Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2005

Nonpaid benefit cases top 10,000

Property and casualty insurance companies, including the nation's top six firms, failed to make payouts to policyholders in more than 10,000 cases -- worth several hundred million yen -- over the past three years due to computer glitches and human error, industry sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2005

Mazda reports sharp drop in profit

Mazda Motor Corp.'s profit shrank sharply in the April-June quarter despite improved sales because of a change in accounting standards, the affiliate of U.S. automaker Ford said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2005

Defense Agency punished 1,200 in '04

The Defense Agency punished 1,286 officials in fiscal 2004, and 1,229, or 95 percent of them, were Self-Defense Forces officials, the agency said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2005

Ex-teachers denied jobs sue Tokyo

Five former high school teachers filed a damages lawsuit Tuesday claiming they were denied part-time teaching jobs after retirement because they refused to stand and sing the national anthem during a school ceremony.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Aug 3, 2005

New dimensions in dance

Noism is a veritable supernova in the rapidly expanding universe of Japanese contemporary dance. It burst on the scene in 2004 as the residential company of the Niigata Ryutopia Theater, two years after its founder, 30-year-old Jo Kanamori, returned from Europe.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2005

Another Japan Highway exec arrested over bids

Prosecutors on Monday arrested an executive at Japan Highway Public Corp. and indicted his former colleague and officials from four companies, stepping up their probe into one of the country's largest public works bid-rigging scandals.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2005

Bound by a common cause

LONDON -- When Chinese President Hu Jintao was in Moscow in early July, he sought to strengthen the "strategic partnership" between China and Russia that his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed in Moscow four years ago.
MORE SPORTS
Jul 31, 2005

Hirayama goes Dutch

Japan Under-20 striker Sota Hirayama flew out of Tokyo on Friday hoping to impress Feyenoord as he joins the Dutch League side on trial.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 31, 2005

Will Hanshin still be in swing after 'road trip of death'?

The Hanshin Tigers are in a position to win their second Central League pennant in three seasons, but they will have to get by a jinx that has plagued Tigers teams in the past: the "shi-no-rodo" or "road trip of death."
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2005

Rescue from property sharks

Fraudulent and malicious sales methods victimizing innocent people have become a social issue. In a typical case, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested four former salesmen last month on suspicion of having cajoled or pressured some 5,400 people in 34 prefectures into signing contracts for...
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2005

Thousands gather in support of retaining pacifist Article 9

Thousands of people attended a rally Saturday in Tokyo to protest against changing the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 31, 2005

What six reasonable men can do

REASONABLE MEN, POWERFUL WORDS: Political Culture and Expertise in 20th Century Japan, by Laura Hein. Berkeley, Calif.; University of California Press, 2004, 328 pp., $45 (cloth). This is the compelling story of how six prominent intellectuals shaped the conventional wisdom that came to characterize...
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jul 31, 2005

Nature never tries to be nice

MOSCOW -- Planet Earth, aka Mother Nature, is a sturdy killer. Preachers, environmentalists and sunset lovers keep trying to persuade us that it is as benevolent and fragile as a loving aging parent. Not at all. The environment we live in is hard-nosed and violent -- hardly a mother figure but rather...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2005

Kanebo trio arrested over window-dressing

Prosecutors arrested former Kanebo President Takashi Hoashi and two other former executives of the firm Friday on suspicion of submitting falsified financial statements to authorities.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2005

KDDI set to acquire PoweredCom

KDDI Corp. is engaged in final negotiations with Tokyo Electric Power Co. over its possible absorption of Tepco's telecom subsidiary, PoweredCom Inc., in January, sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 28, 2005

End run around civilian control

The Diet last week passed a revision of the Self- Defense Forces Law to identify actions Japan would take if faced with an imminent ballistic missile attack. This simplification of the command procedure for firing interceptor missiles, however, poses several questions, especially regarding the issue...
LIFE / Language
Jul 28, 2005

Cram schools cash in on failure of public schools

With Japan's economic bubble long since burst and job security fast becoming no more than a fond memory, there has been a surge in applications to private schools from primary grades up to college.
COMMUNITY
Jul 27, 2005

Comedienne Tomochika is quite a character

Along with comedy duos who do manzai (two-man standup) or short skits, a rise in "pin geinin (solo comedians)" is another dimension to the current owarai boom.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2005

All insurers told to probe payouts

The Financial Services Agency on Tuesday ordered all 39 life insurance companies operating in Japan to investigate and report by the end of September whether they failed to make due payouts to policyholders over the past five years.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2005

Preferred enters hotel fray in Japan

Despite the ongoing hotel war in Tokyo with many international hotels debuting, the chief of the Preferred Hotel Group in Chicago is optimistic about its expansion here.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2005

Japan may give energy aid to N. Korea

Japan will provide energy aid to North Korea in cooperation with the U.S. and South Korea if substantial progress is made in getting Pyongyang to abandon its alleged nuclear program in upcoming multilateral talks, according to government sources.
COMMENTARY
Jul 25, 2005

Threshold of a lower threat

The fourth round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear-arms programs opens Tuesday in Beijing. The question is whether the talks will succeed in convincing the North to halt its nuclear-arms development, which poses a serious security threat to Northeast Asia. For Japan, the United States, South...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 25, 2005

Right for the wrong reasons: deflation dilemma at the BOJ

What do you do when things turn out right for all the wrong reasons? Do you laugh? Do you cry? Do you do a bit of both, or none of either? This must be the kind of mental acrobatics that observers of consumer price developments at the Bank of Japan are going through at this particular moment.

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