Search - 2005

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2006

Clay captures the motion of organic forms

Seeming to peer out the window of the gallery is a brightly colored red and blue polka-dot blob. For a moment the amorphous shape looks like it is slowly crawling up the wall, till further inspection suggests that the piece is actually still -- or is it? Such is the work of Japanese ceramic artist Chiho...
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2006

Toshiba shareholders OK poison pill

Toshiba Corp. shareholders approved measures to fend off hostile takeover bids at their annual meeting Tuesday, company officials said.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2006

Japan, Brunei kick off FTA talks

Japan and Brunei kicked off their first round of official negotiations Monday in Tokyo aimed at sealing a bilateral free-trade agreement, with Tokyo aiming during the five-day run to win tariff cuts on its industrial goods exports and a stable supply of natural resources from the Southeast Asian country....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2006

Warner Japan taking greater interest in local movie scene

Warner Entertainment Japan Inc., a subsidiary of U.S. media giant Time Warner Inc., plans to acquire more Japanese films and increase local production of movies in response to the growing popularity of domestic films, said William Ireton, who was named president of the company in May.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 27, 2006

On dual citizenship, pensions

Dual citizenship Reader S. doesn't recall ever reading anything in the Lifelines column on dual citizenship.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2006

Landlords get crash course on dementia

Condominium managers will be required to take courses starting next month on how to handle residents with senile dementia.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 27, 2006

Righting a wrong

In July 2005, Doudou Diene, a special representative of the United Nations' Commission on Human Rights, came to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese government.
EDITORIALS
Jun 26, 2006

Keeping an eye on the beef

Japan agreed last week to lift its ban on imports of American beef after the United States accepted Tokyo's demand for stricter safety checks. Imports will resume only after Japanese experts have checked the 35 U.S. meatpackers authorized to process beef for export to Japan. Even after imports resume,...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 25, 2006

Giants looking to bring in late comers with 'Heat Up' ticket promotion at Tokyo Dome

Discounts for tickets to Yomiuri Giants home games?
SPORTS / MULLY'S MISSIVES
Jun 25, 2006

Zico never at a loss for an excuse

DORTMUND, Germany -- Zico has come up with all manner of excuses during his four years in charge to explain away shoddy performances from Japan, and the Brazilian was trotting them out at an almost daily rate in Germany during the World Cup.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 25, 2006

Tokyo's ring of steel

Who would have thought that something that chases its tail all day for a living could be so incredibly important to the workings of a major metropolis?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 25, 2006

Jun'ichiro Tanizaki: new realities from screen fiction

SHADOWS ON THE SCREEN: Tanizaki Jun'ichiro on Cinema and "Oriental" Aesthetics, translated and edited by Thomas LaMarre. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, 2005. 410 pp., photos XIX, $25 (paper). The eminent novelist Jun'ichiro Tanizaki was celebrated for his ambivalence...
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2006

Dai-ichi Life failed to pay 115 million yen

Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. did not pay some 115 million yen in dividends to its policyholders in a total of about 47,000 cases between fiscal 1984 and fiscal 2005, company officials said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jun 24, 2006

Schools taking anticrime steps

Over 90 percent of elementary schools have implemented measures to help protect their students from crime, including "hazard maps," according to an education ministry survey.
SOCCER / J. League
Jun 23, 2006

Adilson named Iwata manager

Jubilo Iwata said Thursday they have named former defender Adilson as manager, following the resignation of Masakuni Yamamoto, who took responsibility for his side's lackluster performance this season.
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2006

Downshifting in Iraq

The government announced Tuesday that Japan will withdraw its Ground Self-Defense Force troops from southern Iraq, ending their 2 1/2-year noncombat mission. It is fortunate that, so far, not a single GSDF member has been injured or killed during this time and that the GSDF troops have not had to fire...
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2006

Ah, no kids afoot: Empty trains, work till you die

There has been a great deal of hand-wringing in the media and government about Japan's population implosion. A breakdown in the pension system, soaring health-care costs, slower economic growth and a looming labor shortage are just a few of the dark clouds on the horizon.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2006

Fitch keeps Hankyu ratings intact

Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it has decided to keep the credit ratings of Hankyu Holdings Inc. unchanged because the burden stemming from the tender offer for Hanshin Electric Railway Co. shares has stayed within the anticipated level.
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2006

Insurer Mitsui Sumitomo faces FSA sanctions

The Financial Services Agency is considering ordering Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. to suspend sales of nonlife insurance policies as well as medical insurance products at all of its outlets for about two weeks as punishment for its nonpayment of insurance claims, FSA sources said Tuesday.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 20, 2006

Japan's fate rests with Zico's countrymen

BONN -- If ever Zico needed a favor from his countrymen it would be now.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2006

Trust banks should handle assets, new BOJ member says

Newly appointed Bank of Japan Policy Board member Tadao Noda said Monday that entrusting stockholdings with trust banks is one way to boost the transparency of senior BOJ officials' financial assets.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2006

A united lobby for life

Japan has seen more than 30,000 people kill themselves annually for eight consecutive years since 1998. Last year, 32,552 people took their own lives, a total that breaks down to 89.18 suicides per day and 3.71 suicides every hour. Certainly these are grim figures.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 18, 2006

To whom it may concern:

Something exceedingly tragic is occurring in Japan today, something it falls to me to reveal now on these pages. It is, simply, that the Japanese people are becoming invisible before our very eyes. At the present rate, by my rough estimate, not one single identifiable Japanese individual will be living...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 18, 2006

NHK's public service is to take your money and run . . . bad TV

Fans of baseball star Ichiro Suzuki had reason to be mad at NHK two weeks ago. The Seattle Mariners outfielder was on the verge of his 2,500th career hit, one of the game's rare milestones, which was predicted to happen some time between June 6 and 9. However, the public broadcaster, whose BS-1 satellite...
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2006

Fukui may have made millions off Murakami investment

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui revealed Friday he may have earned several million yen a year from his investment in a fund set up by now-arrested financier Yoshiaki Murakami.

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