Search - 2005

 
 
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 14, 2006

The interleague season: Japanese baseball's 'wild card'

Japan pro baseball does not have a "wild card" team that gets into postseason playoffs as do the American and National Leagues, but the koryu-sen (interleague) period that got under way May 9 may be considered the Japanese version of a wild card in the sense that anything can happen.
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2006

Golden lesson in priorities

Australia's opposition leader, Kim Beazley, made a thought-provoking remark last week after two miners were rescued in spectacular fashion from a partially collapsed gold mine in the southern Australian state of Tasmania. "No amount of gold is worth an Australian life," Mr. Beazley was reported as saying....
CULTURE / Books
May 14, 2006

A force yet to be reckoned with

CHINA'S NEW NATIONALISM: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy, by Peter Hays Gries. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005, 224 pp., $19.95 (paper). In East Asia, nationalism never acquired quite as bad a name as it did in Europe, and it is not uncommon to hear politicians go on record with nationalistic...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 13, 2006

Success stories cap memorable season for Premier League

LONDON -- After a couple of disappointing high-profile matches, those who rarely attend football games but love to put the boot into the national sport were almost at grievous bodily harm level with their attacks.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2006

Household savings up 2.1% in '05, averaging 17 million yen

Households with two or more members held average total savings of 17.28 million yen in 2005, up 2.1 percent from 16.92 million yen the previous year, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
May 12, 2006

Psychedelic radar 05.12

Saturday, May 13
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2006

Children of Lesotho orphaned by AIDS

MASERU, Lesotho -- If I had heard a sadder song, I could not remember.
JAPAN
May 11, 2006

Transsexuals gain freedoms but still face barriers

To most people, Takafumi Fujio -- with cropped hair, thick arms and deep voice -- is a typical, middle-aged salaryman. But until four years ago, when the food company worker started on a range of hormonal treatments, he was a woman, a housewife and mother of two.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 11, 2006

Japan grads go apolitical

With its current exhibition, "Index #2 -- Life Styles," Tokyo Wonder Site in Ochanomizu has mounted a worthwhile survey of recent Japanese art-school graduates. Prolific critic Kentaro Ichihara, in association with Kyoto University of Art and Design, selected five Kanto- and five Kansai-region artists...
BUSINESS
May 11, 2006

Four life insurers to raise dividends

Four major Japanese life insurers plan to raise dividends for individual policyholders for fiscal 2005 for the second straight year, sources at the firms said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 11, 2006

While Hamas is snubbed, kids starve

NEW YORK -- The decision by the United States, the European Union and Canada to cut financial assistance to Hamas, the winner of the recent Palestinian elections, not only disrespects the results of a clean and democratic electoral process; more ominously, it will further harm Palestinian children, already...
JAPAN
May 10, 2006

Police raid mob office, real estate agent in building probe

Tokyo police searched the headquarters of a Yamaguchi-gumi underworld affiliate Tuesday in connection with the arrest the previous day of its boss for allegedly illegally transferring the property rights of a building in Shibuya Ward.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2006

Matchmakers to get official image boost in bid to curb falling birthrate

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry wants to improve the image of matchmaking firms in an effort to promote marriage and reverse the declining birthrate, according to ministry officials.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 9, 2006

Universal access -- if you speak Japanese

Despite 2 million foreign residents and calls for internationalization from within, Japan has a long way to go before becoming a multilingual society. The current state of health care is no exception. Be it university hospitals with cutting-edge research facilities or your neighborhood dental clinic,...
BUSINESS
May 9, 2006

Isetan group net profit leaps 48.3%

Department store chain Isetan Co. said Monday its group net profit in fiscal 2005 jumped 48.3 percent from the previous year to 18.71 billion yen due to good sales at the parent company's stores and its overseas arms, as well as the consolidation of Kyushu-based Iwataya Department Co. into its results....
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2006

China unlikely to double-deal over Korea

LOS ANGELES -- China is acting in bad faith on the Korean nuclear issue. That's the provocative suggestion now coming from some Western intelligence circles. It's a scary, foul and ultimately upsetting thought. It may also be wrong.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 7, 2006

Giants pitcher Powell: 'Best month I ever had'

Congratulations to Yomiuri Giants pitcher Jeremy Powell on being named Central League Pitcher of the Month for April. Powell won all four of his starts on successive Tuesdays, April 4, 11, 18 and 25, finishing the month with a league-leading 1.03 ERA, two shutouts and three complete games.
MORE SPORTS
May 7, 2006

Oyama stretches lead at Salonpas World Ladies

Overnight leader Shiho Oyama played patiently in blustery conditions Saturday and stretched her lead to five shots going into the final round of the Salonpas World Ladies.
CULTURE / Books
May 7, 2006

Following the great haiku poet on the road

BASHO'S JOURNEY: The Literary Prose of Matsuo Basho, translated with an introduction by David Landis Barnhill. State University of New York Press, 2005, 191 pp., $19.95 (paper). The great haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was first represented to the West just over a century ago. This was in W.G. Aston's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 4, 2006

"Jim Lambie -- P.I.L"

Mizuma Art Gallery Closes in 10 days
JAPAN
May 2, 2006

Female, elderly entrepreneurs on the rise as society grays

The number of women and elderly people preparing to start new businesses has been rising amid the aging of the population and consequent decrease in the number of small and midsize companies as their owners retire, a recent government report says.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 2, 2006

A long life on the island

Reaching 100 has long fascinated societies. The century mark is regarded as an almost supernatural seal of hardiness and good health.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 1, 2006

Global inflation changing economic fundamentals

Ajoint statement released April 21 by finance minis- ters and central bankers of the Group of Seven major economies in Washington noted that the global trend in economic expansion has entered its fourth year, with inflationary pressures relatively contained despite the surge in crude oil prices.

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