search

 
 
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2007

Softbank profit up 45% amid mobile price war

Softbank Corp. said Wednesday that its April-June operating profit rose 44.9 percent from a year ago to ¥78.7 billon as its mobile phone unit pulled in more new customers than its competitors in the quarter.
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2007

Ozawa rejects Schieffer antiterror overture

Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa turned down a U.S. request Wednesday to continue Japan's support for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, throwing the future of a special antiterrorism law into doubt.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2007

The hidden treasures of Shikoku revealed in Ueno

Kotohira Shrine — popularly known as Konpira-san — is one of the main religious centers on the island of Shikoku. Until three bridges were built during recent decades to connect the island and the mainland — and ruin the previously magical scenery — Shikoku was remote and mysterious, a Shangri-La...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 9, 2007

After 100 years of change, Nitten moves to the NACT

R esearch the biography of any prominent Japanese artist in the last 100 years and you'll likely run into terms such as Bunten, Teiten, Shin Bunten and Nitten. Though the plethora of names may be off-putting, they all refer to the same thing: Japan's largest, annual open art exhibition.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 9, 2007

Oink! These little piglets fourth-generation clones

A Tokyo geneticist said Wednesday his research team has created the world's first fourth-generation cloned pigs, an achievement that could help scientists in medical and other research.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 9, 2007

A sex trip that aims to ease our anxieties

The Japan Times gets up close and personal with director John Cameron Mitchell and actress Sook-Yin Lee about the sexiest film of 2007
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 9, 2007

The uncensored right to pursue intimacy

A tribute to Manhattan individuality as much as an affirmation of American-style life and personal freedom, "Shortbus" is a movie you want to hold close. It will most certainly pull you to its chest and deposit a loud kiss faster than you can define the term "orgasm." From the opening sequence, which...
COMMENTARY
Aug 9, 2007

Odds in democracy's favor

LONDON — "There's going to be a civil war." You heard it all the time in the old Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s. People fretted about it constantly in South Africa in 1994. They have been worrying about it in Lebanon for the past year. Now they're predicting it for Pakistan — but nine times...
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2007

Lending growth slows in July as companies shy from banks

Bank lending grew at the slowest pace in 16 months in July, as companies used profits or sold bonds to raise funds rather than borrow from banks.
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2007

Biggest corn buyer to cut U.S. imports 6%, diversify

Zen-Noh, Japan's largest corn buyer, will cut U.S. feed grain imports by 6 percent this year as it diversifies supply to avoid shortages as farmers sell more of their crops for use as biofuel.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2007

High expectations for APEC meeting

SYDNEY — Ten years after the last Asian financial crisis hit world markets, the leading countries in the region need to work harder to ensure that the next downturn does not descend into a global collapse. Have the region's financial regulators gotten the message?
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2007

Merchant index hits 2 1/2-year low

Sentiment among barbers, shopkeepers and other merchants on the front lines of the economy fell to a 2 1/2-year low as falling wages and a stock-market plunge discouraged consumers from spending.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Aug 8, 2007

Unheralded Giovani leads Barcelona squad past F. Marinos

YOKOHAMA — Japanese fans caught a glimpse of Barcelona's dazzling attacking triumvirate of Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o, but it was little-known Mexican Giovani who did what the crowd craved from the three superstars with a late second-half goal in a 1-0 friendly win over Yokohama F....
Reader Mail
Aug 8, 2007

Photo of corpse added nothing

The photo that accompanied the Aug. 1 front-page article "South Korea reacts with outrage at murder of second hostage" was disturbing and distasteful. I cannot imagine how Shim Sung Min's family reacted to the image of his corpse. The publication of the Reuters photo comforted no one and contributed...
Reader Mail
Aug 8, 2007

Who can say no to tetrapods?

The reporting for the July 22 article "Tetrapods" was top-notch. When in Japan, I always found tetrapods quite a puzzling hubristic sight -- all the more because they defeat any possibility of lying down for a sunbathe. Although I am not a geologist or a structural engineer, and I see the point...
Reader Mail
Aug 8, 2007

Fees hold back Kansai Airport

I am glad to see a second runway at Kansai Airport. But as stated in a recent article, the high cost of landing fees is keeping airlines from continuing to operate at KIX. I used to enjoy a flight to Chicago, where I could catch a connecting flight to my home state of Florida. That flight no longer...

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’