Search - 2004

 
 
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 21, 2004

Daring to break the rules: Japan's first modern novelists

TWO JAPANESE NOVELISTS: SOSEKI & TOSON, by Edwin McClellan. Tuttle, 2004, 166 pp., 1,500 yen (paper). Even if they do recognize the man, Natsume Soseki (1867-1916) for many non-Japanese is no more than the prim blue gent in the mustache that once peered out from the 1,000 yen bill. Yet Soseki is the...
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2004

Fiscal panel calls for tax increases

An finance advisory panel Friday recommended the government drastically cut spending and increase revenue by raising taxes in order to restore Japan's fiscal health -- a prerequisite to ensuring a sustained domestic demand-led economic recovery.
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2004

Profit picture brightens for TV Asahi

TV Asahi Corp. said Friday its group net profit swelled 216.3 percent to 3.47 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2004 from a year earlier.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2004

Asbestos use still widespread in Asia, as are its ills: expert

Asia needs to ban the use of asbestos and conduct studies on people who have become ill from exposure or asbestos-related diseases will never end, according to a specialist.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2004

Sanrio to issue BTM 20 billion yen in new shares

Sanrio Co. said Thursday it will issue about 20 billion yen worth of new shares to Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and other firms to prop up its capital base.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2004

Banks looking to cash in on end of brokering ban

Japanese mega-banking groups are stepping up efforts to launch one-stop financial shops that provide financial services across the board, ranging from banking services to sales of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and insurance policies.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2004

Mitsubishi, Itochu to be stakeholders in Isuzu

Mitsubishi Corp. and Itochu Corp. will buy stakes in truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd., the two trading companies said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2004

National rice target to fall in 2005

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry plans to pare its rice output target for 2005 to 8.51 million tons, down 60,000 tons from 2004, ministry officials said Tuesday.
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 16, 2004

International voyage of dance

More than 120 top contemporary dancers from 11 nations will take part in Dance Biennale Tokyo 2004, Nov. 15-28.
CULTURE / Art
Nov 16, 2004

Design Festa 2004

An explosion of creativity is set to go off in Tokyo on Nov. 13 and 14, as 5,500 artists, many visiting from abroad, converge on Japan's largest art festival -- Design Festa Vol. 20.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 13, 2004

Jol hoping to put a foot in Tottenham's revolving door

LONDON -- Tottenham Hotspur appointed a new man to take charge of the first-team this week -- so, no change there then.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2004

More study of climate change needed: scientist

Studying the ozone layer is essential to curbing global warming, says a U.S scientist who has just been awarded the 2004 Blue Planet Prize.
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2004

EBC upset over bill to ban prepaid cell phones

The European Business Community in Japan on Wednesday criticized a plan by Japan's governing coalition to present a bill to the Diet, possibly during the current session, to ban the use and sale of prepaid mobile phones on grounds that they are often used in crimes.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 11, 2004

'Uniter' needs bipartisan foreign policy

SANTA FE, New Mexico -- The ballot counting goes on in New Mexico, the battleground state closest to Northeast Asia and U.S. Democrats' last stand, but to what avail? With the presidential election already decided, only the political arithmetic remains.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 10, 2004

Big leaguers take 4-0 lead

FUKUOKA -- Moises Alou drove in a pair of runs in the first inning Tuesday to lead his major league teammates to a 7-2 win over the Japanese All-Stars in Game 4 of an eight-game exhibition series.
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2004

Yamato Transport reports 158.8% rise in net profit

Yamato Transport Co. said Tuesday it posted a group net profit of 16.56 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2004, up 158.8 percent over a year earlier.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2004

MMC posts record first-half loss

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Monday its first-half net loss widened to a record 146.2 billion yen.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2004

Itami noise subsidies, hours to be curtailed

OSAKA -- The transport ministry formally notified local government officials Monday of its plans to cut noise pollution subsidies for residents living around Itami airport and to cut the facility's operating hours.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 9, 2004

Neocon lessons for Democrats

WASHINGTON -- As Democrats comb the 2004 election results for lessons, one should be obvious: we need bolder, newer ideas, particularly in this post-9/11 world in the realm of foreign policy. Just as neocons have provided much of the spark and intellectual energy behind modern-day Republicanism, Democrats...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 7, 2004

And you thought doing deals in today's Japan was tough

THE DESHIMA DIARIES MARGINALIA 1740-1800, edited by Leonard Blusse, Cynthia Vialle, Willem Remmelink and Isabel van Daalen. Tokyo: The Japan-Netherlands Institute, 898 pp., 2004, 13,000 yen (cloth). It has been 12 years since I had occasion to review on this page the first volume of the Deshima Diaries...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 6, 2004

Surely U.S. set to reconcile

WASHINGTON -- After a campaign that stressed the importance of continuity, some might expect few changes in policies during the second term of President George W. Bush. But the outcome of this bitterly fought election has clarified many issues in the United States and will send a signal far beyond America....
EDITORIALS
Nov 5, 2004

A nation that remains divided

A lthough the final results, as in the 2000 election, will be delayed, U.S. President George W. Bush has won a second term in office. Democratic Sen. John Kerry could have dragged out the fight with legal challenges and demands for a recount, but he decided that the president's lead margin was too large...
BUSINESS
Nov 5, 2004

Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical off 31%

Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. said Thursday its group net profit dived 30.9 percent from a year earlier to 20.03 billion yen in the first half of the 2004 business year due to a series of one-off losses.
BUSINESS
Nov 5, 2004

Disasters dampen insurer's profit

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. said Thursday it has revised downward its profit forecast for the fiscal first half on larger-than-expected insurance payments due to natural disasters that hit Japan in the period.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 5, 2004

Robben could leave Man United ruing day it passed on him

LONDON -- The Premiership has a new star.

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