Search - (2006-01-27)

 
 
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2006

Science bureau chief to head FCCJ

Dennis Normile, Japan bureau chief for the U.S. weekly journal Science, beat Pio d'Emilia of Italy's Il Manifesto to become president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 24, 2006

Geta fliers and Bo(y) Derek on a jet ski

The Moooo! Bar season has started on Shiraishi Island and I have to admit that I am a little disappointed. Now into our third season, not one cow has come to the Moooo! Bar, even though I advertise that cows drink for free.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2006

Tax hike consensus reached to achieve 2011 budget surplus

The government and the ruling parties agreed Friday to propose a tax hike to achieve a primary budget surplus -- which excludes new bond issues and debt-servicing costs -- by fiscal 2011, government and party officials said.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 23, 2006

Motivation Tour 2006 Final

For those with a taste for an eclectic mix of pop, techno and house, June 25 at Liquid Room -- the final date of DJ Towa Tei's Motivation Tour -- should hit the spot. Tei is promoting the April release of "Motivation 3," the third CD in a series featuring his classic pop-house sound.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 22, 2006

Anime, J-indie equals 'Woodstock for geeks'

'Agrand collision of two Japanese subcultures -- anime and Japanese indie music," was one blogger's take on FanimeCon 2006, the biggest anime convention in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 22, 2006

The D.I.Y. route to rock stardom

From the suburbs of Tokyo to downtown Toronto is hardly the most direct route to pop stardom -- or one assured of success. But it was the path that blues-rock outfit Stone Deaf chose earlier this month in what was a bold move for a group whose sole claim to fame is having been Marky Ramone's backing...
EDITORIALS
Jun 21, 2006

Medical reforms need work

The laws passed last week by the Diet to curb the growth in the nation's medical spending testify to the government's determination to solve the problem. While the laws include positive elements, they are not problem-free. The government needs to continuously review the nation's medical system. Rationalizing...
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2006

Plastic recyclers can't compete with China

Many Japanese companies that produce materials recycled from used plastic bottles are on the verge of bankruptcy as more and more of their raw material ends up in China and may soon be finding their way to India as well.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2006

China's monetary surge dooms its boom

ATLANTA -- Chinese monetary authorities raised their one-year benchmark rate by 27 basis points while allowing the deposit rate to remain unchanged at 2.25 percent. This move was mostly greeted with praise, but the change is trivial and will have little discernible impact on the Chinese economy or the...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 18, 2006

In the wake of the true traditional Japanese funeral

MODERN PASSINGS: Death Rites, Politics, and Social Change in Imperial Japan, by Andrew Bern- stein. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006,242 pp., with photos, $39 (cloth). I have long admired Japan's attitude toward death, its acceptance, its no-nonsense attitude toward disposal and entombment,...
JAPAN
Jun 18, 2006

Mizuho Bank to give 200 of its branches the individual touch

Mizuho Bank plans to devote more than 200 of its branches to serving individual customers in a reorganization of its nationwide network in the coming two years, Mizuho officials said Saturday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 16, 2006

Popularizing music

Fete de la Musique au Japon 2006, now in its fifth year, takes place in the Kansai area June 17-18 and June 21 in Osaka, Kobe, Miho, Suita, Takatsuki, Ibaraki and Otsu.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Jun 16, 2006

Ducasse brings young talent to Japan

As one of the world's top chefs, Alain Ducasse needs little introduction. Over the past two decades, few people have done more to develop and spread the gospel of French haute cuisine.
SUMO
Jun 15, 2006

With Wailing Walls and Dead Sea dips, who needs the World Cup?

Sumo, unlike football -- (the proper one as opposed to the pads and helmet version) -- never stops.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2006

Japan bashing then, China bashing now

LONDON -- Pressure on China today to push up the value of the yuan against the dollar is eerily similar to the pressure on Japan 30 years ago to make the yen appreciate. Back then, "Japan bashing" came to mean the threat of U.S. trade sanctions unless Japan softened competitive pressure on American industries....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2006

'17 trillion yen needed' to put budget in black

The government on Monday revised downward the estimated shortfall it must cover if it is to reach its goal of achieving a budget surplus by fiscal 2011 from 20 trillion yen to 17 trillion yen.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2006

Economy grew 3.1% in January-March

The economy expanded an annualized real 3.1 percent in the January-March period from the previous quarter, revised sharply upward from a 1.9 percent increase in the initial report on strong capital investment data, the government said Monday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 13, 2006

The beautiful game inspires sartorial sins

Soccer might be known as the beautiful game, but it has never inspired beautiful design. As the World Cup in Germany gets into full swing, patriotic fervor will move millions of fans to purchase their team's jersey, resulting in innumerable crimes against good taste.
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 2006

If you can't trust the elevators

It is taken for granted by most people that an elevator moves only after its doors are securely closed and not while the doors are open. But events on the evening of June 3 at a 23-story condominium building in Tokyo's Minato Ward have betrayed this trust.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2006

Arms race widening in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia's return to prosperity since the financial crisis of 1997 has brought a regionwide splurge on new weapons. Most Southeast Asian countries are, indeed, now busily modernizing their armed forces. So far, most have done so without compromising their autonomy in security matters. But with...
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 11, 2006

Klose-range win for Germans in opener

MUNICH -- Birthday boy Miroslav Klose scored twice as Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 in a record-breaking World Cup curtain raiser in Munich on Friday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 11, 2006

It's a mechanical kind of love

LOVING THE MACHINE: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, by Timothy N. Hornyak. Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International, 2006, 160 pp., profusely illustrated, 2,800 yen (cloth). One of the most popular mysteries of 18th-century Europe was the Chess-playing Turk, a robot-like automaton that won all...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 11, 2006

Preparing for 'people's courts'

For more than 60 years since its last form of a jury system was suspended, Japan's courts have been the preserve of a largely unseen elite. Now, though, regular citizens are set to take part again too, and 'mock trials' like those popular in America may play a key role in preparing for this momentous...
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

MUFJ debt from fund injection cleared

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. completed repayment Friday of the public funds that the government funneled into its capital base in the late 1990s, becoming the first to do so among the nation's three megabank groups, Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Nonpermanent workers' training shortfalls hit

Part-time and contract workers in the manufacturing sector get less training than their permanent, full-time colleagues, raising concern that young people may not be gaining enough skills, according to a government report.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 9, 2006

Fans' 'Bonn' voyage builds before kickoff

Japan fans staying in Bonn unable to head to Munich for the opening game of the World Cup between Germany and Costa Rica on Friday won't be missing out on the carnival atmosphere.
SOCCER / World cup
Jun 8, 2006

Eyes on Germany as show time nears for soccer's greatest

BONN -- Finally, the finals.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2006

Murakami arrested over insider trading

Outspoken investment fund manager Yoshiaki Murakami was arrested Monday for alleged insider trading linked to his investment fund's purchase of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. shares between late 2004 and early 2005.
CULTURE / Books
Jun 4, 2006

Pensive view of a city's declining identity

KYOTO: A Cultural and Literary History, by John Dougill. Signal Books, 2006, 242 pp., 2,500 yen (paper). "Everyone knew," the wartime narrator of Hisako Matsubara's Kyoto novel "Cranes at Dusk" relates, "there was not a single Japanese city of over a million people that hadn't already been bombed." But...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 4, 2006

Involuntary students of death

KAMIKAZE DIARIES: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers, by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 2006, 206 pp., 13 b/w plates, $25 (cloth). War flourishes through caricature and some of these wartime creations live on long after their political usefulness is over. One...

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan