Search - about-us

 
 
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2003

The micro and the macro

Have you noticed how the news has been running on two different tracks lately? The truth is, it probably always does, but every now and then the split suddenly seems more striking. On the one hand, there are the day-to-day ups and downs of human existence, everything from the weather to prognostications...
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Three held over assault on homeless

OSAKA -- Police arrested three teenagers on Saturday in connection with an assault on four homeless men in a park in Osaka Prefecture the previous day.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2003

Profits perpetuate horrors of child labor

MADRAS, India -- There is Dickensian distress in India, where child labor persists despite a law and a court order. Fifteen million children below 14 continue to work in the most horrific of conditions in blatant violation of the Indian Supreme Court ruling, which had called for the enforcement of the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 16, 2003

Don't be too quick to jump on the bondwagon

Two weeks ago, post offices and financial institutions began taking orders for new Japanese government bonds targeted exclusively at individuals and set to go on sale March 10. Post offices immediately booked sales for all 50 billion yen worth of bonds they were entrusted with, and the remaining 280...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 16, 2003

Notes from the front

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Hokkaido Television, Asahi TV will present a special installment in its Human Vision series of social-historical video documentaries. "Kiri no Nikki: Aryushan kara no Dengon (Diary in the Fog: A Message from the Aleutians)" (Feb. 16 at 2 p.m.)...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

An omiai conjurer of couples out of singles

Mitsuko Kai stifles a sigh as she watches her visitor, Yuko Saito, cross out one candidate after another.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

A world of fashion at your fingertips

Whether they're designers in search of inspiration, wardrobe masters or mistresses in the theater or movies, students, or just lovers of beautiful things, those interested in the history of women's clothing no longer have to beat a path to Kyoto to see the world's largest private collection of fashion...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2003

Antiwar protesters march in Tokyo

Thousands of people took to Japan's streets Saturday to protest against a probable war in Iraq.
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 16, 2003

Pride on the line in Asian Champions Cup

This is not just about club soccer. Managers of all four teams playing in the A3 Mazda Champions Cup stressed Friday that they will fight in the inaugural East Asian tournament with the pride while representing their countries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 16, 2003

Songs of the sorta rich and famous

Daniel Johnston is apparently napping. His father, Bill, who answers the phone, says to someone, "Tell Dan it's his interview from Japan."
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2003

WTO still divided on farm trade tariffs

The World Trade Organization will draw up another proposal on farm trade reforms before its self-imposed March 31 deadline to set new rules, as members remained sharply at odds over the first draft issued by a WTO panel chief earlier this week, officials said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 16, 2003

Democracy in Myanmar going nowhere

Myanmar has no formal greeting words. A surprise? But we have variations that are more practical to our lives, depending on the time and circumstances. If you meet someone along the way, the most common words are: Where do you come from? Where are you going? Or, how are your father's, mother's or your...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

Making a match all manner of ways

It wasn't so long ago that the Japanese ideal was to be married by age 25, typically to someone handpicked by parents. At its core, matrimony was an economic arrangement with all the romantic overtones of a mortgage contract.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Feb 16, 2003

Hornets face penalty after shortfall in season ticket sales

NEW YORK -- By popular demand, this campground is employing new guidelines for the second half of the season: Making fun is out, making knowledge is in. Any hint of an association between the two is purely accidental.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

When you need a hand ...

Married with two children, 46-year-old Kumiko Mashima thinks her life is just about perfect. She met her loving husband through an omiai -- a formal introduction arranged by a go-between with a view to marriage -- and they both adore their daughters. But before she found her way into her husband's arms,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Feb 16, 2003

Lowdown on rising stars

They sing low and they're aiming high.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2003

EU trade chief voices concern over NTT connection fees

European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy voiced concern Friday about Japan's plan to allow Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. to raise the interconnection fees it charges other carriers to access its phone networks, Japanese trade officials said.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Gang of teens attacks homeless men

OSAKA -- About 30 teenagers wielding steel pipes and baseball bats assaulted 10 homeless men sleeping in a park in Osaka Prefecture early Friday, inflicting various injuries, police said. The teenagers, who appeared to be either junior high or high school students, arrived on scooters and bicycles at...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Shiga 'eco-village' lures many disciplines

HIKONE, Shiga Pref. -- Rooftop solar panels provide energy and heat water. Rainwater is collected and used for washing and toilets. Kitchen waste and leaves are composted into fertilizers for crops. People work on farms and community businesses.
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2003

Why hasn't Saddam killed all Americans?

WASHINGTON -- Americans all should be dead. At least, Americans all should be dead if the Bush administration is correct about Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. It believes there is nothing today that prevents a weak and isolated Iraq from striking the United States, the globe's dominant power.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

LDP may field DPJ member in Kanagawa governor race

The Liberal Democratic Party is reportedly considering an unusual tactic for the Kanagawa gubernatorial election in April -- fielding a current Diet member of the Democratic Party of Japan.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2003

Toyota to sell Lexus on domestic market

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it will introduce its Lexus luxury brand on the domestic market.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2003

GDP rises 0.5% but outlook still gloomy

The economy eked out a marginal increase of 0.5 percent in the October-December period from the previous quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of growth, the Cabinet Office said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 15, 2003

'Yaido': the deep art of beheading people

Have you ever had the urge to behead someone? Now you can. Behead as many people as you like, and additionally slice off their limbs. But there are some restrictions: only between the hours of 7 and 9 on Tuesday nights at a particular dojo in the city of Okayama. Ueno-sensei would be your teacher --...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Chile president stresses need for fresh resolution prior to attack on Iraq

Visiting Chilean President Ricardo Lagos on Friday stressed the importance of the U.N. Security Council adopting a fresh resolution before any military action is taken against Iraq.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Ministry to discount bridge tolls in bid to lure motorists

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry will further reduce tolls on three bridges linking Honshu and Shikoku in a bid to get people to use the heavily indebted expressways, transport minister Chikage Ogi said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Osaka to build world's largest planetarium theater screen

OSAKA -- The city of Osaka has unveiled a plan to build the world's largest "all-sky" screen at the Osaka Science Museum's planetarium theater to project celestial movements and simulate space travel.
JAPAN / PREFECTURAL FARE
Feb 15, 2003

Taste, color of Tokushima arrive in Tokyo

One weekday afternoon in January, an elderly woman dropped by Tokushima Ai-ai Plaza in Tokyo's Minato Ward just to pick up a package of boiled and dried baby sardines and fish paste.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person