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EDITORIALS
May 20, 2005

A cautiously optimistic view

On the face of it, Japan's economy appears headed for a full-fledged recovery. In the first quarter of 2005, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.3 percent from the previous quarter, or 5.3 percent in annualized terms, according to the Cabinet Office. It was the first solid quarterly growth since...
COMMENTARY
May 14, 2005

How the U.S. courts a diplomatic fiasco

LOS ANGELES -- The government of North Korea is difficult to deal with, no matter who you are. Just ask China's leaders. After all, they are Pyongyang's closest ally and yet they probably find dealing with leader Kim Jong Il not a whole lot more fun than their testy cross-strait exchanges with Taiwan's...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 13, 2005

A Tokyo hotline to Bangkok

Hyakunincho, Tokyo's most polyglot district, is only a two-minute train ride from the heart of Shinjuku, but it almost feels like leaving the country. In the 1980s, when Southeast Asian food was still a novelty in other parts of town, this was where we came to forage, lured by the exotic perfume of lemongrass,...
BUSINESS
May 12, 2005

Troubled MMC plans to launch electric minicar

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Wednesday it plans to launch an electric minivehicle by 2010, choosing to focus resources on development of electric vehicle technology to differentiate itself from automakers already producing hybrid-engine cars.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2005

U.S. expert to preach the tough love of M&As

Thanks to play-by-play television coverage of Internet firm Livedoor Co.'s aborted attempt to takeover Fuji Television Network Inc., discussion about mergers and acquisitions has spread far beyond Tokyo's Otemachi business district.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 8, 2005

TV show scrapes bottom of barrel in bringing Asia to Japan

One of the hoariest cliches of international politics is the idea that governments only have beefs with other governments, not with their citizens. The tragic irony is that the citizens suffer anyway. Maybe the majority of Iraqi people didn't like their tyrant, but one has to wonder how much they accept...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 8, 2005

TBS's drama special "Yao" shows a young man in the world of host clubs, and more

Women with no money or job prospects often become bar hostesses, where the only skill required is an ability to make men part with their money. Lately, the tables have been turning, with male hosts trying to get well-to-do women to buy expensive drinks by engaging them in flattering conversation.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 7, 2005

Knitting trip around Japan ties up more projects

One Japan-related project attracts attention at "Knit 2 Together: Concepts in Knitting," organized by the U.K.'s Crafts Council and on show in London until May 15, from where it will set out to tour Britain as part of the "Knitting and Stitching Show 2005."
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 7, 2005

A golden week of Jakarta traffic chaos

I admit, I fled. I wanted to go somewhere for Golden Week but I didn't want an organized, efficient, clean vacation like I'd have traveling around Japan. I wanted something more spontaneous, more edgy, with a little more risk. I longed for the chaos of a big South Asian city, and people with big natural...
EDITORIALS
May 5, 2005

A historic visit to China

China closed a chapter in its history this week with the visit to the mainland by Mr. Lien Chan, the head of Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalist Party. Mr. Lien's trip was the first by a KMT leader since Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan in 1949, abandoning the country to Mao Zedong and the Chinese...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 3, 2005

If you get married and have children, what will you do with your career?

Miho Yamanaka I.T, 31 I work at a foreign bank and there are lots of women who took maternity leave. If I married a traditional Japanese man -- and he was a millionaire -- and I didn't have to work, then I wouldn't.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 3, 2005

Rail passes, credit and changing your cash

More credit queries I notice lately you've had a lot of queries regarding credit cards in Japan. One question I'm curious about is -- why?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 2, 2005

Wash away city-life stress with the traditional onsen experience

THE JAPANESE SPA: A Guide to Japan's Finest Ryokan and Onsen, by Akihiko Seki and Elizabeth Heilman Brooke. Tokyo: Tuttle, 2005, 175 pp., $26.95 (cloth). Here we discover the art and aesthetics of the Japanese hot spring (onsen) experience. Twenty-eight exquisite inns (ryokan) are featured in some 400...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 1, 2005

