Search - 2003

 
 
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Nov 19, 2003

A helping handyman

Watching Didier Courbot at work, you would probably think he was a nut.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2003

Japan Telecom Holdings sees red

Japan Telecom Holdings Co. sank into the red in the fiscal first half of 2003 due to share evaluation losses related to the sale of its land-line telephone service unit Japan Telecom Co.
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2003

Fuji Heavy reports 50% decline in operating profit

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. said Monday its consolidated operating profit in the first half of fiscal 2003 tumbled 50.4 percent from the same period last year to 18.31 billion yen.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 16, 2003

Tamura to sit out Fukuoka meet

Ryoko Tamara, winner of the gold medal in the women's 48-kg class at the Sydney Olympics, will not take part in the upcoming 2003 Fukuoka Women's Judo Championships, the All Japan Judo Federation said Saturday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 16, 2003

Spring is in the air

It's party time in Tokyo -- again. You know, that twice yearly event when the capital's trendy restaurants and coffee shops seem to be overflowing with leggy, blonde models from overseas. They're here to make a few bucks, have a few parties -- and also have a stab at furthering their careers.
Events
Nov 16, 2003

KANSAI: Who & What

British Council hosts picnic for children: The British Council's Kyoto office is inviting children to its English-language picnic between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday at Demizu no Ogawa square in Kyoto-gyoen National Garden in Kamigyo Ward.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2003

A word for everything

"McJob" is just one of 10,000 new words, or new meanings for old words, listed in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition. Browse the company's online sampler of the latest additions for a fascinating glimpse of what the English language -- as eclectic a scavenger as the crow -- has picked...
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2003

SARS, Iraq war bludgeon JAL earnings

Japan Airlines System Corp. said Friday it incurred a 57.59 billion yen net loss in the first half of fiscal 2003 due to the SARS epidemic and the Iraq war.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2003

Yakult Honsha sees net profit slide

Yakult Honsha Co. said Friday its group sales and pretax profit for the first half of fiscal 2003 declined slightly from year-before levels.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2003

Graduates enjoy starting salary hike

The average starting salary for male and female university graduates rose 1.5 percent in 2003 from a year before to 198,100 yen, the biggest increase on record, the labor ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

European business group makes pitch for robust deregulation

The European Business Community in Japan called Thursday for an improved investment climate through drastic deregulation to achieve Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's pledge to double foreign direct investment by 2008.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2003

Beerlike drink shipments may fall

Shipments of "happoshu," the low-malt cousin of beer, are expected to post their first year-on-year fall in 2003, according to industry data released Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 13, 2003

Poor farmers pay price for subsidies

Beyond the negotiations and protesters that highlight agricultural trade talks lies a simple reality: In the end, each nation must feed its own people.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2003

MMC eyes North American strategy

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will release a strategic review of its North American operations early next year.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2003

Takara's net profit takes a dive

Takara Co.'s group net profit for the fiscal first half of 2003 fell 28.6 percent from a record high a year earlier to 1.58 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2003

NTT posts nation's largest operating profit

NTT Corp. posted the nation's largest operating profit for the fiscal first half of 2003.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 12, 2003

Gift-giving season came early for the Hawks and Giants

"Kokubo dealt to Giants" read our headline above the story reporting the transfer of infielder Hiroki Kokubo from the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks to the Yomiuri Giants on Nov. 4. But how would this appear in the sports transactions columns listed in many newspapers in North America and around the world?
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2003

Deflation still Koizumi's bane

With the ruling coalition having won Sunday's House of Representatives election, albeit with a smaller majority, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to stick with his structural reform agenda.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 9, 2003

Tradition stays afloat with the tub boats of Sado Island

THE TUB BOATS OF SADO ISLAND: A Japanese Craftsman's Methods, by Douglas Brooks, with a historical essay by Toshio Sato. Sado: Kodo Cultural Foundation, 2003, 176 pp., 2,500 yen (paper). As the tides of time erode history, the centuries-deep culture of traditional Japan slowly seeps away. Without anyone...
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2003

Bad loans at major banking groups decline 13%

The combined balance of bad loans at the seven major banking groups appears to have dropped by 13 percent to 18.1 trillion yen during the six months to Sept. 30, according to banking sources.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Nov 6, 2003

"The Goose Girl," "The Tiger Bone Thief"

"The Goose Girl," Shannon Hale, Bloomsbury; 2003; 383 pp. Once upon a time, two German brothers published a collection of children's stories inspired by popular European folk tales. The stories of the Brothers Grimm became fairytale classics, and many of them -- Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding...
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2003

Dell to become No. 3 PC supplier

Dell Computer Corp. of the United States appears likely to surpass Sony Corp. as the third-largest supplier of personal computers in Japan in fiscal 2003, becoming the first foreign firm to make the top three since fiscal 2000, according to a private market research institute.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2003

Serbia envoy visits to woo investors

Goran Pitic, Serbian minister of international economic relations, expressed confidence Wednesday that Japanese companies will start investing in his country, given its rapid economic growth and political stability.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2003

Borderless abstraction

The Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Art defines Op Art as: "an exactly prescribed retinal response . . . repeated small scale patterns arranged so as to suggest underlying secondary shapes or warping or swelling surfaces."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2003

Freed architecture

Rem Koolhaas, recently awarded the 2003 Praemium Imperiale for architecture, is prolific to the point of relentlessness. Looking at the stream of bold, innovative and aggressively hip buildings Koolhaas' Rotterdam-based office has produced, one well-known Japanese architect was prompted to liken him...
MORE SPORTS
Nov 3, 2003

All Blacks pushed to limit by brave Wales

SYDNEY -- In the 40th and final pool game of the 2003 Rugby World Cup played at a cold Telstra Stadium on Sunday night, New Zealand beat Wales 53-37 in a cracker of a game.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Nov 2, 2003

Food for thought

Yukio Hattori, 'one of Japan's busiest men,' takes time to chew over the issue of food and other meaty social matters with staff writer Masami Ito.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 2, 2003

Slippery prop for democrac

MOSCOW -- The arrest last weekend of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the richest man in Russia and the owner of the oil giant Yukos, shocked the international business community, enraged domestic opposition groups and sent Russian currency and bonds into a frightful free fall.

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