Search - about-us

 
 
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2000

Counterfeit cigarette trade rampant in rural areas of China

Kyodo News On the surface, several farming villages near the port of Xiamen in Fujian Province appear as calm as any other Chinese village, with no outsiders believing in the existence of clandestine bases.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2000

A decade on, Hussein remains a force

Special to The Japan Times UMM QASR, southern Iraq -- The Iraqi-Kuwaiti frontier officially ranks as one of the world's most dangerous flash points. But these days, the only threat to man or beast beneath a ferocious sun is the snakes and scorpions that inhabit these burning sandy wastes. "This is the...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2000

A faltering lama, and the boy who is Tibet's new hope

NEW DELHI -- Will the Tibet problem ever be solved? The last several months have seen sheer despondency among the people of the plateau. With little sign of China granting them even a small degree of autonomy, let alone freeing them from its decades-old subjugation, Tibetans are now beginning to have...
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Aug 4, 2000

Reggae's past and future heard on the Tokyo scene

Although talking about influences is a staple of the music press, copying (a charge leveled at so much Japanese music), even respectfully, is often the subject of scorn in serious rock journalism. Novelty, no matter how abstract or silly, generally trumps the enjoyment of the familiar, no matter how...
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2000

Drink machines called handy polluters

They never sleep, gripe about overtime or quibble over paychecks. And -- with more than 5 million of them scattered around the nation -- they are ubiquitous.
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2000

Steam trains staging a rural comeback

NIITSU, Niigata Pref. -- Greeted by cheers Tuesday from about 1,000 rail fans, steam locomotive D51-498 chugged into Niigata Prefecture's Tsugawa Station and stopped alongside the C57-180, known as "the Lady" for her beautiful appearance.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2000

Former Sogo chief's assets to be seized

The Tokyo District Court has opted to seize the personal assets of former Sogo Co. Chairman Hiroo Mizushima, at the request of the Industrial Bank of Japan, in a bid to collect a loan to the failed department store chain that he personally guaranteed, sources said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2000

Mr. Mori fails his test

The Diet has completed a round of plenary debates on Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's policy speech -- the first full-dress parliamentary exchanges since he launched his second Cabinet following the June 25 Lower House election. But the prime minister has only disappointed the people. He fell far short...
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2000

Support for Mori's Cabinet inches upward

The support rate for Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's Cabinet rose slightly over the past two months, but still remains far below the percentage of people who disapprove of his administration, according to a Kyodo News public opinion poll released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2000

Mori backs NCB sales contract

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori told the Diet on Wednesday that the government's decision not to renegotiate the contract for selling Nippon Credit Bank to a consortium led by Softbank Corp. "is the position of the government."
MULTIMEDIA / SPORTS SCOPE
Aug 3, 2000

World Cup vote: Africa needs a good PR officer

The jury is not out on this one: Africa should be hosting the World Cup in 2006. The continent is long overdue, having made a significant contribution to world soccer in the past 20 years.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2000

Japan key to Hyundai's global strategy

Hyundai Motor Co. will enter the Japanese market in January with an aggressive sales plan, taking advantage of expanding cultural and business exchanges between the country and South Korea, the president of the firm's Japanese affiliate said.
ENVIRONMENT
Aug 3, 2000

Eco-conscious but comfortable: making environmentalism hip

Last year when advertising agencies asked Kazumi Oguro what his rival magazine was, he replied: "I wouldn't have to put out a new magazine if there was a rival."
LIFE / ALTERNATIVE LUXURIES
Aug 3, 2000

Lessons of the past inspire a future

Calligraphy by Nako Oizumi The evolution of a single human neither starts with their birth, nor stops with the end of their childhood. Each of us has been given pieces of the past by previous generations from which we make new meaning and, in turn, hand it on to the young.
LIFE / Style & Design / SIMPLY DIVINE
Aug 3, 2000

Dancing your way to fitness

Some medical experts claim a glass of wine is good for your heart, others believe chocolate is an excellent alternative to Prozac, but something they all tend to agree on is that adequate exercise is vital to a healthy life. However, if your idea of working out is a spot of intensive window-shopping...
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2000

Bank worker embezzled 160 million yen

A 28-year-old former employee of the Bank of Kochi's Aki branch in Kochi Prefecture embezzled some 160 million yen from customers, bank officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 3, 2000

Okinawa seen through the summit prism

It's a common belief that the annual G-7 or G-8 summits accomplish little more than allowing the leaders of the industrialized world to get together and make a show of global unity. Consequently, the only thing you can count on in the post-summit analyses is that they will dwell on what wasn't discussed,...
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2000

Train conductors left behind as Toei Subway becomes automated

In another verse from the machine-replaces-man songbook, Toei Subway is replacing the conductor on half of its Tokyo lines with a bevy of machines, including a safety wall that has been making its way through Toei Mita Line stations across Tokyo this summer.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2000

Trading sluggish in July on Nasdaq Japan

OSAKA -- Trading on the Nasdaq Japan equity market for growth companies was sluggish in July due to nationwide concerns about the economy, especially the collapse of major department store Sogo Co., the Osaka Securities Exchange said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2000

Financial law to stay despite sale of NCB, Aizawa says

The government will not meddle with the financial system revival law for the sake of renegotiating the sale of Nippon Credit Bank to a consortium led by Softbank Corp., Hideyuki Aizawa, newly appointed chief of the Financial Reconstruction Commission, said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2000

Three boys, man held in killing of homeless man

OSAKA -- Three high school students and a 20-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of fatally assaulting a homeless man last month in Tennoji Ward here, police said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY
Aug 2, 2000

An unlikely affinity with a Japanese ghost

"Before I continue to pour out my soul, let me confide in you that Lebanon is one of those countries that produces nothing but its own periodic tragedies." --"Dear Mr Kawabata," by Rashid al-Daif
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2000

Cabinet approves 9.4 trillion yen for public works in new budget

The Cabinet approved guidelines for fiscal 2001 budget requests Tuesday that will allow policy-related spending to rise slightly above this year's 48.09 trillion yen.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes