Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2005

Firms found 405 data leaks in '04

Businesses reported 405 cases of personal data leaks in fiscal 2004, Cabinet Office officials said Thursday, citing reports submitted to various government agencies.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2005

NPA finds 51 trafficked women

The National Police Agency said Thursday that 51 women were trafficked into Japan and forced to work in the adult entertainment industry in the first half of 2005, the highest figure on record for the first six months of a year.
EDITORIALS
Jul 14, 2005

Shutting down business fraud

Today's communities in Japan, especially impersonal big cities, are becoming hostile places in many ways for elderly people living alone. New gangs of criminals, who often pose as kind and soft-spoken business operators, are eager to swindle the elderly out of their life savings. These con artists know...
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2005

Big-name firms expected to bid on Kanebo bailout

Kao Corp., L'Oreal SA and Proctor & Gamble Co. are among firms expected to bid on struggling Kanebo Ltd. and Kanebo Cosmetics Inc. when the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan issues requests for tenders, industry sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2005

Tokyo still weak on human-trafficking: U.N. investigator

The government will have to do much more than just revise a few laws to combat human-trafficking, the U.N. special rapporteur on the problem said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2005

Chinese beer makers face scrutiny over ingredients

The health ministry has asked importers of Chinese beers to find out from the breweries whether the drinks contain formaldehyde, a banned hazardous substance, according to ministry sources.
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2005

Kokudo to sell HQ building to cut Seibu's debt

Kokudo Corp., which controls the Seibu Railway Co. group, will sell its head office building and land to help reduce Seibu's interest-bearing group liabilities, company officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 13, 2005

Japan Highway retiree, four bridge execs held in bid-rigging

Prosecutors Tuesday arrested a former board member of Japan Highway Public Corp. and four officials of major bridge builders for alleged bid-rigging on projects ordered by the government-affiliated body.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 13, 2005

Interesting times in China

Chinese contemporary art made a splash in the late 1990s with the so-called Mao Goes Pop movement, which broke big among Western gallerygoers and collectors.
COMMENTARY
Jul 12, 2005

A skittish reform pendulum

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization bills cleared the Lower House on July 5 by only five votes, demonstrating the strength of anti-Koizumi forces in the governing Liberal Democratic Party. The narrow margin reflected severe criticism of not only the legislation but also Koizumi's...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 10, 2005

New horizons beckon as Train Man heads nowhere fast

The Japanese nation seems to be firmly in the grip of the otaku.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 10, 2005

Existential dilemma from the Japanese wasteland

TOWARD MEANING: Poems of Kikuo Takano, translated by Hiroaki Sato. Middletown Springs, Vermont: P.S., A Press, 2004, 116 pp., $12 (paper). Kikuo Takano (born 1927) first wrote poetry in the bleak postwar years and is said to have burned his initial output. Aligning himself in 1953 with Ayukawa Nobuo's...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 10, 2005

Where Zen is perfectly at home

ZEN AND KYOTO, by John Einarsen. Uniplan Co., Inc, 2004, 135 pp., 2,381 yen (paper). Like heaven and hell, or the elements of earth and rock, Zen and the city of Kyoto are joined at the hip.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 10, 2005

"Old Kyoto" revived

OLD KYOTO, by Diane Durston. Kodansha International, 248 pp., 120 color photos, 150 illustrations, 2004 (revised edition), 2,200 yen (paper). Diane Durston, a writer, lecturer and consultant on Japan and Asian studies, describes Kyoto with the loving care of a preservationist. She begins "Old Kyoto,"...
Japan Times
Features
Jul 10, 2005

Support groups to aid of all affected

When people become clinically depressed, it's not just they who suffer. Families of the depressed are deeply affected -- riding an emotional roller coaster -- and when a breadwinner is afflicted, as is often the case, financial struggles inevitably ensue. Worst of all, many families must live with the...
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2005

University presidents take voluntary salary cuts

The heads of 10 national universities that acquired corporate status in spring 2004 have voluntarily cut their pay in an effort to promote business efficiency, it was learned Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2005

Hyogo labor slush fund dooms seven

The labor ministry dismissed seven Hyogo Labor Bureau employees on disciplinary grounds in connection with a slush funds scam, the ministry said Friday.
COMMUNITY
Jul 9, 2005

Humanitarian paints hope for students of Vietnam

Fred Harris looks around the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Yurakucho, central Tokyo, and observes with his usual keen but fond eye, "This was the first club I joined when I came here in 1964." (He was also in Japan while serving as a U.S. soldier during the Korean War.)
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2005

Beijing aims to politically isolate Koizumi

SINGAPORE -- The feud between China and Japan over the contents of Japanese history textbooks, sovereignty of the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's periodic visits to Yasukuni Shrine came to a head in April when anti-Japanese riots broke out in some Chinese cities.
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2005

A year of autonomy for Iraq

It has been one year since Iraqis reclaimed control over their country in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion. It has been a long year, marked more by disappointment than hope. Political squabbles among Iraq's political leaders as well as an ongoing -- some would say escalating -- insurgency have...
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2005

South Africa, Japan plan panel to get FTA ball rolling

Japan and South Africa agreed Thursday to form a study group to examine the feasibility of striking a bilateral free-trade agreement, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN / Q&A
Jul 8, 2005

Why is Japan so impatient to land a permanent seat in the UNSC club?

Japan moved a step closer toward its goal of becoming a permanent United Nations Security Council member Thursday, as the so-called Group of Four nations -- Japan, Germany, India and Brazil -- submitted a resolution on the matter to the U.N. Secretariat. The following are some basic facts on the UNSC...
JAPAN / Q&A
Jul 8, 2005

Why is Japan so impatient to land a permanent seat in the UNSC club?

Japan moved a step closer toward its goal of becoming a permanent United Nations Security Council member Thursday, as the so-called Group of Four nations -- Japan, Germany, India and Brazil -- submitted a resolution on the matter to the U.N. Secretariat. The following are some basic facts on the UNSC...
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2005

Household income continued decline to 5.8 million yen in '03

The average income of a Japanese household dropped to 5.8 million yen in 2003, shrinking for the seventh consecutive year, according to a government survey released Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2005

Asbestos death tally hits 306

The number of workers reported by companies to have died from asbestos-related lung diseases rose Wednesday to 306 at 14 firms.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2005

Supporters petition for retrial of boxer 25 years on death row

Supporters for a former professional boxer who has been on death row for decades handed the Supreme Court a petition with 2,880 signatures Wednesday demanding a retrial.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2005

Lawmaker's killer appeals to top court

A man sentenced to life in prison for murdering opposition lawmaker Koki Ishii has filed an appeal with to the Supreme Court, his lawyer said Monday.

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