Search - (2006-01-27)

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2005

State to draft law on asbestos redress

The government will draft a law outlining compensation for victims of asbestos-related illnesses, including those who lived near asbestos-linked factories and the families of those who worked with the unburnable material, the Cabinet decided Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Population may begin decline in '05

2005 may see Japan's population shrink for the first time, according to health ministry figures released Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 24, 2005

Salary reform for public servants

has recommended that the government reduce the annual salary of central government workers for fiscal 2005 by 0.1 percent, or 4,000 yen from the previous fiscal year's level, to bring it into closer alignment with the annual salary level for private-sector workers. More importantly, it has called for...
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2005

Asset depreciation limit targeted

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is lobbying for removal of the limit on corporate fixed-asset depreciation to help improve companies' international competitiveness, ministry officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN / POLL SHOWDOWN
Aug 23, 2005

Rebels who don't quit LDP face penalties

All of the Liberal Democratic Party members who voted against Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization bills in the House of Representatives should leave the party when running in the Sept. 11 general election, LDP Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 22, 2005

Asian chance after Annan

The term of Kofi Annan as U.N. secretary general (SG) expires Dec. 31, 2006. Countries and individuals have begun to position themselves to succeed him. If Asians are to have a credible chance of filling what should rightfully be their turn at the job, their discussions and negotiations in the next six...
EDITORIALS
Aug 22, 2005

For safer travel over 65

The National Police Agency chose "Striving for the World's Safest Road Traffic" as the main theme of its 2005 white paper made public recently. This is the first time in about a quarter-century that traffic safety has been the main feature of the annual report, thus denoting the agency's enthusiasm for...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 21, 2005

Hoshino, the next manager of the Giants? Not so fast!

The Nikkan Sports paper claimed in back-to-back front pages on Aug. 11-12 that former Chunichi Dragons and Hanshin Tigers manager Senichi Hoshino has been offered the job to head the Yomiuri Giants in 2006.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Aug 21, 2005

Rallying round home-grown sounds

It's the final day of this year's Rock in Japan festival, which took place Aug. 5-7. Holding court in the HMV DJ booth is entertainer Yoshiaki Umegaki. He's a late fortysomething transvestite sporting a tall blue wig and playing with his plastic breasts under a fetching blue sequined number while pouring...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 20, 2005

Natural gas pipeline may energize peace

MADRAS, India -- It is being called the Peace Pipe. The natural gas pipeline running from Iran to India through Pakistan may be a reality in early 2006. Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Iyer made this announcement during his recent visit to Islamabad.
JAPAN
Aug 19, 2005

Firms urged to use new FTA zone

Seven leaders of Central American and Caribbean countries called on Japanese companies Thursday to use their nations as U.S.-bound export platforms, according to businesspeople who attended a forum with the leaders.
SOCCER / World cup
Aug 18, 2005

Japan gets revenge

YOKOHAMA -- Akira Kaji scored his first goal for Japan and Masashi Oguro capped a fine forward display with a second-half header to give Japan a 2-1 victory over Iran in their final Group B 2006 World Cup qualifying match at International Stadium Yokohama on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 18, 2005

ATM card theft rescue

A sharp rise in thefts and forgeries of cash cards, or ATM cards, and the resultant loss of cash from deposits has become a serious problem. Last year there were 3,448 ATM card thefts and forgeries, causing losses worth some 2.4 billion, yen according to the National Police Agency.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2005

DPJ's platform vows troop pullout

The Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday unveiled its platform for the Sept. 11 election, pledging to pull the Ground Self-Defense Force out of Iraq by December if it comes to power.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 17, 2005

Artists' works join the EU

In the last 30 years, the central eastern European nations of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have experienced tumultuous times. Under communism, state control and censorship forced artists to be regional and nationalistic, but since the soft slides into capitalism and democracy epitomized...
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2005

0.1% salary cut sought for government workers

The National Personnel Authority asked the government Monday to cut the basic annual salary for central government workers by 0.1 percent, or 4,000 yen, for this fiscal year through next March.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2005

MTFG-UFJ merger officially put off till Jan. 1

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. and UFJ Holdings Inc. formally announced Friday the postponement of the planned integration of their core banking units until Jan. 1, three months after their original schedule.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2005

Defeat leaves LDP split as election looms

Monday's rejection by the House of Councilors of the postal privatization bills has left the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party sharply divided as it faces a general election in the coming weeks and a possible fall from power.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2005

Thousands mark Hiroshima A-bomb

HIROSHIMA -- Hiroshima marked the 60th anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing Saturday with calls for more international grassroots activism to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and harsh criticism of the nuclear powers for blocking such efforts.
JAPAN
Aug 7, 2005

Koizumi's date with history

Speculation over one question that could greatly affect Japan's ties with Asian neighbors has been circulating in Nagatacho, Japan's political epicenter.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2005

Net income up better than 10% for three megabanks

Three of the nation's top four banking groups said Monday they saw net income for the April-June quarter rise more than 10 percent on a year-on-year basis thanks to a fall in costs linked to bad-loan disposals.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2005

SDF transport planes to get refuel upgrade

The Defense Agency plans to seek funding to make Air Self-Defense Force C-130 transport aircraft capable of receiving in-air refueling, agency sources said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 31, 2005

Rescue from property sharks

Fraudulent and malicious sales methods victimizing innocent people have become a social issue. In a typical case, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested four former salesmen last month on suspicion of having cajoled or pressured some 5,400 people in 34 prefectures into signing contracts for...
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2005

Honda spearheads first-half upsurge in auto production

Japan's automobile production in the first half of the year expanded 3.4 percent from a year earlier to 5,484,421 vehicles, as both domestic shipments and exports grew, an industry body said in a preliminary report released Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2005

Technology eyed to make heavens open

The government plans to seek funds in fiscal 2006 to develop technology to artificially induce rainfall to fight droughts or prevent torrential rain, Cabinet Office officials said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2005

Postal bill battle may doom LDP

The decisive moment for the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is approaching, and it is one that the Liberal Democratic Party's elders fear may shatter its decades-long grip on power.
JAPAN
Jul 29, 2005

Revisionist school textbooks get metro nod

The Tokyo Metropolitan board of education adopted two contentious social studies textbooks Thursday that critics say distort history and gloss over Japan's wartime atrocities.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2005

Japan begins quest for fastest supercomputer

The technology ministry aims to develop a next-generation supercomputer some 73 times faster than today's record-holder, ministry officials said Monday.

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