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EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2004

Another step in bureaucratic reform

Bureaucratic reform is part and parcel of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's structural reform agenda. As he puts it aptly, the basic idea is to "let the private sector do what it can do." Bureaucratic reform is also about decentralization: "letting local governments do what they can do."
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 28, 2004

Boating, studying and moving to Japan

The last column of the year! Where did the weeks go?
EDITORIALS
Dec 26, 2004

A summer date with Harry Potter

To the delight of her young readers, her publishers and booksellers everywhere, British author J.K. Rowling last week announced that she had delivered to the printers the manuscript of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," Book 6 in her phenomenally popular fantasy series. It should have come as...
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 25, 2004

Fukuoka Softbank Hawks get green light

Softbank Corp. officially became a baseball club owner Friday when the Internet service provider obtained approval for its purchase of the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks from debt-ridden retail giant Daiei Inc.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2004

Emergency medic network fell shy in Niigata

Only 20 percent of hospitals linked to an emergency medical transport system responded to calls for information on available rescue support teams during the first day of the October earthquakes in Niigata Prefecture.
Dec 23, 2004

Emergency medic network fell shy in Niigata

Only 20 percent of hospitals linked to an emergency medical transport system responded to calls for information on available rescue support teams during the first day of the October earthquakes in Niigata Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2004

Computer virus infections reached record level in 2004

The number of computers in Japan infected by viruses hit a record 63,657 in 2004, according to a preliminary report Monday from Trend Micro Inc.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 12, 2004

Wrapping things up in time for Christmas

Tokyo bibliophiles will no doubt look back at 2004 as the year in which a revered Tokyo institution -- the Maruzen book store -- moved from its original location in Nihombashi, where it had operated since 1870, to a new home on the first through fourth floors of the OAZO Building in Marunouchi. While...
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Dec 7, 2004

The guy, tax worries and cops

The guy Reader David has a question for "the guy who answers them for the foreign community."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2004

EU frittering away influence in Korea

BRUSSELS -- One of the last best hopes for securing a solution to the current crisis on the Korean Peninsula is being killed by U.S. politicking and EU penny- pinching. U.S. neoconservatives are determined to drive North Korea into a corner, while the European Union bickers over "small change"' rather...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2004

Nintendo fires first shot in new console war

Nintendo Co. launched its DS portable video game console Thursday, gearing up for a yearend sales battle with Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., which plans to release its PlayStation Portable later this month.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2004

Opening of new Haneda terminal heats up air war

With the Wednesday opening of a new terminal at Tokyo's Haneda airport, the nation's two main airlines have launched yet another fierce battle to woo domestic passengers with new services.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2004

Beef-tracking system traces full history of domestic cows

A beef-tracking system will go online Wednesday at retailers and specialized restaurants, completing the system's link from producers to consumers.
BUSINESS
Dec 1, 2004

E*Trade fetches 500,000 yen on Jasdaq

E*Trade Securities Co. debuted Tuesday on the Jasdaq over-the-counter stock market for startups, fetching an initial quote of 500,000 yen, compared with its initial public offering price of 400,000 yen.
Japan Times
Features
Nov 28, 2004

WATCHING THE DETECTIVES

On a rainy Saturday night in the neon-drenched streets of Shinjuku, Kenji Shimura looks like 1,000 other salarymen: off-the-rack black suit, sensible shoes and a face made for anonymous middle-management in an insurance firm.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2004

American sues over canceled Juki Net security talk

An American computer security expert sued the government Monday for 30 million yen, claiming the communications ministry had suppressed his freedom of speech.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2004

Hacker's talk on Juki Net flaws banned?

A citizens' group charged Wednesday that the government pressured organizers of an international security conference to cancel a lecture by an American computer expert who performed a security audit on the government's online resident registry network on behalf of Nagano Prefecture last year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Nov 18, 2004

Best game yet for the Xbox

How do you top a battle between marines and an alien religious cult fighting to the death on a giant corona in outer space?
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2004

Rakuten allowed to join Keidanren

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) on Tuesday approved the entry of online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2004

Rakuten chief joins Ito policy panel

Rakuten Inc. President Hiroshi Mikitani has been appointed as the sixth member of a private advisory panel of Financial Services Minister Tatsuya Ito.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2004

Sweaty summer doubles Tepco's first-half profit

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Thursday its first-half net profit jumped 2.1-fold to 183.03 billion yen, as the sweltering summer pushed up electricity consumption and the resumption of nuclear reactors slashed fuel and generation costs.
EDITORIALS
Nov 7, 2004

The fattening of the planet

I t's not just Americans and Japanese sumo wrestlers who are fat nowadays. As a witty commentator put it recently in The Hindu newspaper, the world is round, and so are a growing number of its inhabitants. From New York to New Delhi, nutritionists are sounding the alarm about the rising tide of obesity,...
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2004

JAL, ANA consider airfare hike

Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co. are considering raising airfares on domestic flights, possibly from the beginning of next year, due to soaring crude oil prices, airline officials said Thursday.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 19, 2004

Agents, China dance and culture

Ole Latina! In addition to Dagmusic, (introduced in Lifelines; Sept. 24), there are quite a number of other companies in Tokyo who specialize in contracting foreign professional singers and musicians for TV CMs and soundlogos.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2004

Reports of Iraq killings prove false

Government officials were bombarded by inquiries from the public and media on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning following bogus online reports that two Japanese had been killed or injured in Iraq.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2004

NTT units to cut fixed-line phone fees to match rivals

Two firms in the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. group unveiled plans Friday to lower charges for fixed-line phone services to the same level as those offered by rival carriers KDDI Corp. and the Softbank group.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 2, 2004

Democrats Abroad: last chance to vote Bush out

Lauren Shannon is both a director and the front-of-house manager of Fujimamas, the highly successful restaurant bar and cafe in Jingumae, central Tokyo. An American citizen, she is also the vice chair of Democrats Abroad.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Sep 28, 2004

Japanese mega-stores blazing trails in a brave, new publishing world

The Japanese bookstore world used to be one of "If you put it out, it will sell." But that comfortable age is over. Seven straight years of declining book sales have killed off some 1,500 bookstores.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Sep 23, 2004

High-octane crash and burn

What's the big complaint about video games these days? Lack of innovation.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2004

Softbank takes on NTT in land-line sector

Softbank Corp. said Monday it will start offering a discount land-line telephone service beginning in December, a move expected to deal yet another blow to industry behemoth NTT Corp.

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan