Search - 2004

 
 
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 30, 2004

Nishi re-signs with Yomiuri as MLB clubs pass

Infielder Toshihisa Nishi, who filed for free agency with an eye to playing in the major leagues, agreed Tuesday on a two-year deal to remain with the Yomiuri Giants for a total of 500 million yen plus performance-related incentives.
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 30, 2004

Controversies cloud a breakthrough find on 'once-luxuriant bush'

This year has been a vintage one for biologists interested in human evolution. In a cave on an Indonesian island, the remains of a new species of human were found, a species that lived only 18,000 years ago and hence overlapped with modern Homo sapiens.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2004

Catastrophe without warning

The massive onshore surges of seawater from tsunamis triggered by the mega-earthquake that struck off northwestern Indonesia on Sunday have caused heavy damage across southern Asia. They are a deadly reminder of how vulnerable humanity is to the destructive forces of nature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 29, 2004

Get 'em fresh

This seemed like an off year for cinema. How bad was it? Well, I write a column for a women's monthly, and some months I couldn't even find one movie to recommend wholeheartedly. As usual, there were plenty of in-your-face junk flicks to wade through, but things like "Van Helsing" or "Catwoman" were...
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2004

November tax revenues off 2.8%

The country's tax revenues in November fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier to 6.3 trillion yen, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2004

Yoshinoya cooks up a 573 million yen profit

Yoshinoya D&C Co., which used to be the country's largest "gyudon" chain before U.S. beef was banned a year ago, said Monday it returned to profitability during the three months ended Nov. 30.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 28, 2004

Boating, studying and moving to Japan

The last column of the year! Where did the weeks go?
BUSINESS
Dec 28, 2004

Nonperforming loans down 7.6%

Nonperforming loans at 130 banks at the end of September were down 7.6 percent from the end of March to 22.56 trillion yen on a parent-only basis, the Japanese Bankers Association said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Dec 28, 2004

An updated stab at security

Japan's new National Defense Program Outline has three major objectives: dealing with "new threats" such as terrorism, introducing a missile defense system and participating in "international peace cooperation activities."
EDITORIALS
Dec 27, 2004

Lessons from a year of disasters

Preparers of government white papers usually try hard not to offend anyone by giving only the average scores for survey results and, in the case of prefectural statistics, summing them up in flat tables. The 2004 white paper on fire and disaster management, however, carries a bar graph so that readers...
MORE SPORTS
Dec 27, 2004

Take claims JRA title for most wins

Yutaka Take went seven better than his previous record set last year to capture the Japan Racing Association title for the most wins in a single season with 211 victories in the 2004 season, JRA officials said Sunday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 26, 2004

Mapping out a metropolis

TOKYO CITY ATLAS: A Bilingual Guide, supervised by Atsushi Umeda. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2004, 124 pp., 2,205 yen (paper). Here is the third revised, updated edition of the handiest of all Tokyo atlas guides. Since the 2001 edition came out, there has been, as always, an amount of change in this...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 26, 2004

Foreign language of Japanese politics

TALKING POLITICS IN JAPAN, by Ofer Feldman. Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 2004, 214 pp., $65 (cloth). One of the greatest frustrations of studying the Japanese language is constantly being lectured by native speakers of the language, as well as fluent foreigners, on its inherent difficulty and grammatical...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 26, 2004

V.A.: "WarpVision: The Videos 1989-2004"

Sheffield's Warp label has been associated with cutting-edge visuals as well as its electronic music -- a reputation no doubt based on the strength of its packaging, as well some of its more striking videos, notably by the lauded director Chris Cunningham. His best work for Warp stands out on this DVD...
COMMENTARY
Dec 26, 2004

The will to clean up politicos

MANILA -- Political parties are essential components of democratic governance. Democracies require political parties as these offer the voter political choices at election time. They also represent and channel divergent social interests and diffuse them in what is typically a protracted political process....
EDITORIALS
Dec 25, 2004

The year of the blog

Whether you're sick to death of the word "blog" or have no idea what it means, you are equally abreast of the times, linguistically speaking. Merriam-Webster, the U.S. dictionary publisher, recently declared it the most looked-up term on its Internet site this year, not counting profanities and perennial...
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2004

Cuts should start with civil service: experts

The Cabinet approved a 82.18 trillion yen budget Friday for fiscal 2005 that experts say falls short of the drastic cost cuts needed to curtail spiraling public debt.
BUSINESS
Dec 25, 2004

FSA to promote financial conglomerates

The Financial Services Agency announced a new two-year plan Friday underlining the nation's need for a legal framework that will allow the country's banks, brokerages and insurers to form financial conglomerates capable of competing on a global level.
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2004

Strained Japan-China ties bode ill for region's future

HONG KONG -- Beijing's relations with Tokyo, already strained by the intrusion of a Chinese nuclear submarine into Japanese territorial waters last month, have been worsened by Japan's release on Dec. 10 of a new National Defense Program Outline that for the first time names China as a potential threat....
COMMENTARY
Dec 25, 2004

Waiting for Japan to change -- or can it?

LOS ANGELES -- For as long as I write this column on Asia, which enters into its 10th year next month, I doubt I'll ever witness anything as amusing or telling as the flareup that took place at the close of the University of Southern California's Asia Conference last month.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2004

Government eyes medical teams for disaster victims

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will form about 200 medical teams and assign them to hospitals nationwide to bolster earthquake- and other disaster-response measures, ministry officials said Thursday.
SUMO
Dec 24, 2004

Asashoryu remains in charge in east spot at New Year Basho

Lone yokozuna Asashoryu, who won five Emperor's Cup titles in 2004, will occupy the prestigious east slot as the Japan Sumo Association released the rankings on Thursday for the upcoming New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
Dec 24, 2004

Government eyes medical teams for disaster victims

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will form about 200 medical teams and assign them to hospitals nationwide to bolster earthquake- and other disaster-response measures, ministry officials said Thursday.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past