Fuji TV's "Naruhodo the World" makes a brief comeback, and more

On Monday, TV Tokyo's business documentary series "Gaia no Yoake" (The Dawn of Gaia; 10 p.m.) will look at NEET, an acronym coined in England that stands for "not in education, employment or training," and which describes young adults who are neither in school or in the workforce.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 1, 2005

Sadako Ogata: Front-line fighter for a better world

Sadako Ogata, formerly United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is one of Japan's most prominent international figures.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2005

Airports packed as Golden Week starts in earnest

The departure rush for travelers looking to exploit this year's unusually convenient Golden Week holiday period peaked Friday at Narita and Kansai airports, Japan's two major international gateways.
EDITORIALS
Apr 29, 2005

Learn from the train tragedy

Monday's railway accident in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, was the worst since Japanese National Railways was privatized in 1987. A packed seven-car commuter train jumped the tracks at a sharp curve and the front car slammed into the parking floor of a nearby apartment building, killing more than 100...
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2005

Cooked books seen at 29 police forces

The National Police Agency has discovered accounting irregularities tied to investigative expenses at 29 prefectural police forces, agency officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2005

Aichi, Tokyo top list of worst prefectures for car pollution

Aichi Prefecture tops the list of prefectures in total carbon dioxide emissions from cars, but Tokyo is even worse when it comes to the amount released from a car per kilometer, the Land, Infrastructure and Transportation Ministry said.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 26, 2005

The show's over

Marietta was with some Filipino friends in their local station when they were approached by a group of men they didn't know. One took her arm, and asked to see her alien registration card and passport. His badge showed he was from the Immigration Office. "Now they are checking everybody," she says. ...
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2005

Credit card fraud -- how they do it and how to protect yourself

People walking around with their wallets sticking up out of their back pockets is a sight pickpockets in Japan are only too used to being grateful for.
Japan Times
Features
Apr 24, 2005

Menswear to the rescue

The Fall 2005 season saw the Tokyo Collections in a sorry state.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2005

Bug in antivirus software hits LANs at JR East, some media

Computer local area networks at East Japan Railway Co. and some media organizations were inaccessible Saturday morning, apparently due to a bug in antivirus software made by Trend Micro Inc.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Apr 22, 2005

Trilogy in a triangle

In general, pre-bubble nightlife in Tokyo was rather dull. In the early 1980s, a Saturday night out in Shinjuku or Roppongi meant jockeying for space in a crowded disco with packs of Japanese intent on line dancing in front of mirrors. There were a few alternative bars scattered in and around Aoyama,...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Apr 21, 2005

Matters of survival in a 'shattered world'

One of the best things about writing a newspaper column is that I get a chance to meet people whose paths I might otherwise never cross. Last weekend, at the Odaiba waterfront launch of Earth Day Tokyo 2005, I had the rare pleasure of meeting and interviewing two environmentalists I have long admired,...
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2005

Chiba store to get first IY Bank branch

IY Bank Co., a subsidiary of major retailer Ito-Yokado Co., will open its first branch offering a full range of financial services inside an Ito-Yokado outlet in the city of Chiba on April 27, bank officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2005

White powder sent to Chinese Embassy

An envelope containing a harmless white powder was sent to the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo on Friday, police said Saturday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 15, 2005

We are the robots

EXPO 2005 Aichi, now entering the fourth week of its 180-day run, is providing visitors with thousands of thrilling glimpses of the future. With all manner of advanced technology on show -- from humanoid robots to next-generation transportation systems -- the world of tomorrow has never felt so close....
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 12, 2005

English schools face huge insurance probe

The Social Insurance Agency is to investigate Japan's largest English-language teaching companies over a suspected failure to enroll their full-time foreign employees in the employees' pension and health insurance schemes.
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2005

Hostile rallies put companies on edge

Japanese firms doing business with China are taking precautionary measures following a raft of violent anti-Japanese rallies there over the weekend.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji