Search - question

 
 
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2001

METI to urge steelmakers to cut production

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to urge steelmakers to cut their combined production capacity for crude steel from 145 million tons to under 125 million tons within three years, ministry officials said Monday.
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 9, 2001

Waste disposal: Not just a load of rubbish

If extreme global warming is the headline-making environmental disaster on the world's horizon, then waste disposal is its ugly domestic step-sister that's already here.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2001

Latest numbers spell recession

Japan sank into recession with its ailing economy shrinking 0.5 percent in real terms in the July-September period from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said Friday. The drop translates into an annualized rate of 2.2 percent.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2001

Growth forecast at minus 0.3%

The government is likely to set its official growth forecast for fiscal 2002 at minus 0.3 percent in the wake of news that the economy contracted a real 0.5 percent in the July-September quarter, government sources said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 7, 2001

Breaking with Keynesianism

The government's economic and fiscal report released Tuesday focuses on Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's program to resuscitate Japan's moribund economy. No wonder its writers -- selected public economists -- have made a great effort to rationalize the prime minister's "no reform, no growth" agenda....
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2001

Take action, Mr. Arafat

Two suicide bombing attacks by Islamic militants in Israel over the weekend followed by the severe responses on the part of the Israeli government have dashed hopes for bringing the Mideast peace process back to life in the near future. The horrific attacks have brought the situation to a head.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Kindergarten struck by dysentery

OSAKA -- City health officials said Wednesday they are looking into the cause of a suspected dysentery outbreak at a kindergarten here after six pupils were confirmed suffering from the infection. An additional 37 teachers and pupils are believed to be infected.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Dec 6, 2001

Bush scores high leadership marks

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush continues to enjoy the support of the American people for his prosecution of the war against terrorism. His job rating on the war effort remains just under 90 percent, where it has been since it all began. The military successes in Afghanistan have quelled concerns...
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Kamei camp requests halt to executions

Shizuka Kamei, former policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and seven other lawmakers belonging to a group opposing capital punishment have asked Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama not to carry out any further executions.
COMMENTARY
Dec 6, 2001

Taiwan's Lee 'flexes strength'

TAIPEI -- "The KMT is still the biggest opposition party in the legislature." With these words, Kuomintang party chairman Lien Chan tried, unconvincingly, to put a positive spin on the former ruling party's disastrous showing in last weekend's legislative elections in Taiwan.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2001

Woman gets 14 years for strangling girl

The Tokyo District Court sentenced a woman to 14 years in prison Wednesday for killing the 2-year-old daughter of an acquaintance she claimed had snubbed her.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2001

Israeli occupation spawns cycle of death

AL-BIREH, West Bank -- In the 48 hours following the horrific suicide bombings in Israel, hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon addressed the nation while simultaneously increasing, by yet another step, Israel's part of the violence in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Sadly, no end...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 6, 2001

Egypt: a mirror of what is wrong with U.S.-Arab relations

CAIRO -- In a workshop in the Khan Khalil bazaar in the heart of medieval Cairo, Atef Hamid unwraps three beautifully crafted copper plates, each with designs taken from ancient and famous mosques, on which his grandfather has been laboring.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Online history archive opens with LDP spin

History buffs can learn more about Asian issues of yesteryear via a newly launched online archive based on a proposal by the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, but references to Japanese wartime military activities in Asia were cut due to pressure from Liberal Democratic Party members....
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2001

Lawmakers cautiously back female ascension

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Monday that although he thinks a female member of the Imperial family should be allowed to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne, there should be no rush to amend the male-only succession law, which dates back to the early postwar period.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 3, 2001

Join forces in the fight against deflation

Japan is suffering from a rare illness that many countries wish they could catch. The economy has more production than demand can absorb. Are savings too high or is consumption too low?
BUSINESS
Dec 3, 2001

Management buyouts find favor as restructuring tool

Management buyouts, a form of corporate acquisition in which management teams invest in the acquisition financing, have exceeded 100 billion yen so far this year, eclipsing the record of 40 billion yen set in 2000.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 2, 2001

Uptick noticed in N. Korean economy

LONDON -- There is a bustle on the streets of Pyongyang that has been sorely missing for at least five years. The shops -- never consumers' havens -- have some goods on the shelves. Restaurants on Changgwang Street, North Korea's pale equivalent of Tokyo's Ginza, are open and serving. Even street vendors...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 2, 2001

Making the polluter pay

MINAMATA: Pollution and the Struggle For Democracy in Postwar Japan, by Timothy S. George. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001, 385 pp., $45 (cloth) The story of mercury poisoning suffered by residents near the port of Minamata in Kyushu is a well-known tale of knavery on a grand scale. A telling...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 2, 2001

Restaurant J: Food that gladdens the heart of man

Restaurant J has been open for more than a year, so there's absolutely no reason for the Food File to wait any longer to bestow its seal of approval. But we're still reluctant to give it the unconditional thumbs-up it so richly deserves. Why so? It's the same old story: We're always loath to spread the...
EDITORIALS
Dec 1, 2001

Japan's role in rebuilding Afghanistan

International efforts are under way to begin a recovery process in Afghanistan now that anti-Taliban forces have taken control of Kabul. International cooperation in Afghan recovery and reconstruction is a logical follow-up to the internationally supported military campaign against Osama bin Laden and...
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 1, 2001

Sale of BayStars off

Representatives of Japan's 12 professional baseball clubs on Thursday annulled their decision to allow Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. to become the top shareholder of the Yokohama BayStars.
SOCCER / World cup
Dec 1, 2001

2002 World Cup winner must qualify for 2006 finals

PUSAN, South Korea -- No more free rides. That was the message from FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Friday when he announced that the winner of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea would not get an automatic qualifying berth for the 2006 finals in Germany.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2001

Justice Ministry reveals deportee's bank deposits

The Justice Ministry has revealed that about 100 million yen was deposited into a bank account of one of nine Afghan men who were denied refugee status in Japan on grounds that they lack credibility as refugees.
COMMENTARY
Nov 29, 2001

Japan's contradictory help

Former Foreign Minister Koji Kakizawa faults Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dispatch of Japanese troops to assist American forces in South Asia as nothing but a "parcel delivery service" that fails to confront contradictions bedeviling Japan's security policy.
EDITORIALS
Nov 29, 2001

Banks come to grips with bad debts

After years of timid attempts to clear mountains of nonperforming loans, Japanese banks appear to be finally coming to grips with the bad-debt crisis. In the half-year business term to September, most of the 14 top lenders took larger-than-expected charges against their dud loans, even dipping into their...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Nov 29, 2001

Japanese fans headed for a World Cup headache

The crosstown trip from my office in central Tokyo to National Stadium is a breeze. On Tuesday night it took 35 minutes, and I arrived in time to see the Toyota Cup kick off.
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2001

A long-term budget helps reform

Six months into his economic reform campaign, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is doing a fairly good job. Determined to reduce public debt, he has kept his promise to limit new bond sales for the fiscal year 2001 to no more than 30 trillion yen. At the same time, in an urgent move to help the growing...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2001

Yo, what's with this Dostoevski?

Crime + Punishment in Suburbia Rating: * * * Director: Rob Schmidt Running time: 128 minutes Language: English Now showing
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Nov 28, 2001

Catching up with Yoko

Question: Who is the most famous Japanese personality in the world?

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji