Search - 2005

 
 
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2005

University gap set to widen

One year has passed since Japan's national universities gained corporate status. How have they changed? Following are my personal views on the merits and demerits of some of the changes.
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2005

Journalism turns deadly in the Philippines

MANILA -- Many Filipinos are proud of the freedom the press enjoys in their country but this rosy picture has been tarnished by the killings of a number of journalists. With 13 Filipino journalists killed last year and four media workers murdered so far in 2005, the Philippines -- according to the Brussels-based...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 2, 2005

Wash away city-life stress with the traditional onsen experience

THE JAPANESE SPA: A Guide to Japan's Finest Ryokan and Onsen, by Akihiko Seki and Elizabeth Heilman Brooke. Tokyo: Tuttle, 2005, 175 pp., $26.95 (cloth). Here we discover the art and aesthetics of the Japanese hot spring (onsen) experience. Twenty-eight exquisite inns (ryokan) are featured in some 400...
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2005

Longevity bonds can help retirees prosper

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- Living a long time is one of our deepest wishes, and medical and economic progress offers the hope that it will be fulfilled. Some scientists say that the average human life span could reach 90 years or more by midcentury. But what if our wish is granted? What good is a longer...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 1, 2005

History set to be made with first interleague games in Japan

By the time you read the next offering of the "Baseball Bullet-In" on Sunday, May 8, Golden Week 2005 will be over, and Japan pro baseball's first session of interleague play will have begun.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 1, 2005

Sadako Ogata: Front-line fighter for a better world

Sadako Ogata, formerly United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is one of Japan's most prominent international figures.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2005

JVC targets 500 jobs in accelerated structural reform

Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. plans to cull 500 people from its 7,400-strong workforce during fiscal 2005 in an effort to accelerate structural reform, company officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2005

Sony net profit skyrockets 85%

Sony Corp. said Wednesday its consolidated net profit for fiscal 2004 surged 85.1 percent to 163.84 billion yen, thanks to a strong performance by its movie unit.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2005

Mizuho unveils plan to boost profits

Mizuho Financial Group on Tuesday announced a three-year business plan aimed at repaying 1.47 trillion yen in borrowed public funds and boosting the group's profitability through a new unit and a tieup.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2005

Is the economy better off under Koizumi?

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday enters the fifth year of his administration.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 24, 2005

It's not cartoons, it's education

JAPANESE THE MANGA WAY: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar & Structure, By Wayne P. Lammers. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2005, 312 pp., 500 b/w illustrations, $24.95 (paper). Wayne Lammers is among the best of the younger translators of Japanese to English. He has rendered such classical texts as Fujiwara...
Japan Times
Features
Apr 24, 2005

Menswear to the rescue

The Fall 2005 season saw the Tokyo Collections in a sorry state.
Japan Times
Features
Apr 24, 2005

Surreal circus of 'beasts' and beauties

Before the Heatherette show, during Fall 2005 New York Fashion Week, the paparazzi are doing what paparazzi do best: stalking their quarry with the determination of psychotic bounty hunters.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 24, 2005

Book bite

HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JAPANESE PARTICLES, by Naoko Chino. Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd., 2005, 198 pp., 2,200 yen (paper). There are 10 particles in the Japanese language that indicate time, 11 for connections between words, 12 for emphasis, and 14 that come at the end of a sentence...
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 22, 2005

Urawa Reds hoping to ink midfielder Fujita

Urawa Reds general manager Takaji Mori said Thursday that the J. League club is looking to sign Japan midfielder Toshiya Fujita from first-division rival Jubilo Iwata.
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2005

Suicide site users should be reported: panel

Internet service providers should report to police all people who post messages on suicide Web sites, a National Police Agency security panel recommended Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2005

CCP smacks of hypocrisy

LONDON -- At the end of his visit to India last week, China's Premier Wen Jiabao made a strong political attack on Japan. With respect to Japan's bid for a seat on an expanded U.N. Security Council (UNSC) Wen opined that "Only a country that respects history, takes responsibility for history and wins...
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2005

Tokyo, U.S. Navy pay 35 million yen for two asbestos-exposed workers

The central government and the U.S. military have jointly paid compensation for lung ailments suffered by two Japanese former workers exposed to asbestos at the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture, a civic group said Thursday.
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Apr 19, 2005

Pensions, easy credit, freecycling and dogs

Lump Sum payments Following on from last week's Zeit Gist article on the insurance probe involving Japan's eikaiwa, Rob has a question on pension refunds.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2005

Correct unfair trade practices, China told

Japan urged China to correct trade practices it believes are unfair, including higher tariffs on photo film and auto parts, in an annual report released Monday.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Apr 17, 2005

'Man Friday' recalls time in line at Japan's first record expo

With the 2005 World Expo Aichi in full swing until September in Nagoya, it may come as a surprise to some that Japan's first world exposition was to have taken place as long ago as in 1912. But that was cancelled due to the death of Emperor Meiji. Another one, to have run in conjunction with Tokyo's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Apr 17, 2005

Make no bones about it, this place is like nowhere on Earth

The view is daunting. Colossal. Inland, thunderheads loom over distant mountains signaling heavy rains in the interior. To our left, considerably nearer, a thick bank of billowing sea fog rises several hundred meters high. The sun is just visible behind it, pale and wan; a ghostly eye peering down on...
BASKETBALL
Apr 15, 2005

JBA gives green light to break-away teams

The Japan Basketball Association on Wednesday granted the Niigata Albirex and the Saitama Broncos special approval to break away from the amateur Japan Basketball League.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 15, 2005

We are the robots

EXPO 2005 Aichi, now entering the fourth week of its 180-day run, is providing visitors with thousands of thrilling glimpses of the future. With all manner of advanced technology on show -- from humanoid robots to next-generation transportation systems -- the world of tomorrow has never felt so close....
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 14, 2005

Could change be the only constant in the cosmos?

In David Mitchell's compelling novel "Cloud Atlas," two of the characters climb the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, and find giant domes -- observatories -- at the peak of the great mountain. The novel -- published last year -- is comprised of six interweaved strands, starting in the 1800s and moving...
Japan Times
SOCCER / J. League
Apr 11, 2005

Late winner returns FC Tokyo to the top

FC Tokyo returned to the top of the J. League on Sunday after a late strike from midfielder Ryoichi Kurisawa secured a 1-0 win over visiting Jubilo Iwata.

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