Search - 2002

 
 
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 13, 2004

New subway signals start of a new era

At 4:57 on the morning of Feb. 1, a navy-blue and yellow train pulled out of Motomachi-Chukagai Station bound for Yokohama Station, connecting with through services from there to Shibuya via the Tokyu Toyoko Line.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2004

Current account surplus hits record 15.8 trillion yen

Japan's current account surplus for 2003 rose 11.6 percent from the previous year to a record 15.79 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2004

Certain Thai poultry imports to be resumed

Japan agreed Thursday to resume imports of heat-treated processed poultry products from Thailand, on condition that Thai plants meet sanitary requirements, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 12, 2004

Osaka firms turning to foreign workers

OSAKA -- The Imazato district of Osaka has long been home to a large concentration of small and midsize enterprises.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2004

Supplies from China's Daqing oil field halted

The supply of crude oil to Japan from China's huge Daqing oil field has been halted since January and is unlikely to resume due to increasing demand for energy in China.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2004

Koizumi's career could be biggest casualty of Iraq dispatch

With news of almost daily suicide attacks in Iraq, top government officials share the anxiety of relatives of Japanese soldiers who have been sent there.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2004

Officials in shock visit to North; abductees on agenda

Senior Japanese officials made an unannounced visit to North Korea on Wednesday to discuss a diplomatic standoff over the abduction of Japanese citizens decades ago by North Korean agents, a government spokesman said.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 12, 2004

The road to pinpointing corporations that care

When it comes to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, the media never tire of airing dirty laundry.
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2004

Bringing abductees and kin home

As yet there is no end in sight to the abduction issue involving Japanese citizens. North Korea -- whose agents kidnapped them in the 1970s and 1980s -- must take the initiative to break the deadlock, but it continues to reject any formal negotiation. To get Pyongyang moving forward, Tokyo is now poised...
Japan Times
JAPAN / LABOR PAINS
Feb 11, 2004

More support needed for foreign laborers

When Roseli Okuyama came to Japan from Sao Paulo in 1990 and began working at a plastics manufacturing factory, she had planned to stay for a year and then move to Europe.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Abe's trial over AIDS death set to be halted

An appeal against the acquittal of Takeshi Abe on a charge of causing a patient's death will probably not be heard because the former HIV expert has been judged mentally incompetent.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2004

Toto soccer lottery prize to be doubled

An advisory panel to the education minister approved Tuesday a plan to double the top prize for the Toto soccer lottery to 200 million yen to boost tottering sales.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 11, 2004

Contemporary art currents crossing at Roppongi's Mori

"Roppongi Crossing," which opened last weekend at the Mori Art Museum, is a smorgasbord of an exhibition, with work by 60 artists and designers from across Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2004

Got something for everyone

Hanochi Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Itsumichi Isomura Running time: 122 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Gege Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Kiyoshi Sasabe Running time: 113 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 8, 2004

Who needs actors when you've got SMAP?

Last summer's Nippon TV scandal, in which a producer admitted he'd bribed monitor families into watching his program, has compromised the Japanese ratings system, but no matter how skeptically you regard such numbers the ratings performance of the pop group SMAP during the first month of the new year...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 8, 2004

Thieves and smugglers of Southeast Asia

THE LOST HERITAGE: The Reality of Artifact Smuggling in Southeast Asia, by Masayuki Nagashima. Bangkok: Post Books, 2002, 190 pp., 235 baht (cloth). One of the more disheartening sights for the visitor to Southeast Asia is the sight of headless or dismembered statues at important cultural and religious...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2004

More Japanese finding wedded bliss with foreigners

Marriages between Japanese and foreign nationals now account for around 5 percent of all marriages in Japan, more than double the rate of the late 1980s, according to a recently published report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Harajuku Segway stunt draws Tokyo cops' ire

Tokyo police turned over to prosecutors Friday their case against a businessman who asked an employee to ride a U.S.-made Segway scooter on a public street, allegedly in violation of the Road Traffic Law.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

90% of consumers worried about future food supply

About 90 percent of Japanese consumers are concerned about Japan's future food supply, according to a survey by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Government taps Nobel laureate to head Okinawa graduate school

The government on Friday chose a British molecular biologist and Nobel laureate to head a new graduate school in natural sciences that will be set up in Okinawa.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2004

Foreign-exchange reserves hit record high

Japan's unprecedented spree of dollar-buying interventions pushed its foreign-exchange reserves to a record $741.25 billion as of the end of January.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2004

JAL sees earnings recover after Iraq war, SARS

Japan Airlines System Corp. said Friday it posted a net profit of 3.7 billion yen in the October-December quarter, as flights to the United States and Europe began to recover after the Iraq war and the SARS outbreak.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2004

Mandatory oil-spill insurance eyed

Japan might make it mandatory for ships of 100 tons or more to be insured against oil spills -- a move that would bar many North Korean vessels from entering Japanese ports.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 7, 2004

Two Myers-Briggs analysis sessions change lives

Californian-born Terri Nii of KNT Co. appears to have found a most agreeable and satisfying balance in her life.

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