Search - 2000

 
 
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2001

Current account surplus fell 25% during first half

Japan's current account surplus declined 25.2 percent from a year earlier to 4.99 trillion yen during the first half of 2001, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2001

52.5% of firms have shed workers since '98

The labor ministry said 52.5 percent of companies it surveyed in September carried out layoffs and other employment-related adjustments between September 1998 and August 2000.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Aug 12, 2001

To know us is to love us

ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE KEY WORDS FOR UNDERSTANDING JAPAN (Nippon o Shiru Hyakugosho). Tokyo: Corona Books/Heibonsha, 2001, bilingual (Japanese/English) edition. 328 pp. 205 plates, color, b/w. 2000 yen. This country has an abiding faith in the power of understanding. If we just understood each other,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Aug 12, 2001

Feet first!

Somewhere in the march of progress, we lost sight of our feet. Though there are cutting-edge running shoes incorporating space technology for maximum performance, many of us gladly choose low-tech gear in the name of style. We are willing fashion victims, but the damage can be more serious than many...
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2001

U.K. family of JAL victim confused at redress delay

The British mother of two girls who lost their father in the world's worst single plane crash in 1985, has expressed both confusion and hope over the family's claim for official and direct compensation from Japan Airlines.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Population increases despite record-low births

Japan's population was 126,284,805 as of March 31, up 213,500, or 0.17 percent, from a year earlier, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Workers' views on economy worsen

A monthly survey of workers close to the man on the street shows that views on the current and future states of the economy are at their lowest since the survey was launched in January 2000, the Cabinet Office said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

School absenteeism hits record high

The number of students absent from elementary and junior high schools for a prolonged period during fiscal 2000 increased by about 4,000, or 3.1 percent, from fiscal 1999, to hit a record 134,282, the education ministry said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

More relaxed vehicle inspections sought

A review of guidelines for automobile safety inspections saw a proposal Friday to lengthen the interval between mandatory checkups and scrap inspection items deemed nonessential or obsolete because of technological advances.
BUSINESS
Aug 11, 2001

Study on advanced safety cars to focus on human error

The transport ministry will launch a study as early as next month on measures to prevent accidents involving advanced safety vehicles stemming from overconfident users, ministry officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Tobacco lobby keeps lid on state health plans

Staff writerSusumu Motojima, head of Japan Tobacco Inc.'s Kyoto branch, recently said smoking is a "pastime or habit an adult has the right to choose."
JAPAN
Aug 11, 2001

Tanaka to lose month's pay over two ministry scandals

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Friday she will return one month's ministerial salary to the state's coffers as a self-imposed punishment over two financial scandals involving ministry officials.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2001

Smokers sue as Japan Tobacco denies causal links

Matao Yamamoto, a 67-year-old former Kyoto cab driver, is one of a large number of smokers in Japan who deeply regrets acquiring the hard-to-quit habit.
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2001

Tokyo prepares to introduce 'ad trains'

"Ad trains" may hit Tokyo as early as the fall as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government moves to lift its ban on city trains carrying exterior advertisements, it was learned Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2001

New banks face rough ride to turn profit: S&P

Japan's banking upstarts are facing big challenges in terms of overcoming high operational risks and securing profitability, Standard & Poor's Corp. said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Aug 9, 2001

Times get tougher for Bush

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush has now been in the Oval Office for a little more than one half year, and it has been the best of times and the worst of times for him.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2001

ODA, public works cuts face LDP opposition

The Foreign Ministry and some LDP policymakers expressed opposition Wednesday to a government panel's decision to cut Official Development Assistance in the fiscal 2002 budget by 10 percent from the initial fiscal 2001 budget.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 9, 2001

Injunction process hopeless; fate of Bullfrog Pond sealed

The fate of Bullfrog Pond now rests in the hands of a Tokyo District Court judge, but the wheels of justice turn slowly in Japan. The court has yet to grant a crucial injunction, and hearings have dragged into their third month. Meantime, the pond in Tokyo's Minato Ward, known as Gama-ike, is being destroyed....
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2001

Nissan Diesel to tutor China firm

Nissan Diesel Motor Co. said Tuesday it will provide China's largest diesel engine maker, Dongfeng Chaoyang Diesel Co., with its diesel engine manufacturing and assembling technology starting in September.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 8, 2001

Westhead hired by JBL team

The Matsushita Electric Panasonic Super Kangaroos of the Japan Basketball League announced Tuesday they have hired Paul Westhead as their new head coach.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Aug 8, 2001

Nanotechnology is seen having a massive future

AKO, Hyogo Pref. -- In many ways a typical science lab, it is difficult for an outsider to see what goes on at Himeji Institute of Technology's Laboratory of Advanced Science and Technology for Industry -- at least with the naked eye.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2001

Inoue is re-elected as president of Upper House

The House of Councilors re-elected Yutaka Inoue as its president and Shoji Motooka as vice president Tuesday during the first Diet session since last month's nationwide election.
Events
Aug 7, 2001

Privatizing nursery schools irks Takaishi parents group

TAKAISHI, Osaka Pref. -- With Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi making vague noises on the importance of education, this city of 62,000 people is realizing that words alone aren't the answer.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2001

Minicar presence gains on automaker innovation

Minicars were once regarded by Japanese consumers as second-class, cheap vehicles.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

Palau leader pushes for summit

Palau President Thomas Remengesau Jr. urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday to host a second summit of Japan and Pacific island nations, a Japanese government official said.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

People of all ages are turning to a variety of volunteer work

Japanese men and women of all ages are increasingly spending their spare time engaging in a variety of volunteer work, ranging from restoring traditional "minka" wooden houses in the countryside to recycling secondhand computers.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2001

A-bomb survivor spreads peace message

HIGASHI-HIROSHIMA, Hiroshima Pref. -- When a doctor told Hitoshi Takayama in 1962 that a lump removed from his abdomen was malignant, the then 32-year-old thought he would share the fate of the 200,000 whose lives were lost in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Longform

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