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BUSINESS
May 24, 2007

Nonlife insurers take revenue hit

Six major domestic nonlife insurers on Wednesday reported mixed financial results for the business year to March 31 as earnings were affected by revelations of an industrywide failure to pay legitimate claims and payouts for typhoon damage.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2007

Broadband Mechanics ready to pitch more flexible SNS for business clients

U.S.-based Broadband Mechanics is planning to start a social networking service targeting corporate customers in Japan as early as this summer, Chief Executive Officer and founder Marc Canter said.
CULTURE / Stage
May 24, 2007

Defining the nation

When Chikamatsu Yanagi and his collaborators were writing "Ehon Taikoki" in 1799, Japan was arguably enjoying the height of Edo Period culture (1603-1867). In retrospect it was a transitional time — perhaps the last moments of peace before the pressures of the outside world started to affect the island,...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2007

MMC to reduce dealerships in domestic revamp

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will start paring its group dealerships to five from 29 on July 1 to help streamline sales channels and turn around its money-losing operations at home.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2007

Different roads to eco-friendly vehicles

Hybrids, plug-in hybrids, diesel-powered cars, vehicles running on ethanol and fuel-cell cars — these are among the major environment-friendly vehicles under development to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a major cause of global warming.
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2007

ADB's struggle with success

The Asian Development Bank was founded four decades ago to help lift Asia out of poverty. At the time, per capita GDP in the region was less than $170; the 31 founding countries sought to create an institution that would help them gain access to scarce capital and speed their development.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
May 22, 2007

Haruko Iino

Haruko "Big Momma" Iino, an independent public relations consultant, became one of Japan's first female advertising account executives back in the 1980s. Even before working at advertising agencies Chuo Senko and Dentsu Eye, the now 63-year-old Iino had understood the potential of the luxury fashion...
Reader Mail
May 20, 2007

Do the poor dream of nationalism?

Regarding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party's repeated pushes to re-militarize Japan, I think it is useful to consider this in the wider social context of what is happening in this country right now.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
May 20, 2007

Set on a course to be gone with the wind

Trundling homeward in the dark, cheeks-to-cheeks and pondering the meaning of life in a steamy train carriage. The conductor up front, immaculate and deadpan in a climate-controlled cubicle oblivious to Japan Rail's rolling Apache sweat lodge.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
May 20, 2007

An exemplar of where the war-crimes buck stops

Over the coming months in this column, I will return a few times to a film titled "Ashita e no Yuigon (Best Wishes for Tomorrow)." I have been very fortunate to be able to write the script for this together with its director, Takashi Koizumi, whose last film, "Hakase no Aishita Sushiki (The Professor...
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2007

Nurturing forests and workers

The fiscal 2006 annual report on the nation's forestry shows that self-sufficiency in the wood supply has stopped falling due to conditions abroad that make wood imports to Japan difficult. The government can use this opportunity to revitalize Japan's forestry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 18, 2007

Not an every day script

Enter a male student bedsit in Britain in the late 1990s and you'd likely be confronted by a copy of the Alex Garland novel "The Beach," posters of the movie "Trainspotting" on the wall and a bunch of albums from independent dance-music record labels like Skint, Wall of Sound and Ninja Tunes spread around...
BASKETBALL
May 17, 2007

Japanese shoot for dreams

This was no leisurely way to spend a weekend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 17, 2007

Parodies in pottery

At first glance, the colorful, classically shaped vase adorned with flower prints and pictures of doll-like young girls seems harmless enough. It's the second look that throws you.
Reader Mail
May 16, 2007

A positive dementia policy

Having worked with people with dementia for over 12 years in the United States, I am very impressed with the measures described in your May 1 editorial, "Helping people with dementia." I wish the U.S. was as proactive as Japan is in preparing for the onslaught of people who will be affected by this horrible...
JAPAN
May 15, 2007

Court rejects lawsuit over Monju coverup suicide

, argued he committed suicide in 1996 because Donen forced him to lie at a news conference about its attempt to conceal video footage of damage caused by the leak. But the presiding judge in the case, Tsutomu Yamazaki, said there was no objective evidence proving that Donen, the predecessor of the Japan...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 15, 2007

Sweltering in matsuri mayhem

As the temperature rises and languid, lazy days melt into humid nights, Japan shifts gear, readying itself for the plethora of local matsuri ceremonies that blossom across the nation in the months ahead.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 15, 2007

Unique presents, being seen

Customized 'omiyage' Several of you have responded to the request for ideas for interesting personalized gifts.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past