the stage name of Sakata Tojuro has come true, I think Tojuro aspires to revitalize the style of kabuki acting unique to the Kamigata (Kansai) region," says Shoichi Yamada, the former executive director in charge of bunraku puppet theater at the National Theater....
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Mar 12, 2008

Young CEO breaks through corporate age barrier

With a single click, you can view the 3-D image of a sedan or a sports car on a Web site of global automakers like Honda and Nissan. With another click, you can change the color and model, or even rotate the vehicle.
LIFE / Language
Mar 11, 2008

Smart tips for avoiding those 'White Day' blues

This coming Friday, March 14, is Howaito Dei (White Day), when males follow the custom of reciprocating the Valentine's Day chocolates (or other gifts) they received a month earlier.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2008

Market woes ruin EAccess bond sale

EAccess Ltd., the first new entrant to Japan's mobile-phone market in 13 years, said Monday it canceled a planned bond sale because of unfavorable market conditions.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2008

Foreign workers rally in Shibuya for equal rights

Foreign workers staged a rally in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on Sunday as part of their annual spring labor offensive, calling for proper and equal treatment on par with Japanese working conditions.
EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2008

Accelerate antismoking measures

The World Health Organization in early February released a report stating that the global tobacco epidemic is one of the greatest public health threats of modern times. It said that in the 20th century the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 10, 2008

Takahashi comes up short

NAGOYA — A nation watched. A nation waited. A nation hoped. . .

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight