Search - health

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2002

S&P downplays drug price cuts

Standard & Poor's Corp. said Wednesday that the Japanese government's planned cuts in drug reimbursement prices will have a limited impact on its ratings for seven Japanese pharmaceuticals.
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2002

Fund to fight AIDS set to debut

In an effort to bring the spread of infectious diseases under control, the multibillion-dollar Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will make its official debut at a ceremony in New York next month.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2002

Minister hints CJD settlement near

The government will do its utmost to settle a lawsuit by one Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease victim and 19 families of deceased victims who are seeking a total of 1.16 billion yen in compensation from the state and companies involved, the health minister said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2002

Britain warned Japan about MBM in 1990

The British government warned Japan's farm ministry in 1990 that meat-and-bone meal, an animal-based feed, could be the source of mad cow disease, a ministry report to a study panel revealed Tuesday.
COMMUNITY
Feb 24, 2002

'Technostress': Rage against the machine

Satoru Kobayashi, a 25-year-old computer programmer, had made smooth progress through life, with good grades from good schools. He had always been an introvert, though, with few friends, so his job as a programmer at a foreign-affiliated software manufacturing company suited him well.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2002

Detained Afghans languishing

In the shadow of Japan's pledge of $500 million in reconstruction aid for Afghanistan, asylum-seekers who fled the war-torn country remain in detention as they await deportation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2002

Chino cements image as ADB's best chief ever

MANILA It was the most important night of the year. As "Show 2001" got off to a start, the hall was packed to standing room only, and talented employees -- mostly Filipinos -- strutted their stuff in aid of local charities.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2002

Will Blair err as Icarus did?

LONDON -- No European leader rode higher in the reaction to the Sept. 11 attack in New York than Tony Blair. The British prime minister immediately rallied to the American cause, enunciated the need to fight terrorism in ringing tones and committed troops to fight in Afghanistan. At last he had emerged...
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

Vive la Kansai-Kanto difference

OSAKA -- Despite corruption scandal after corruption scandal, there is still evidence that not all bureaucrats are bad. Driven by public interest, an army of elite government bureaucrats (and their corporate counterparts) are diligently investigating the really important issues that divide Kansai and...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 17, 2002

Let the masses consume

CHINA'S CENTURY: The Awakening of the Next Economic Powerhouse, edited by Lawrence J. Brahm. John Wiley & Sons, 2001, 421 pp., $24.95 (cloth) Pick up an international paper published before Sept. 11, and China is either on the front page or generously featured inside. Not anymore. The rising giant of...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2002

Lawmakers plan antismoking league

Diet lawmakers are preparing to launch a nonpartisan antismoking league to cut health hazards and medical costs associated with tobacco, according to organizers.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Feb 10, 2002

Battle begins for security, 'other stuff'

WASHINGTON -- In his first formal State of the Union address, President George W. Bush portrayed the terrorism threat in stark detail, disclosing that American forces in Afghanistan have found diagrams of U.S. nuclear power plants and suggested that "tens of thousands of trained terrorists are still...
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2002

Study calculates smoking risks

The mortality rate of male smokers who died from mainly cancer-related causes was 1.6 times higher than nonsmoking males, indicating that not smoking could have prevented one in five of those deaths, according to a recent health ministry report.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORKING IT OUT
Feb 5, 2002

Are 'freeters' result of slump, source of next one?

Tomoko Noguchi, 22, got her first bar hostess job about three years ago, while studying to become an aesthetician at a vocational school.
COMMENTARY
Feb 4, 2002

Price of pure market reform

"Kozo kaikaku"(structural reform) is the buzzword these days. But it isn't clear exactly what it means. Yet it is the "clincher" in newspaper articles, economic journals and TV comments by economists. The common belief here is that structural reform is in and by itself good. It is held as an article...
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2002

Cancer patients' consent sought to study samples

The National Cancer Center has launched a scheme under which it will ask all new patients to given written consent for their blood, tissues or medical records to be used for research, officials at the Tokyo hospital said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Unwed moms' public aid upheld

The past denial of child-care allowance to unwed mothers after men stepped forward as the fathers of their children was illegal, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, because divorced mothers receiving alimony were already entitled to the payment.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2002

Crisis fears grow as crunch time for banks nears

A recent nationwide flurry of collapsing credit unions and "shinkin" credit associations was accompanied by a total lack of panic.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2002

Red Cross wants ban lifted on hepatitis-tainted blood

The Japanese Red Cross Society has asked the health ministry to lift its ban on shipments of blood products made using blood tainted with the hepatitis B virus, according to ministry sources.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2002

First tests on suspect chemicals complete

The Environment Ministry said Monday it has finished a preliminary assessment to determine if 39 chemicals pose a potential danger to humans and wildlife, and will perform in-depth tests on five chemicals that appear especially pernicious.
COMMENTARY
Jan 29, 2002

Work-sharing accord nears

Amid the prolonged recession, Japanese officials are giving serious consideration to a work-sharing system that has been common in Europe for a long time. Last month, government, labor and management officials held a top-level meeting to discuss the issue under orders from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi....
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2002

Red Cross urges OK of 'safe' blood goods

The Japanese Red Cross Society has asked the health ministry to lift its ban on shipments of blood products, part of which stemmed from blood tainted with type B hepatitis virus, arguing that the virus is removed in the production process, ministry sources said.
COMMUNITY
Jan 27, 2002

We've lost that food-loving feeling

Feeling hungry? Luckily, those of us living in the here-and-now can eat almost anything we want, anytime we want -- and as much as we like.
COMMUNITY
Jan 27, 2002

Eating disorders claiming ever younger victims

Aya Omiya was only 12 years old when she was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. She was 17 when she died.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2002

Report aims at cleanup of soil pollution

An advisory body to the Environment Ministry submitted a report Friday proposing steps to prevent and clean up soil pollution, and manage health risks posed by land already contaminated.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2002

Legionnaires' disease death linked to Tokyo public bath

A 77-year-old man has died of pneumonia caused by legionella bacteria at a public bath in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, the health ministry said.

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