Search - 2005

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 2, 2006

TIF pushes theater's borders

With guest productions from as far afield as Kuwait, Israel, Germany and the United States, this year's 12th annual Tokyo International Arts Festival (TIF) is delivering a challenging program of theater and dance from some of the world's leading dramatists. In doing so, TIF -- held for the first time...
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2006

E-mail wasn't from Horie: DPJ

The e-mail that raised a ruckus in the Diet when the Democratic Party of Japan alleged it proved shady financial links between Livedoor founder Takafumi Horie and a top ruling party figure was in fact the work of a freelance journalist, DPJ sources have admitted.
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2006

Convenience stores go gimmicky to hold appeal

Major convenience store chains, which have seen sluggish sales amid severe competition in a highly saturated market, are trying to diversify in a bid to mine more promising market segments.
SUMO
Feb 27, 2006

NHK Sumo - Yea or Nay?

NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, is this week expected to make an announcement that will, in part, give either a thumbs up or a thumbs down to the continuation of their English language coverage of sumo tournaments.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 26, 2006

Will Barry Bonds play his last game at Tokyo Dome?

News came last week that San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds announced he would be retiring at the end of the 2006 season. The next day, he said he may play several more years. Typical for a guy who often changes his mind, but there's nothing wrong with that.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 26, 2006

Mourinho should take a media lesson from Wenger

LONDON -- When Arsene Wenger left the press conference in Bernabeu Stadium after Arsenal's 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night he smiled as the assembled media gave him a round of applause.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 26, 2006

Memoirs of a foreigner

JAPANESE JOURNEYS: Writings and Recollections, by Geoffrey Bownas. Kent: Global Oriental Ltd., 2005, 264 pp., with b/w photos, £30 (cloth). One late evening in 1970, the scholar Geoffrey Bownas was working with the writer Yukio Mishima on their anthology "New Writing in Japan." The noted author excused...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 26, 2006

Current events frame detective plots

MOGHUL BUFFET by Cheryl Benard. New York: Soho Crime, 1998, 264 pp., $12 (paper). THE TYPHOON LOVER by Sujata Massey. New York: HarperCollins, 2005, 306 pp., $23.95 (cloth). "I like Pakistan," writes Cheryl Benard. "I want to say that right at the outset, to avoid any misunderstandings. Its cities are...
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2006

Number of arrests for Web crimes hits record

The number of people arrested for Internet-linked crimes in Japan rose almost 52 percent last year to a record 3,161, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 24, 2006

Submarine heading for own Marines

FUKUOKA -- The SubMarine will get a shot at the Chiba Lotte Marines this weekend. Submarine pitcher Shunsuke Watanabe is the projected starter for Japan's World Baseball Classic warmup against the Japan Series champion at Yahoo Dome, and although he is not thrilled about facing his teammates, he is ready...
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2006

'05 tertiary index highest since '88

Japan's service industry activity index rose 2.2 percent in 2005 from the previous year for the third straight yearly increase, with the index registering its highest score since 1988, the government said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2006

Honda hopes Zest helps spice up its minicar lineup

Honda Motor Co. unveiled the Zest minivehicle Thursday, aiming to survive in the increasingly competitive domestic minicar market.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2006

Acquisitive Don Quijote posts 13% profit rise

Discount retailer Don Quijote, currently under the spotlight over its hostile takeover bid for Origin Toshu Co., said Wednesday it posted a net profit of 4.85 billion yen from July to December 2005, up 13.2 percent from the same period the previous year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Feb 23, 2006

Kiyosumi galleries: Optimistic in Tokyo's east

Painting, photography and installations from emerging and experienced artists have made for a strong start to the Kiyosumi galleries' first spring season.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Transport minister urges end to JAL row

Transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa urged the Japan Airlines group Tuesday to end a row among its top managers, saying the infighting could undercut the safety of the carrier's operations.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2006

It's not right for the West and Israel to isolate Hamas, the Palestinians' best hope

NEW YORK -- As the son of a Lebanese pacifist, I am dismayed by the widening gap between Palestinians and Israelis that make a possible solution to the con- flict between them seem even more distant.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2006

Economy to get rosier assessment

A monthly report to be issued Wednesday will express greater optimism about the economic recovery, with the government upgrading its assessment for the first time in six months, sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2006

Shimizu got defense contracts without tenders

Major construction company Shimizu Corp., already linked to bid rigging involving the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, won contracts worth nearly 9 billion yen from the agency without undergoing public tenders, documents show.
COMMENTARY
Feb 20, 2006

New demands, more delays

Japan and North Korea made little progress toward solving their problems in five days of bilateral talks that ended early this month in Beijing. The only agreement was to continue to talk.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2006

Travails of Mr. Thaksin

Thailand's prime minister, Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, is a survivor. Since taking office five years ago, he has weathered allegations of corruption and malfeasance, charges of nepotism, an insurgency in Thailand's southern provinces and even a public rebuke by the king. Yet, he has bested every challenge...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 19, 2006

Closer Ishii earns 67 million yen raise

The Yakult Swallows signed closer Hirotoshi Ishii to a new one-year contract worth 150 million yen plus performance incentives three weeks after the left-hander gave up on his bid to pursue a career in the major leagues this year.
BASEBALL / MLB
Feb 19, 2006

Iguchi leaves to rejoin White Sox

Tadahito Iguchi left Japan on Saturday to join spring training, determined to help the Chicago White Sox win back-to-back World Series titles without a sophomore jinx.

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