Search - 2000

 
 
COMMENTARY
Feb 24, 2002

Campaign reform: elites win, voters lose

WASHINGTON -- Only in Washington could a measure designed to gut First Amendment freedoms and entrench incumbents be declared to be "reform." Only in Washington could such "reform" advance with so much sanctimonious support from media and self-anointed public-interest elites.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2002

Snow Brand Foods to disband

Snow Brand Foods Co. will lay off most of its 1,000 employees in March and disband in April, the scandal-tainted firm said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2002

Libyan trade insurance about to be reinstated

In a move that will please domestic businesses struggling amid a deep recession but could rub the United States the wrong way, Japan is working behind the scenes to take a significant policy step toward closer economic ties with Libya.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2002

No hurry over Iran oil deal

Nearly two months after the target date passed quietly for concluding negotiations with Iran on a key oil project, Japanese government officials do not seem to be feeling pressed.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2002

At last, Washington trashes junk science

WASHINGTON -- Back in December 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President Gore were busy fellows -- what with dishes to pack, furniture to ship and an election to contest. So busy were they that they neglected to read some of the fine print in a cascade of administration-ending paperwork. One...
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2002

Lifetime employee laments end to her dream of promotion

Setsuko Tanao, an employee at Nomura Securities Co., has fought for gender equality in the workplace since joining the firm's Osaka branch as a high school graduate in 1961.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Feb 21, 2002

Japanese companies begin to build their brands

In October 1999, Nissan Motor Co. chief Carlos Ghosn said he planned to boost Nissan's brand power as part of a turnaround plan for the then ailing automaker. Many Nissan workers were initially confused.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Elementary schools snub Snow Brand

OSAKA -- Forty-two percent of some 14,000 municipally run elementary schools throughout Japan are boycotting products made by scandal-tainted Snow Brand Milk Products Co. and its group companies, according to the results of a poll released Sunday.
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2002

'Konbini wars' coming to a street corner near you

A young woman running late for a job interview realizes she's forgotten her lipstick. Minutes later, a 70-year-old steps into a store to buy some oolong tea and finds he's out of cash. Turn the clock forward to midnight, and a bachelor steps off the last train home wondering where he can find a bite...
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2002

Militant gets 12 years for '70 hijacking

A former Red Army Faction fugitive was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for his role in the 1970 hijacking of a Japan Airlines jet to Pyongyang.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2002

Yokohama locals put U.S. Navy's land to good use

YOKOHAMA -- It may be a bit hard to believe that in this day and age you can get free farmland in Yokohama.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORKING IT OUT
Feb 6, 2002

Middle-aged job seekers facing age discrimination

When Masao Suzuki heard his company was offering an early retirement program that paid out 2.5 times the regular amount, he figured it was time to move on. But first he has to find a new job.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2002

Vocational aid to be more strict

The prolonged economic slump has, paradoxically, led to flourishing trade at a variety of vocational schools around the country.
CULTURE / Art
Feb 6, 2002

Celebrate the contemporary fusion of form and function

Modern design is as much about the toothbrush as it is about the airplane. It is, after all, the conception and realization of man-made objects. It has been with us since the Industrial Revolution and the dawn of mass production. A well-designed product is one that fulfills its basic function efficiently...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2002

French imitations of a banana republic

LONDON -- Is corruption a Third World disorder? Not if the French are any guide.
JAPAN
Feb 5, 2002

Exec of Jichiro affiliate denies 80 million yen graft

Yoko Hasegawa, 59, a former managing director of UBC Corp., pleaded not guilty Monday to embezzling 80 million yen from the data-processing firm between 1994 and 2000.
Japan Times
JAPAN / WORKING IT OUT
Feb 5, 2002

Are 'freeters' result of slump, source of next one?

Tomoko Noguchi, 22, got her first bar hostess job about three years ago, while studying to become an aesthetician at a vocational school.
Japan Times
Events
Feb 5, 2002

METI scrutiny, idle shipment cloud Kepco's plans for MOX

OSAKA -- The future of Kansai Electric Power Co.'s plans to use mixed uranium-plutonium oxide fuel is now in doubt following a decision late last year to cancel an order of French-made MOX fuel as well as uncertainty over when, and under what security conditions, a shipment of British-made MOX fuel could...
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2002

Emperor, Empress planning summer tour of Europe

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will depart for an official visit to Poland and Hungary on July 6, government sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Unwed moms' public aid upheld

The past denial of child-care allowance to unwed mothers after men stepped forward as the fathers of their children was illegal, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, because divorced mothers receiving alimony were already entitled to the payment.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2002

Cinemas raked in record 200 billion yen last year

Movie box offices in Japan rang up 200 billion yen last year for the first time ever, thanks mainly to the record-breaking performance of the animation "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" ("Spirited Away").
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2002

Jobless rate in December rises to new high of 5.6%

Japan's unemployment rate climbed to a record-high 5.6 percent in December, pushing the average jobless rate for 2001 to a new high of 5 percent, the government revealed Tuesday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2002

Liberty Mutual Insurance to pull out

Major U.S. nonlife insurer Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. plans to withdraw from the Japanese market at the end of March because the country's business prospects are poor, industry sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2002

Fujitsu reports 106 billion yen loss in latest quarter

Major electronics manufacturer Fujitsu Ltd. incurred consolidated losses of 106.1 billion yen for the October-December quarter of fiscal 2001, compared with net losses of 69 billion yen in the same period the previous year, company officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2002

Contractors Sumitomo, Mitsui eye integration

Sumitomo Construction Co. and Mitsui Construction Co. admitted Tuesday that they are discussing integration of their management.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2002

Credit union forced customers to buy into golf club

OSAKA -- Kansai Kogin, a failed local credit union whose former executives were arrested last week in a breach of trust case, pressured recipients of loans in the late 1990s to buy memberships of a golf course operated by an affiliate by threatening to withdraw the loans, sources close to the case said...
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2002

Bacteria strains becoming more resistant to antibiotics

OSAKA -- The ability of pneumococcus bacteria -- the cause of pneumonia, inflammation of the middle ear and meningitis -- to resist antibiotics has been steadily increasing, according to a joint study conducted by Kinki University and 12 other medical institutions in western Japan.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?