Search - (2006-01-27)

 
 
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2005

Lawmakers, bureaucrats get wage cuts

The Diet on Friday enacted a ruling bloc-proposed 1.7 percent wage cut for lawmakers and a government-proposed 0.1 percent wage reduction for central government employees.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2005

Jobless rate slides as recovery widens

Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at a preliminary 4.2 percent in September, down 0.1 point from August, as the ongoing economic recovery generated jobs in a wide range of industrial sectors, the government said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 28, 2005

Learning from devastating quakes

On Oct. 23, 2004, a series of powerful earthquakes, including one with a magnitude of 6.8, devastated the Chuetsu region in Niigata Prefecture. Of the 51 deaths, 16 were directly caused by the devastation. Most of the remaining deaths were caused by "economy-class syndrome," in which survivors who tried...
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2005

Ban slams shrine visit, casts doubt on summit

shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Ban Ki Moon before their meeting in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2005

Sony's quarterly net profit slumps amid flat sales, struggling TV unit

Sony Corp. said Thursday that its operating profit rose 52 percent to 65.9 billion yen in the three months through September, boosted by a large windfall generated by a change in its pension scheme.
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2005

Legal revision on banking agents passes

A revision to the Banking Law that would allow companies to be agents for banks was enacted Wednesday after it cleared the House of Councilors.
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2005

How does the state want to care for the elderly?

Japan, with one of the world's oldest populations, is having increasing problems providing universal health care as each year there are fewer working people to pay for it.
EDITORIALS
Oct 25, 2005

Postal reform just the start

With the Diet's Oct. 14 passage of the postal-services privatization bills, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has reaped a reward for his daring decision to dissolve the Lower House. But the postal privatization is only the first of many issues that the government has to address to streamline its operations...
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2005

Income tax cuts should end in 2007: panel chief

The head of the government's tax panel said Monday income tax cuts and residential tax breaks should be abolished in January 2007.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2005

Let consumption tax pay for welfare: panel

A Liberal Democratic Party panel called Monday for converting the consumption tax into a welfare tax, a step that would certainly boost the tax rate to more than 10 percent from the current 5 percent.
JAPAN
Oct 20, 2005

Car show highlights environmental technology

CHIBA -- The 39th Tokyo Motor Show opened to the media Wednesday at the Makuhari Messe convention center here, with futuristic concept cars and vehicles sporting the latest technologies -- particularly those that make them more environmentally friendly.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2005

GM vows to retain alliances with Suzuki, Isuzu

CHIBA -- General Motors Corp. remains committed to working closely with Suzuki Motor Corp. and Isuzu Motor Ltd., despite speculation it may sever capital alliances with the automakers to accelerate realignment in the global auto industry, a senior GM official said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 18, 2005

Funding, adoption and cigars

There was no column last week due to the monthly press holiday falling on a Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2005

MMC seeks salvation in flagship Outlander SUV

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Monday launched the new Outlander sport utility vehicle, its first all-new model in nearly 2 1/2 years, which it hopes can revitalize the struggling automaker.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 15, 2005

Blatter off his rocker with comments on player salaries

LONDON -- Imagine going in to your local bar and Bill, the guy who everyone loves but cannot take seriously, said: "I've got an idea. Why not make football a game of four quarters instead of two halves? The United States television market would like it."
SOCCER / World cup
Oct 15, 2005

Japan to face U.S.

Japan will play a friendly match against the United States in San Francisco in February next year ahead of the Germany 2006 World Cup, soccer sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2005

Postal bills become law

The hotly contested postal-privatization bills that have been at the center of a political firestorm this year were finally approved Friday, passing through a House of Councilors plenary session with relative ease.
EDITORIALS
Oct 15, 2005

Reining in medical expenditures

The Japanese spent 31.4 trillion yen for medical services in fiscal 2004, or about 246,000 yen per person, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year. The figure of 2 percent may be a small and acceptable growth, requiring no stricter lid on the rise of the nation's medical spending. But Japan's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Oct 14, 2005

Trendy Naka-Meguro is on the Bals

It used to be that Japanese consumers tended not to spend a great deal on their homes. Over the last decade or so, however, that has changed, and firms like Bals Corporation have proved extremely successful at selling the notion of home improvement to Japan.
BUSINESS
Oct 13, 2005

Pentax, Korean firm target DSLRs

Pentax Corp. said Wednesday it has agreed with Samsung Techwin Co. of South Korea to jointly develop digital single-lens reflex cameras.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2005

Ministry to boost second opinions

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is reportedly considering offering remuneration to doctors under the medical insurance system for providing data to another doctor on patients seeking a second opinion.
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 2005

Help for victims of asbestos

The government has drafted an outline of a bill to provide financial aid to sufferers of asbestos-caused cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the membranes surrounding the lungs, and to bereaved family members of victims. The government hopes to have the Diet enact the bill next year.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 9, 2005

Dark season for Giants comes to quiet end at Tokyo Dome

The atmosphere was very strange at Tokyo Dome last Wednesday, Oct. 5, as the Yomiuri Giants closed out a dismal 2005 season and two years of something between mediocrity and futility under the leadership of manager Tsuneo Horiuchi.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 8, 2005

Conor Hanratty

Conor Hanratty of Ireland says there is obvious benefit in studying a subject ranking amongst the less sought-after. When he enrolled in Royal Holloway, University of London, for his master's degree in Greek theater performance, he was one of only four in his class. Undoubtedly he did not require individual...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2005

Kodansha creates Kenzaburo Oe literary award

Publishing house Kodansha Ltd. has created a literary award named after Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe to promote Japanese novels worldwide.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 6, 2005

Rengo to stress part-, full-time gap

The nation's largest labor organization said Wednesday it will give priority to narrowing social disparity in its policies for fiscal 2006 by extending support for part-time and temporary workers and small and midsize companies.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2005

Election provides steam for cutting medical costs

The political football of how to curb Japan's snowballing medical expenses was high on the agenda Tuesday as the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy accelerated discussions on the fiscal 2006 budget.

Longform

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