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JAPAN
Sep 23, 2005

Fukuoka joins Tokyo in Games quest

FUKUOKA — Fukuoka will bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2016 or 2020, Mayor Hirotaro Yamasaki said Thursday at a municipal assembly meeting.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2005

Orix to buy into China railway firm

Orix Corp. said Thursday it will invest 550 million yen around December to acquire a 25 percent stake in China's first railway car leasing company.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2005

Oil-triggered slump in U.S. is the worry in Japan

Crude oil prices around $60 to $70 a barrel for the next six months will have little direct impact on the Japanese economy, but look out for indirect hits if higher prices hurt consumption in the U.S., economists say.
EDITORIALS
Aug 29, 2005

Quenching China's thirst for oil

The prospect of China buying up international petroleum supplies to quench its growing thirst for energy is the newest geopolitical nightmare. Like most bogeymen, though, the fear disappears when exposed to harsh light. China is eager to secure resources to feed its developing economy, but those efforts...
JAPAN
Aug 18, 2005

Tohoku temblor not area's Big One: panel

The powerful earthquake that rattled the Tohoku region Tuesday was not the big temblor predicted to strike the area within the next 30 years, the government's Earthquake Research Committee concluded Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 28, 2005

Moves afoot to counter U.S. Big Oil's clout

Reducing the greenhouse gases that derive from human activities and cause global warming is perhaps the most critical environmental challenge facing the world community.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2005

Calculating the costs of climate change

LONDON -- People who arrive at parties that are in full swing, and then ask who is paying and how much the party costs, are usually regarded as party poopers who should either keep their views to themselves or withdraw.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2005

Fuel-cell vehicles run clean, but is their future clear?

Fuel-cell vehicles have been dubbed the ultimate clean car, but whether they can replace gasoline-powered automobiles in the not-so-distant future is an open question.
COMMENTARY
Jun 19, 2005

Energy plan that terminates the econom

WASHINGTON -- "We're all Keynesians now," declared U.S. President Richard M. Nixon when he surrendered his fiscal policies to liberal orthodoxy. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did much the same with his recent executive order calling for draconian cuts in the emission of "greenhouse gases" linked...
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2005

Wisdom for an aging world

In the 21st century, the world faces a dual demographic problem. First, the world population will continue to grow, increasing from about 6 billion in 2005 to more than 9 billion in 2050. Second, by around that time, the waves of an aging society now enveloping the developed countries as a result of...
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2005

Nations push 'three Rs' at recycling conference

Environment ministers from developed and developing countries said Friday that they should make more efforts to reduce and recycle waste to conserve natural resources and tackle environmental pollution.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2005

Japan, Australia to mull FTA

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Australian counterpart, John Howard, agreed Wednesday that their two nations should study the pros and cons of a bilateral free-trade agreement for about two years.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2005

Russia wastes time as AIDS crisis builds

NEW YORK -- In recent years, HIV/AIDS infection in Russia has been spreading at the fastest rate in the world. Several experts estimate that more than 1.5 million Russians are HIV-infected at present. According to World Bank estimates, that number could total 5.4 million to 14.5 million by 2020 unless...
OLYMPICS
Apr 2, 2005

JOC wants Japanese metropolis to bid for major multisport event

The Japanese Olympic Committee will urge big Japanese cities to consider bidding to host a major international multisport event in the near future, JOC President Tsunekazu Takeda said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2005

Firms take shine to environment-friendly materials

An increasing number of corporations have begun producing biodegradable plastics and other materials less harmful to the environment, reflecting rising environmental consciousness.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2005

China can't use its leverage

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- In the North Korean nuclear crisis, there is a major difference between having leverage and the ability to use it. China has the former, but not the latter. North Korea has both.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 31, 2005

Key to a common currency

The Economist magazine forecast in a recent issue that a future multiple reserve currency system could include the Chinese yuan: "The world might drift toward a multiple reserve currency system shared by the dollar, the euro and the yen, or indeed the yuan at some time in the future."
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2005

Beijing counts on more high-speed growth in '05

HONG KONG -- Barely three years after joining the World Trade Organization, China has emerged as a major trading power, with total trade last year exceeding $1 trillion, an increase of more than 30 percent over 2003, making China the world's third-largest trading power. This is an astonishing performance...
Japan Times
JAPAN / DEMOGRAPHIC DILEMMAS
Jan 3, 2005

Health sector won't get by without a shot in the arm

Shiela Tahara Noble is living proof that nationality doesn't matter -- once language barriers are overcome -- when dealing with a sector where the domestic labor supply is increasingly scarce.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2004

Laying a foundation for a new East Asia

SINGAPORE -- Optimism for East Asian integration and community building ran high at the conclusion of the 10th ASEAN Summit on Nov. 30 in Vientiane, Laos, and the back-to-back meetings between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its Asia-Pacific partners -- China, Japan, South Korea,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 31, 2004

At-home dads

Kazuyuki Yamamura is a tall, good-looking man in his 30s, who was also good at his job. In fact, not so long ago he bought a house for himself, his wife and their kindergarten-age daughter in a leafy suburb of Tokyo. Then, unexpectedly, his company found itself in choppy financial waters -- and he was...
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2004

Frustrations in Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin has just completed a three-day visit to China, his third as president and the first of his second term. The meetings were cordial and productive, marked by the usual rhetoric with which the former allies, who were once estranged but now eye each other anxiously, are so...
COMMENTARY
Oct 16, 2004

Preventing a new dark age

The entire geopolitical system is now enmeshed with Middle East issues. Mideast stability is the absolute key to peaceful global progress, both economic and social, as well as to the future of many world leaders and their policies.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 3, 2004

Discrimination keeps Chinese tourists at bay

Japan's neglect of its tourism potential could be called a sidelight of its overall self-image. On the international stage, Japan sees itself as culturally impenetrable and overpriced. Moreover, the xenophobia that many people accuse it of fostering has become accepted by the citizens as a national trait,...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2004

Toward ASEAN integration

SINGAPORE -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has begun a more promising phase of its integrative process in the face of three formidable challenges:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Sep 1, 2004

Bringing the outsiders onto the stage

"Who are we?" and who are "the others"? And how should "we" associate with "them"? Written in 1996 by Hideki Noda, Japan's leading contemporary dramatist, this is one of the central themes of "Red Demon." It premiered in Japan with English actor Angus Burnett in the title role, before being staged in...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami