Search - about-us

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2002

Asian students face slim job prospects

As the decade-long economic slump grinds on, non-Japanese Asians studying in Japan face diminishing job prospects amid language and cultural barriers, a lack of information, a hermetic corporate culture and competition from native students.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2002

Kato hit over undeclared 80 million yen

Koichi Kato, a former lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party, failed to declare some 80 million yen in taxable income in the three years through 2001, informed sources said Monday.
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 1, 2002

World Cup memories:

Steve Perryman is currently manager of J. League club Kashiwa Reysol and a former boss at Shimizu S-Pulse. Perryman played for England's Under-23 side and won one cap with the senior team. He also won two F.A. Cups, two League Cups and two UEFA Cups as captain of English club Tottenham Hotspur. Following...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2002

Arrangement keeps Hong Kong on track

Since assuming the post of principal representative for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Tokyo a little more than a month ago, I have found tremendous interest here in what has been happening to Hong Kong following its reunification with China on July 1, 1997. About five years before reunification,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2002

ATM-phobia marks banking leap in Laos

VIENTIANE -- It is only an ATM, but it might as well be an alien spacecraft that crash-landed in central Vientiane. People still do not know what to make of the country's first ATM, despite the fact that it was installed three months ago.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2002

Doctor held in child's death may not have told staff of method change

A doctor suspected of negligence in the death of a 12-year-old girl was sent to prosecutors Sunday. He apparently failed to inform his surgical team of a change in method during the girl's operation, investigative sources said Sunday.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2002

Euthanasia doctor defends actions

A doctor accused of performing unlawful euthanasia defended her actions as ones of conscience in a recent interview with Kyodo News.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2002

Psychiatrist group changes translation of schizophrenia

The Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology formally has officially decided to use a new Japanese term for schizophrenia to help increase public understanding of the disorder and reduce discrimination faced by patients and their families.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 1, 2002

Dollar weighed down by external debts, tax cuts, skittish investors

The dollar is losing ground against major currencies and the foreign-exchange rates are reflecting the relative strengths of the economies involved.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2002

Exchange program extends to Korea

A government-sponsored summer program promoting exchanges between Japanese and Japanese-speaking foreign guests will for the first time expand its activities to South Korea, according to an official of the Japan Return Program.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2002

September to see Cabinet shuffle, claims Yamasaki

The secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Sunday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is planning a Cabinet shuffle in September.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Jul 1, 2002

Scapegoat seekers fuel nation's decline

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- It is natural when one has domestic problems to look for foreign scapegoats. The United States' paranoia over Japan's trade surplus and foreign-investment binge in the 1980s is a good example. While most nations reflect this general syndrome up to a point, the Japanese seem to...
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2002

Foreigners in their midst

The European Union, concerned increasingly about the rising anti-immigrant sentiment among its member states, has agreed to launch a joint program to curb the influx of illegal immigrants from third countries. That is one of the most significant results of the two-day EU summit meeting held late last...
EDITORIALS
Jun 30, 2002

'An honorable man'

There is a professor at New York's Vassar College who clearly knows his Shakespeare, perhaps not as well as he thought he did until a week or so ago, but at least well enough to recall Touchstone's advice in "As You Like It": "Let us make an honorable retreat, though not with bag and baggage, yet with...
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2002

Tollgate mentality in Japan

Straddling the Keiyo Expressway linking Tokyo and Chiba is the Funabashi tollgate. A long row of booths collects a 200 yen toll from most drivers. Perennial jams at the tollgate have long caused frustration to me and others heading toward Chiba. People late for planes at Narita suffer even more.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 30, 2002

Tricky laws cap emotional powder keg

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- After so much controversy surrounding two recent asylum incidents in Beijing, a change of focus may be in order -- from the emotional to the legal dimension. We should begin with the reminder that asylum and inviolability issues, in general, are extremely complicated and can never...
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2002

Koizumi predicts German soccer victory, while flying home with Schroeder

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Saturday predicted Germany's success in the World Cup soccer final, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed confidence that Japan's slumping economy would recover soon.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2002

40 Afghans deported in 2001

Last year, 40 Afghans were ordered to leave Japan, according to Justice Ministry immigration statistics made available Saturday. No Afghans were ordered to leave between 1992 and 2000, according to the statistics.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2002

Four S. Korea sailors die in sea clash with North

SEOUL — North and South Korean navy ships exchanged fire Saturday morning in the Yellow Sea off the Korean peninsula's demilitarized zone, leaving four South Korean soldiers dead and 22 others injured, according to the Defense Ministry.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2002

Aging YS-11s to fly off into the sunset

Time, it seems, is sounding the final death knoll for the YS-11, Japan's only domestically produced passenger aircraft.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

Thirsty yet? Head this way

Where to drink it Belgo, Shibuya, (03) 3409-4442
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jun 30, 2002

Spice it up, with a little or a lot of heat

Globally the most common spice or flavor-enhancing element used today is the chili pepper. Chilies are used raw, cooked or pickled as a vegetable or dried (ground into a powder or reconstituted) as a seasoning in almost every corner of the world. There are thousands of varieties of chili peppers employed...
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2002

World Cup home-stay program hailed as success

The 2002 FIFA World Cup, which comes to a close Sunday, offered local municipalities throughout Japan an opportunity to hold various exchange programs with visitors from in and out of the country during the one-month event.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

A sparkling alternative

In Japan, the term "beer" is reserved for alcoholic beverages made from at least 65 percent malted barley, with the remainder of the grains being rice and corn (including cornstarch). Plus the requisite hops, yeast and water. If it contains anything else, it is classified as something else, usually happoshu,...
COMMUNITY
Jun 30, 2002

Sagae folk enjoying the fruits of their labor

Japan may be famously crazy about cherry blossoms, but the sakuranbo of Sagae City, Yamagata Prefecture, don't attract attention until long after their white flowers have fallen off. Sakuranbo are fruit cherries, and Sagae and neighboring Higashine cultivate more of them than anywhere else in the country....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

Beers all round!

Vast quantities of it have been consumed during the World Cup, but thousands of liters more will be drunk as the heat and humidity of summer kick in. Nothing beats a cold beer on a hot summer day.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2002

Ramen reborn as noodles nouveaux

Could ramen, Japan's answer to the greasy spoon, go gourmet? It started out simple -- this dish of Chinese-style noodles in soup was conjured up by cooks in Yokohama's Chinatown in the 1920s. Its present association with drab 24-hour diners and poor nutrition gives it a low rank in the food hierarchy:...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear