Search - 2000

 
 
COMMENTARY
Nov 30, 2001

Pyongyang's missed chances

HONOLULU -- North Korea never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. The latest example occurred last week when Pyongyang precipitated yet another breakdown in the North-South dialogue process, thus dealing a staggering blow to South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's beleaguered "sunshine policy"...
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2001

Capital spending may drop in '01 despite planned rise

Actual fiscal 2001 capital outlays by Japanese firms are expected to shrink due to the effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States despite corporate plans that would have resulted in a second year of increase, Industrial Bank of Japan said.
BUSINESS
Nov 29, 2001

20% of telephone calls go mobile

Calls between mobile phones accounted for 20.5 percent of all telephone usage in Japan in fiscal 2000, up from 15 percent a year earlier, the telecommunications ministry said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2001

Lee Teng-hui on a mission to save his vision of Taiwan

NEW YORK -- Taiwan will hold an election Saturday to choose members of the national Parliament, mayors and county magistrates. The outcome will have a lasting impact on Taiwan's future -- in particular on its relationship with China.
BUSINESS
Nov 29, 2001

Electronics firms reach agreement to join forces

OSAKA -- Four consumer electronics retailers, including Joshin Denki Co., said Wednesday they have reached a basic agreement to tie up.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Nov 29, 2001

The battle is for second

The door to the haunted house creeks open and a terrified man with a mustache and chattering teeth peers in.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2001

Seoul-inspired markets publish shopping guide

A market in Tokyo and another one in Yokohama, both based on Seoul's Dongdaemun market, a collection of popular South Korean fashion shops, have published a guidebook for shoppers.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2001

Aum says it wants to pay compensation

The Aum Shinrikyo religious cult, accused of carrying out the fatal sarin gas attacks in Tokyo's subway system in 1995, has opened a software development firm and resumed ties with followers in Russia, members said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2001

Kokusai, BTM brokerages to merge

Kokusai Securities Co. and two Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi brokerage units announced Monday they will merge as part of efforts to increase operational efficiency.
COMMENTARY
Nov 26, 2001

Japan set to jump the gun with SDF

Since the Diet enacted antiterrorism legislation enabling the Self-Defense Forces to provide logistic support to the U.S.-led war efforts in Afghanistan, there have been mounting calls in Japan for expansion of the SDF's activities abroad. These moves defy Japan's war-renouncing Constitution.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 26, 2001

Jungle Pocket takes Japan Cup

Japan-trained horses monopolized the scene yet again as they swept the top spots in the Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, the second day of the year's biggest international racing event here. It was the fourth-straight Japan Cup victory for the home team, a first in the event's 21-year history....
COMMUNITY
Nov 25, 2001

Key insight spells riches for Hollywood nail care magnate

All it took for a small dental supply business to become the world's largest independent manufacturer of nail products was one man's realization that some of his biggest buyers of dental acrylics weren't dentists at all they were manicurists.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 25, 2001

Book Bites

TOKYO CONFIDENTIAL: Titillating Tales From Japan's Wild Weeklies, edited by Mark Schreiber. The East Publications, 2001, 257 pp., 1,400 yen (paper) Grown men in diapers? Couples going all the way in the back seats of Tokyo taxi cabs? Mothers stalking their daughters? Companies that rent out wedding guests?...
COMMENTARY
Nov 24, 2001

German lessons for Korea

SEOUL -- Koreans have come to cherish Germany's experiences, as many see this country's unification saga as an important, if not the most important, point of reference. Korea's unification will probably be more difficult and complex than Germany's unification in October 1990. Koreans have one major advantage,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2001

South Korean author protests mayor's 'sangokujin' remark

When Shinjuku Ward Mayor Takashi Onoda referred to "sangokujin" in a speech on Nov. 13, Shin Sugok could not believe it.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2001

Poll reveals disaffected youth chase good times, shun work

Young people in Japan are more interested in having a good time than in seeking a better society, according to a government survey released Thursday. They are also overwhelmingly dissatisfied with Japanese society and have little interest in making a contribution to it.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2001

Juvenile correction system feeling strain

Teenagers in uniform tank tops and shorts, their hair all cropped in the same manner, march in lines at an athletic field. It looks like a military boot camp, but in actuality is an athletic festival at a juvenile reformatory in Hachioji, western Tokyo.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 23, 2001

Maeda leaves Dragons for Giants

The Yomiuri Giants announced Thursday the acquisition of free agent Yukinaga Maeda, signing the southpaw to a four-year contract worth an estimated 500 million yen with performance-tied incentives.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

Victims of alleged financial fraud to ask for bailout

OSAKA -- Victims of an allegedly fraudulent financial scheme by a failed Osaka firm said Tuesday they will ask the government to buy securities that were purchased but later found to be worthless.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2001

Japan, Thailand to explore free trade

Visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came up with a new approach Tuesday to get his country and Japan on the road toward a free-trade agreement.
BUSINESS
Nov 21, 2001

Honda best Fit for car of the year

Honda Motor Co.'s compact car Fit has been named the 2001 RJC Car of the Year, a group of automobile researchers, critics and journalists said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

'Amakudari' appointments remain steady

More than 30 percent of public corporations had former bureaucrats on their boards of trustees last year, almost the same level as that of the previous year, according to a white paper released Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

Nation struggles with drug abuse

A suspended prison term handed down six years ago was not enough to stop the 34-year-old gas station worker from using amphetamines, which had already badly damaged his life.
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

Theft of bank data system leads to Aum arrest

Tokyo police Tuesday arrested a member of Aum Shinrikyo on suspicion of stealing a transaction data management system from a major Japanese bank.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 21, 2001

2002 could be busy year in Japanese sports

You read last week where the National Football League is coming back to Japan next year, having scheduled an American Bowl exhibition game between the San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins in Osaka on Aug. 3. Let's hope this will be the first of several announcements of major international sports...
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

Victims of alleged financial fraud to ask for bailout

OSAKA -- Victims of an allegedly fraudulent financial scheme by a failed Osaka firm said Tuesday they will ask the government to buy securities that were purchased but later found to be worthless.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?