Search - 2005

 
 
EDITORIALS
Sep 29, 2005

Can a watchdog watch itself?

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's plan to go public in fiscal 2005 (ending next March 31) seems unlikely to go smoothly as the Financial Services Agency opposes the plan. At issue is a debate over whether the bourse can continue to properly execute its public role as a watchdog over the stock market after going...
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2005

Government shaves civil servants' salaries 0.1%

The government decided Wednesday to cut the annual salary of civil servants by an average of 4,000 yen, or 0.1 percent, in the current fiscal year through next March, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 29, 2005

Communal individuals

World-famous sculptor Antony Gormley has spent the last 25 years "infecting" public spaces with sculptures that transform viewers' imagination and challenge their preconceptions. In "Children's Field," a Gormley-inspired community art project produced by the American School in Japan (ASIJ) and A.R.T....
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2005

Efforts at 'Aichi Expo diplomacy' reap meager results

Japan's hopes that the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi Prefecture would help resolve its diplomatic issues with other countries, especially China, failed to achieve significant results as the fair ended its six-month run Sunday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2005

Chubu economy's future seen bright with boost from expo

NAGOYA -- As Nagoya's big coming-out party winds down, thoughts turn inevitably to what's next. The issue of how the prefecture can capitalize on the Aichi Expo is on everyone's mind.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Sep 27, 2005

Plusminuszero cordless phone, Nendo's Skiima, Toshi Iwai's Tenori-On, Monacca's Bag-Kaku

In the world of product design, we've finally come to a point where features have seemingly attained a certain level of parity. Gone are the days when detailed specs ruled, and bigger (brighter, louder, faster) was better. The focus has now shifted toward the promotion of an object's outward design --...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2005

Aichi World Expo comes to a close on a sunny note

NAGAKUTE, Aichi Pref. -- The Aichi World Expo ended Sunday with gorgeous weather, record crowds and a sense of a job well done among organizers and participants.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 25, 2005

Carp may bring in ex-player Brown to try and revive club

Hiroshima Carp manager Koji Yamamoto has announced he will be stepping down at the end of this season, and press reports have indicated the leading candidate to replace him is former Carp infielder-outfielder Marty Brown.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 25, 2005

Corruption and intrigue in high places

THE ASSASSIN'S TOUCH, by Laura Joh Rowland. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2005, 312 pp., $24.95 (cloth). BEAUTIFUL GHOSTS, by Eliot Pattison. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 360 pp., 2004, $24.95 (cloth). A day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast, I fired off an e-mail message...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 25, 2005

Women of poetic substance

PATHWAYS, by Edith Shiffert, New York: White Pine Press, 2005, 115 pp., $14 (paper). A WOMAN'S LIFE, by Harue Aoki, Tokyo: Shichigatsudo, 2004, 120 pp., 1,200 yen (paper).
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 25, 2005

What could have been from what was seen

KANNANI AND DOCUMENT OF FLAMES: Two Japanese Colonial Novels, by Katsuei Yuasa, translated and with an introduction and critical afterword by Mark Driscoll. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2005, 193 pp., $19.95 (paper). The odd rightwing extremist excepted, it is difficult to find anyone...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 24, 2005

Despite popularity of Premier League, fans have complaints

LONDON -- Appropriately enough for the country that pioneered football hooliganism during the 1970s and 1980s, English supporters are revolting, though, this time in a more positive way.
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2005

Visa violations dropping but fingerprint revival eyed

Visa violators in Japan are on the wane, but the fingerprinting of foreigners may soon be revived, according to the 2005 Immigration Control report released Tuesday by the Immigration Bureau.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2005

NHK fee boycott to tune of 50 billion yen

NHK anticipates up to around 50 billion yen in revenue loss for the fiscal year ending next March because many viewers are refusing to pay fees to the public broadcaster, NHK President Genichi Hashimoto said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2005

20% of Japanese aged 65 or older

Twenty percent of the population, or 25.56 million people, were aged 65 or older as of Thursday, up 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier, government statistics showed Sunday.
Japan Times
Features
Sep 18, 2005

Complexities of beauty

The tall, handsome foreigner took a seat next to a Japanese woman. Drinking in her delicate beauty, he leaned over and asked in a gentle voice: "Would you mind if I talk to you?"
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 18, 2005

Japan in the doldrums needs a lot more than hot air

It is not every election in Japan that raises questions about the direction of the nation and the identity of its people. It was natural that last week's poll was a polemical one. After a "lost decade" now well on the way to becoming a "lost double-decade," Japanese people have been asking themselves:...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 18, 2005

Sweet Mysteries of the Orient

THE ASIAN MYSTIQUE, by Sheridan Prasso. Public Affairs Books, 437 pp., 2005, $27.95, 2,850 yen (cloth). Apparently, there are still Western men who believe that the East is an obliging seductress, mass producing an endless line of voluptuous women, whose laconic sexual pliancy is only exceeded by their...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 17, 2005

Taiwan sees wider recognition as key to upholding democrac

Taiwan has been endeavoring to lift the stature of its 23 million people in the eyes of the international community as a foil to China's plans for unification.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2005

NHK to cut 10% of ranks, go after fee nonpayers

NHK is finalizing plans to chop its workforce by about 1,200 over a three-year period beginning in fiscal 2006, and may take legal action against viewers who fail to pay their fees, sources said Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 16, 2005

Warm to the mild port city of Numazu

Located just 100 km from Tokyo, the city of Numazu, in Shizuoka Prefecture, is less than an hour's ride away on the Hikari bullet train. Numazu merged with a neighboring city in April and today has a population total of over 211,000 and a land area of 187.1 sq. km.
JAPAN
Sep 14, 2005

Centenarians to hit 25,606 by October

The number of centenarians in Japan will set a new record of 25,606 by the end of the month, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said ahead of Respect for the Aged Day.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2005

GDP for April-June sharply revised to 0.8% on strong capital spending

The economy expanded a real 0.8 percent in the April-June period from the previous quarter for the third straight quarterly growth, revised upward from a 0.3 percent increase in the initial report, the government said Monday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 11, 2005

CL may hold playoffs sooner than you think

The Central League has decided to consider instituting a playoff system beginning in 2007, but we may be seeing postseason play between two CL teams a lot sooner.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji