Search - 2004

 
 
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 15, 2004

Butoh dance with and of death

KAZUO OHNO'S WORLD: From Without and Within, by Kazuo Ohno and Yoshito Ohno, translated by John Barrett, introduction by Toshio Mizohata. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2004, 344 pp., 154 b/w photos, $34.95 (paper). The spotlight focuses on an old woman, presumably a member of the audience, as...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 15, 2004

A pair of terrifying glances back in time

THE TOKYO ZODIAC MURDERS, by Soji Shimada, translated by Ross and Shika Mackenzie. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2004, 252 pp., 2,400 yen (cloth). THE SPECIAL PRISONER, by Jim Lehrer. New York: Random House, 2000, 230 pp., $23.95 (cloth).
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 14, 2004

Optimists head out to sea, next Olympics in view

You must forgive the fact I am not straying far from the ocean side this summer, but interesting people just keeping falling into my lap within kilometers of my home. Take this week, for example. . . .
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2004

Robot suit a culmination of sci-fi dreams

TSUKUBA, Ibaraki Pref. -- Scientist Yoshiyuki Sankai was fascinated in his childhood by robots depicted in the U.S. literary classic "I, Robot" as well as Japanese comic books such as "Cyborg 009" and "Tetsujin No. 28."
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2004

Robot suit a culmination of sci-fi dreams

TSUKUBA, Ibaraki Pref. -- Scientist Yoshiyuki Sankai was fascinated in his childhood by robots depicted in the U.S. literary classic "I, Robot" as well as Japanese comic books such as "Cyborg 009" and "Tetsujin No. 28."
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 13, 2004

Time to put distractions aside and get season under way

LONDON -- The buildup to what promises to be the closest, most exciting Premiership ever has been overshadowed by the Football Association soap opera, the Patrick Vieira saga and more recently Michael Owen's propoesed move to Real Madrid.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 12, 2004

Environment groups who do it in the streets

Hester Van Hooven Ward is pretty hard to miss when she greets you on the street with a wave and a big smile, then launches into her "rap": "Hi! How are you? Do you have a minute for the environment today?" she calls out to strangers.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2004

Kanebo incurs sales fall after cosmetics spinoff

Struggling Kanebo Ltd. said Wednesday its group sales in the April-June first quarter of fiscal 2004 fell 26.8 percent to 76.56 billion yen, mainly because it sold its cosmetics division to a new entity formed with governmental aid.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2004

Most breweries report strong first half

Three of Japan's four largest breweries have reported strong earnings for the first six months of 2004 despite a continued fall in beer sales.
SOCCER / J. League
Aug 11, 2004

Verdy inks midfielder Hiroyama

Tokyo Verdy has acquired former Japan midfielder Nozomi Hiroyama on a contract running through the end of the season, the J. League first division side said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 11, 2004

U.S. changes challenge Japan

The transformation of U.S. forces overseas, which is now under way, will have a profound effect on Japan's security policies.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues
Aug 10, 2004

Your golden handshake

What is the Japanese pension system?
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2004

Government eyes more local control of schools

Local governments may be empowered to do away with the current uniform elementary and junior high school years and set these periods according to local needs, according to a draft plan for reforming the nation's compulsory education system.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2004

Government eyes more local control of schools

Local governments may be empowered to do away with the current uniform elementary and junior high school years and set these periods according to local needs, according to a draft plan for reforming the nation's compulsory education system.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Aug 8, 2004

Happy Democrats suffer some nostalgia

WASHINGTON -- A lot of Democrats arrived home from the 44th national convention of their party happy that the performance of their new nominee exceeded their expectations and that the entire presentation was positive and error-free.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2004

State to stop civil servants' pay cuts

The government will stop cutting the basic salaries of civil servants in fiscal 2004, for the first time in six years, now that the gap has lessened between salaries in the public and private sectors.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2004

Daiei creditors to seek IRCJ help; Hawks may go

Daiei Inc.'s three main creditor banks are in the final stages of hammering out a plan to seek the help of the state-backed Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan to rescue the embattled retailer, sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 5, 2004

Large companies to lift capital spending by 7%

Large Japanese companies plan to boost capital spending by 6.9 percent in fiscal 2004 from the previous year, the first investment expansion in four years, the Development Bank of Japan said in a report released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2004

Tepco posts 54.17 billion yen profit

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Tuesday its group net balance swung back into the black in the first three months of fiscal 2004, mainly because the restart of some of its nuclear power enabled it to cut large expenses for fossil fuel to run its thermal power plants.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 4, 2004

Life after the bomb

The Face of Jizo Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Kazuo Kuroki Running time: 99 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 were Japan's single greatest catastrophe of World War II. They...
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2004

350 attend Asia-Pacific conference

About 350 alumni of the East-West Center from 23 countries attended the opening Monday of a three-day international conference in Tokyo organized by the Hawaii-based research and education institution.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2004

Tax revenues see 10.9% rise

Tax revenues rose 10.9 percent in June from a year earlier to 2.047 trillion yen for the fifth straight monthly increase, due to the widening economic recovery, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2004

Land prices down for 12th year

The average price of land along select major thoroughfares was down this year for the 12th straight year, the National Tax Agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2004

Law to bolster banks with public funds takes effect

A new law intended to strengthen the nation's financial system by allowing the government to inject public funds into financial institutions in a preventive manner took effect Sunday.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2004

Law to bolster banks with public funds takes effect

A new law intended to strengthen the nation's financial system by allowing the government to inject public funds into financial institutions in a preventive manner took effect Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 1, 2004

Mideast role challenges EU

PARIS -- France and Germany no longer make the law in Brussels. In spite of a long fight, they failed to get their Belgian candidate elected to head the European Commission and could only accept the appointment of Jose Durao Barroso, who, as prime minister of Portugal, backed U.S. intervention in Iraq....
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2004

JAL narrows loss; ANA logs profit

Japan Airlines Corp. said Friday it posted a group net loss of 40.7 billion yen in the April-June quarter, compared with a 77.2 billion yen loss in the same period a year earlier.

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