Search - 2005

 
 
JAPAN
May 10, 2007

Red Army figure's life term stands

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday upheld a Japanese Red Army leader's lower court-imposed life prison sentence for his role in terrorist attacks on two overseas diplomatic missions in the mid-1970s.
COMMENTARY / World
May 10, 2007

France embarks on the right revolution

WARSAW — Is France about to exchange the fake revolution of May 1968 for a sham counter-revolution this year, or have the French given Nicolas Sarkozy a mandate for real change to modernize their country?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 10, 2007

Muscling in on the world of showbiz

Some of Japan's top athletes are using their talents to carve out new careers in the theater spotlight — and they have created one of the nation's most successful entertainment exports along the way
BUSINESS
May 9, 2007

Nippon Steel eyes India tieups as sector girds against takeovers

In late March, Nippon Steel Corp. President Akio Mimura was in New Delhi to attend a board meeting for the International Iron & Steel Institute.
JAPAN
May 9, 2007

Revision risks freedoms, U.S. academic warns

Constitution is an outlandish idea, and amending it is simple common sense," Lummis, a former professor at Tsuda College in Tokyo and a staunch supporter of the current Constitution, said via e-mail. "But a large portion of the public is not buying that, as opinion polls show the percentage of people...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
May 8, 2007

Bomb bra put Peach John on path to popularity

Two decades ago, the ideal career path was to join a blue chip company and steadily climb the corporate ladder until retirement — a system that helped sustain Japan's economic growth.
JAPAN
May 8, 2007

Health ministry, docs were at odds over Tamiflu effects

so that the causal links with it cannot be denied," the doctor said in the opinion. The 2005 case involved a 14-year-old male junior high school student in Aichi Prefecture who jumped to his death from an apartment.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 6, 2007

New clarities set to cloud smoke screens of ambiguity

Last month, on April Fool's Day to be exact, I revealed some terms and expressions appearing in the forthcoming Japanese government publication, "The Dictionary of All-Too-True Japanese Words and Phrases." Actually, there is far more than meets the eye in this groundbreaking, earthy volume.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
May 6, 2007

Celebrity cooking game, manga coming-of-age story and obscure hobbies variety show

No one is waiting for yet another TV variety show about food, but TV Asahi's new program "Oishinsuke" (Monday, 7 p.m.) at least has the advantage of being hosted by comedian Shinsuke Shimada, whose lightning-fast, cynical wit might give the subject matter a funnier spin.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History
May 5, 2007

Modify Constitution for modern world, scholar urges

Born in 1949, baby boomer Setsu Kobayashi thanks the postwar Constitution for the freedom, peace and democracy Japan has enjoyed since its debut.
JAPAN
May 5, 2007

Nation's child population declines to new postwar low

Japan's child population has fallen to a record low since the end of World War II as the country's birthrate continues to fall, the government said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 5, 2007

Can France get back on track?

MUNICH — The new president of France, be it Nicolas Sarkozy or Segolene Royal, will face a tough challenge when it comes to putting the French economy back on its feet. While the world economy is booming for the fourth consecutive year, with a historically unprecedented growth rate of about 5 percent,...
JAPAN
May 4, 2007

Proponents of Article 9 like it just the way it is

Thousands of people gathered Thursday in Tokyo's Hibiya Park to mark the 60th anniversary of the Constitution and to oppose moves by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party to amend it and its war-renouncing Article 9.
JAPAN / CHARTER TURNS 60
May 4, 2007

LDP wants to cut freedoms: DPJ

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe doesn't understand the basics of the Constitution and wants to use it to reduce human rights, not protect them, according to the head of a constitutional study panel for the Democratic Party of Japan.
EDITORIALS
May 4, 2007

Cracking down on fake goods

Member countries of the World Trade Organizations are mounting pressure on China to take necessary measures against widespread piracy of copyrighted goods such as DVDs, CDs and computer software, and the counterfeiting of other products. In April, the United States filed two complaints with the WTO against...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 4, 2007

'Ahiru to Kamo no Coin Locker'

Many directors keep returning to the same themes and motifs again and again. Alfred Hitchcock liked to torture ice queens (Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Tippi Hedren), while Luis Bunuel, the master surrealist, subverted everyday reality with bizarre and disturbing imagery, like a sleeper returning to a familiar...
CULTURE / Music
May 4, 2007

Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood

The late Jimmy Smith is credited with single-handedly turning the Hammond B3 organ into a bona-fide jazz instrument, though the music he played, which borrowed from gospel, old-style R&B and mainstream pop, appealed to a much wider audience. The B3 eventually became a fixture of rock and soul, but no...
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 3, 2007

Photos of preteen girls in thongs now big business

Asuka Izumi was modeling for a DVD in July 2005 when the director asked her to put on a string bikini. She was just 12 years old.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 3, 2007

'I love my contradictions'

One of Hollywood's most beloved actresses talks to The Japan Times about tough times for female-focused movies, her ability to make millions of dollars here in minutes — and the awful truth about eating pork

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