Search - 2005

 
 
JAPAN
Dec 10, 2004

SDF troops will stay on in Iraq

The government made it official Thursday: the Self-Defense Forces troops in Iraq will stay for another year, as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi renewed his commitment to reconstruction efforts and to Japan's alliance with the United States.
BUSINESS
Dec 10, 2004

Resona wants 10% of branch chiefs to be female so bank can stand out

Resona Holdings Inc. wants to increase the number of female branch managers to 10 percent of its total number, Resona Chairman Eiji Hosoya said in a recent interview.
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2004

GDP revised downward to annual 0.2%

The economy grew an annualized 0.2 percent in the July-September quarter, not the 0.3 percent stated in the preliminary report last month, the government said Wednesday after tweaking the nation's gross domestic product under a new calculation method.
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2004

Fujitsu, Cisco form alliance on Net routers

Electronics maker Fujitsu and Internet technology giant Cisco have agreed to work together on developing high-end routers used for advanced Internet networks in Japan, the two companies announced Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 7, 2004

Partners for sustainability

Economic growth is essential for reducing poverty. But rapid economic expansion in the developing world is often associated with environmental degradation.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2004

New runway at Kansai airport nears government approval

The government will give the go-ahead to construct a second runaway at Kansai International Airport, to be operational in 2007, government sources said Sunday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 5, 2004

Way of the corporate giant robot

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, by Yoshiyuki Tomino, translated by Frederik L. Schodt with an introduction by Mark Simmons. Stone Bridge Press, 2004, $14.95 (paper). Yoshiyuki "Kill 'em All" Tomino is the mega-prolific creator of the Mobile Suit Gundam phenomenon, known, perhaps a little patronizingly, as the "Star...
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2004

GSDF officer involved in LDP's draft for constitutional revision

A senior officer in the Ground Self-Defense Force has compiled a draft plan for revising the Constitution to authorize the existence of a "military force" and enable the nation to engage in collective defense, it was learned Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2004

Japan mulling offensive missile capability

The government wants to research long-range precision missile technology, according to a draft outline of the midterm defense buildup plan for fiscal 2005-2009.
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2004

Japan to accelerate push for permanent UNSC seat

When United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan met with Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura in Egypt's Sharm el Sheikh last week, he playfully asked whether the so-called G4 nations' campaigning for U.N. Security Council reform stands for the "Gang of Four."
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 1, 2004

Kiyohara to play for Giants in 2005

Disgruntled veteran slugger Kazuhiro Kiyohara said Tuesday he has reached middle ground with the Yomiuri Giants and will play for the Central League club next season, the final year of his four-year deal.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2004

DoCoMo, mm02 to provide i-mode services in Europe

NTT DoCoMo Inc. and major British mobile carrier mm02 have agreed on a deal to allow mobile telephone users in Britain, Germany and Ireland to surf the Internet on their handsets, DoCoMo said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2004

Chinese sub highlights underseas rivalries

HONOLULU -- The incursion of a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine into Japanese territorial waters Nov. 10 has illuminated the mounting competition under the surface of the Pacific and Indian oceans and their adjacent seas.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2004

Challenges and opportunity

SINGAPORE -- As the first Indonesian president to be elected through direct universal suffrage, and backed by a mandate from a considerable majority of Indonesian voters, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is injecting new energy into the 10-member Association for Southeast Asian Nations. Furthermore,...
BASKETBALL
Nov 25, 2004

Japan to get new pro basketball league

Japanese basketball officials on Wednesday announced the formation of a new professional basketball league.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 25, 2004

Now may be the time to finesse U.S. 'bully'

Beneath the buzz of news last week, it was easy to overlook one important story -- as much of the media did. On Thursday, the Russian Federation submitted to the United Nations its ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, beginning a 90-day countdown to the protocol's entry into force. As a result, on Feb....
BUSINESS
Nov 23, 2004

Mizuho, SMFG loan ills abating

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the nation's biggest bank by assets, said Monday its first-half net profit fell 8.4 percent from a year earlier but its bad loans shrank due to improved earnings at borrower firms.
COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2004

Limits of education control

The proposed trilogy of tax and fiscal reforms, aimed at giving more fiscal independence to local governments, is troubled by disputes over whether the state should continue paying for compulsory education. At issue is whether the education ministry or the local autonomies should be responsible.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 22, 2004

Education for sustainable development

2005 will mark the start of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The Decade offers a vital opportunity to make real progress toward putting human society on the path to sustainability. More than one-fourth of humankind lives in conditions of chronic poverty. Famine, military...
BUSINESS
Nov 20, 2004

Fiscal panel calls for tax increases

An finance advisory panel Friday recommended the government drastically cut spending and increase revenue by raising taxes in order to restore Japan's fiscal health -- a prerequisite to ensuring a sustained domestic demand-led economic recovery.
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2004

Koizumi puts off final decision on contentious subsidy reforms

Blocked by fierce opposition from his own party, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday postponed finalizing a plan to give more fiscal freedom to prefectural and municipal governments.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2004

Derailment mars shinkansen safety myth

Reverberations from the bullet train derailment in Niigata Prefecture on Oct. 23 continue to echo across Japan, as experts debate whether it was luck or skill that saved the day for the passengers roughed up by the series of strong earthquakes.
EDITORIALS
Nov 16, 2004

Steps for the Palestinians

The death of Palestine Authority President Yasser Arafat opens the door to new possibilities in the troubled Middle East. While Mr. Arafat was the embodiment of Palestinian aspirations, he had also become an obstacle to peace. His most important interlocutors -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Nov 16, 2004

How old is too old to teach?

Too old? G. is a a 60-year-old native English speaking female who has earned a BS in Elementary Education and an Associate's Degree in Early Childhood Education.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past