Search - 2002

 
 
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2002

Tax panel gets early jump on fiscal 2003 reform plan

The Tax Commission on Tuesday proposed a reform plan for fiscal 2003 that would attempt to boost the economy by allowing tax cuts for corporate activity and to secure more revenue by reducing exemptions for individuals.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2002

Major firms report huge combined loss

Mired in a prolonged economic slump, major companies reported a record combined loss of 16.571 trillion yen over the one-year period through June, the National Tax Agency said Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2002

Flu vaccination linked to muscle-wasting disease

Five people in Japan suffered Guillain-Barre syndrome -- a disorder of progressive muscle weakness -- after receiving influenza vaccinations between January 2000 and April 2002, health ministry officials said Sunday.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2002

10 trillion yen sought for extra budget

Calls were made Sunday for an extra budget totaling at least 10 trillion yen for the current fiscal year to shore up the anemic economy.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2002

Emission-trading market to be tested in January

Japan is preparing for the test-run from next January of an emissions-trading market designed to combat global warming.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 17, 2002

Move north paid off for Blue Jays' Hinske

Funny how things work out sometimes.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 17, 2002

Year of the dragon

DRAGON DANCE, by Peter Tasker. Kodansha International, 2002, 272 pp., $22.95 (cloth) After beating Tokyo's mean streets in "Silent Thunder" (1992) and "Buddha Kiss" (1997), Peter Tasker's Tokyo gumshoe Kazuo Mori finally hit his literary stride in 1999 with "Samurai Boogie" -- one of the most entertaining...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 17, 2002

Superiority met altruism when West advised East

TO CHANGE CHINA: Western Advisers in China, by Jonathan D. Spence. New York/London: Penguin Books, 2002, 336 pp., 21 b/w photographs, $15 (paper) This intelligent and entertaining book is a reprint of the original 1969 American edition, much missed and sought after, and now available again. In it, Jonathan...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Nov 17, 2002

Getting syrupy about music

When I first heard the term "self-cover," I thought it referred to errant politicians or bureaucrats making excuses for themselves when caught with their pants down, metaphorically speaking or otherwise.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2002

Debt waivers give builder Daikyo healthy profit

Daikyo Inc., a leading condominium builder known for its Lions Mansion condos, said Friday it posted a 383.74 billion yen group net profit in the six months to Sept. 30 due to debt-waivers by four banks.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2002

JAL group operating profit dropped 26.7% in first half

Japan Airlines Co. said Friday its group operating profit for the first half of the business year fell 26.7 percent on a year-on-year basis to 28.55 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2002

Fewer bankruptcies but high liabilities left behind

The number of corporate bankruptcies fell in October from a year earlier for the third straight month, but the amount of liabilities left by failed firms was at the second-highest level for October in the postwar period, credit research agency Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2002

Osaka Gas net profit tumbles

Osaka Gas Co. said Friday its group net profit tumbled 20 percent from a year earlier in the April-September first half of fiscal 2002, following its gas rate cut in March.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Nov 15, 2002

New coach, new approach has Wales in hunt for Euro 2004

LONDON -- Question time.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2002

Toyota names 15 grant recipients

Toyota Motor Corp. and the Toyota Foundation said Thursday they have selected 15 organizations in Japan and abroad as recipients of the Toyota Environmental Activities Grant Program for fiscal 2002.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Nov 15, 2002

Shinta Cho wins award

Children's book writer and illustrator Shinta Cho won the 2002 ExxonMobil Children's Culture Award on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2002

MHI net balance returns to black

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Wednesday its group net balance in the first half to Sept. 30 returned to the black, thanks mainly to a sizable decrease in latent losses on securities holdings.
JAPAN
Nov 14, 2002

U.S. could still join Kyoto: Yale professor

A U.S. environmental studies professor said Wednesday in Tokyo that the United States could still meaningfully participate in the framework of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on curbing global warming.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2002

Economy ratchets up 0.7% but downswing taking hold

The nation's economy spurted forward in the July-September quarter, growing 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2002

Aso lobbies for funds for public works

The ruling bloc's top policymaker urged the government Wednesday to complete unfinished public works projects by drafting and using an extra budget for fiscal 2002.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 14, 2002

Thinking outside the box on fuel

First of two parts Part professor, part engineer and part philosopher, Amory Lovins is perfectly suited for the role of alternative-energy guru. A Lovins presentation is a seamless tapestry of economics, physics and mechanical engineering, sprinkled with corny one-liners, startling insights and revealing...
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2002

Economic ministers put extra budget on agenda

Key economic ministers put the compilation of an extra budget for fiscal 2002 on the political agenda Tuesday but maintained an official decision has yet to be made.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 13, 2002

Cabrera stealing Matsui's thunder so far

OSAKA -- Seibu Lions slugger Alex Cabrera tied the Japanese record for home runs in a single season, and next season, he thinks he'll reach No. 56.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2002

Current account surplus up 42.5% in first half

The country's current account surplus increased 42.5 percent in the first half of fiscal 2002 from a year earlier to 6.96 trillion yen on the back of brisk exports to Asia, according to a preliminary report released Monday by the Finance Ministry.
SOCCER / World cup
Nov 12, 2002

Zico calls up newcomers for Argentina friendly

JEF United and 1998 World Cup defender Eisuke Nakanishi has been named to start against Argentina in the Nov. 20 friendly after winning a call-up for the first time since June 2000, Japan coach Zico announced Monday in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 10, 2002

Coming of age in Heartbreak Hotel, New Jersey

WAYLAID, by Ed Lin. Kaya Press: New York, 2002, 169 pp., $12.95 (paper) This terrific first novel by Chinese-American writer Ed Lin revolves around a 12-year-old coming of age in New Jersey in the 1970s, burdened by his virginity and motivated mainly by the desire to lose it.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 10, 2002

On a voyage to Ionia

THE INLAND SEA, by Donald Richie. Stone Bridge Press, 2002, 255 pp., $16.95 (paper) Since the publication in English of Yukio Mishima's 1954 romance novel, "The Sound of Waves," there has been a fondness for visualizing Japan's Inland Sea, with its islands of olives, oranges, sunburned fisherfolk and...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 10, 2002

The mismeasure of Emperor Meiji

EMPEROR OF JAPAN: Meiji and His World 1852-1912, by Donald Keene. Columbia University Press: New York, 2002, 922 pp. + xiii + 18 pp. of illustrations, $39.50 (cloth) Like any great story, history prefers that its leading men (and women) have some sparkle, whether a foible (Henry VIII's marital tangles;...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami