Search - about-us

 
 
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 25, 2003

Time to examine different approaches toward education

The eradication of illiteracy throughout the world is an ongoing endeavor and a noble one. However, in countries where the vast majority of the population can now read and write, those populations did not, as the German poet-essayist Hans Magnus Enzensberger once said, learn to do so "because they felt...
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2003

Auguries in a coffee cup

Eight years ago, there was no such thing as a Starbucks coffee shop in Japan. Now they are part of the landscape; in the big cities, you can often find two or three of the ubiquitous stores with the round green logo within a couple of blocks of each other. That might sound like the ultimate definition...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 25, 2003

The boy bachelor

Last week, the National Tax Bureau released its annual list of the country's top tax-payers, and at the summit of the pile of show business personalities was Masahiro Nakai, the self-effacing leader of the boy group SMAP. Nakai's high salary is easy to understand: He appears in at least a half-dozen...
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2003

Marooned Argentines trust in Kirchner

NEW YORK -- The election of Nestor Kirchner as Argentina's new president offers hope for a national economic and social recovery following decades of government mismanagement. Kirchner will need to back his intentions with prompt implementation of effective policies to convince Argentines that he will...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2003

Fuji Heavy banking on new Legacy

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which makes Subaru vehicles, launched a remodeled Legacy wagon on the domestic market Friday, hoping the key product will reinvigorate the carmaker's sluggish sales.
COMMENTARY / World
May 24, 2003

Restoring trust in the ROK-U.S. alliance

South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and U.S. President George Bush took a major step in restoring mutual trust in the South Korea-U.S. alliance by announcing at their May 14 summit that the Korean Peninsula should be nuclear-free and that the North Korean nuclear problem should be resolved through peaceful...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 24, 2003

Jury out on new bank's prospects

A new bank proposed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government appears to be good news for struggling smaller companies.
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2003

A boost for Japan-China ties?

China has been attracting much attention in the international community of late for both positive and negative reasons. On the positive side, as the confrontation between the United States and North Korea intensifies, and the positions of Japan and South Korea remain delicate, China is playing the role...
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2003

Tighten Japan's tobacco controls

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control adopted at the latest annual assembly of the World Health Organization is the first multilateral pact in the field of public health. The harmful effects of tobacco on health are well-known, but its use remains widespread. The fact is that while the health dangers...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 24, 2003

Steven Morgan

A pattern for life was set very early for Steven Morgan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 24, 2003

Dancing hands are guides along path of healing

Ray Baskerville is tall, lean, articulate and easy to talk to, and his hands weave mysterious patterns in the air as he heals clients back to physical and spiritual well-being.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 24, 2003

The 49th day -- tradition and cat hair

Four rolls of toilet paper, one bag of fried shrimp snacks, "manju," bourbon biscuits, two pieces of "milk candy" and some liquid soap. That's what I got on the 49th day of my landlord's death.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2003

Al-Qaeda sends world a warning

A series of bomb attacks last week killed hopes that the threat from al-Qaeda was diminishing. Experts worry that the string of apparent successes in the international war against terrorism might even trigger more attacks. Ominously, the terrorists are focusing on softer targets, proving once again that...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2003

Disinflation to accelerate in major economies: Fukui

The world's major economies are on the verge of accelerated disinflation as deflationary pressure grows on a global scale, Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Thursday.
COMMENTARY
May 23, 2003

Politics placed before health

WASHINGTON -- If the infectious disease SARS breaks out around the globe, it most likely will come from China, the world's most populous state with a primitive health-care system and vast rural population. And if severe acute respiratory syndrome spreads from China, the cause will be the Chinese government's...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2003

Broadband mart seen growing fivefold in five years

The telecommunications ministry expects the value of the nation's broadband market to post a fivefold surge to 10.2 trillion yen over the next five years, according to a copy of a draft 2003 white paper made available Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2003

Nintendo's record profit run ends

Nintendo Co. said Thursday its consolidated net profit fell 36.8 percent to 67.27 billion yen in fiscal 2002, largely due to lower-than-expected sales of game consoles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
May 23, 2003

Up there, where the grapes grow slow

An old quip in the wine trade asks, "What do you get when you combine grape juice, brown sugar, white spirits and a few extra-large dollops of oak flavoring?" The answer, which should be obvious to anyone who has trawled the bargain-bin section of Japanese wine shops in the last few years, is "Shiraz,...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 23, 2003

Scottish Premier League title race set to go down to the wire

LONDON -- As Celtic flew home from Seville on Thursday after the UEFA Cup final against FC Porto (a 3-2 extra-time defeat) its preparations for what many believe is an even bigger game began immediately -- a league match away to Kilmarnock. The game may not have the romance of a European final but the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 23, 2003

Akebono lives life to the full

"It was," my dining companion recalls with a sigh, "a diet with just one purpose: to get you to put on weight."
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2003

A fairer sharing of pensions

A government advisory council on social security is considering a proposal to split company-retirement pensions between husbands and wives. The primary aim is to guarantee pension rights for full-time housewives (those not working part time) in recognition of their household work and other duties such...
SUMO
May 22, 2003

JSA warns yokozuna over bad behavior

Yokozuna Asashoryu has been given a stiff warning about his recent disreputable behavior in the sacred ring, Japan Sumo Association officials said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2003

Donald Rumsfeld making big waves

SEOUL -- U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is the man the world loves to hate. The blunt-speaking former wrestler has managed to infuriate U.S. friends and allies, declaring the nations of "Old Europe" irrelevant and undermining British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the eve of the Iraqi war by...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 22, 2003

Capsule maker makes hay amid SARS panic

A Tokyo company that manufactures enclosed capsules used to transport infectious patients has been swamped with inquiries amid the SARS scare.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2003

Aceh won't derail Indonesia

SINGAPORE -- Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has signed a presidential decree putting Aceh under martial law and authorizing military operations after the latest peace talks collapsed in Tokyo last weekend.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2003

Euro's supporters face uphill battle in Britain

LONDON -- If a strong economy and a strong currency are meant to go hand in hand, the 12-nation euro zone is disproving conventional wisdom, and posing stiff challenges for policymakers with implications for the wider world economy.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 22, 2003

Katydid

* Japanese name: Sesuji tsuyumushi * Scientific name: Ducetia japonica * Description: Katydids (also known as bush crickets) belong to a family of grasshoppers and crickets called the Tettigoniidae. The insects in this family have very long antennae, like threads, sometimes two or three times the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 22, 2003

EA scores big time with 'MVP Baseball'

Who knows what burr got under Electronic Arts' saddle, but the biggest name in sports games is really sharpening its act. The publisher of such megahits as "John Madden NFL Football" and "FIFA Soccer," EA has always kind of stunk at baseball. Not anymore.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
May 22, 2003

Political scientist gained key perspective in Japan

On March 19, just hours before U.S. forces began their raids on Baghdad, more than 50 U.S. government intelligence experts as well as scholars and embassy staff from several South Asian countries assembled in a top-floor room at John Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies for a...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDEN PATHS
May 22, 2003

Seasonal spectaculars

In the last week or so, roses have been taking the first of their twice-yearly turns to brighten the streets of Tokyo. Potted roses in narrow sidewalk gardens and shrub roses arching over railway fences have suddenly burst into glorious colors.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo