Search - special

 
 
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2005

Lower House passes bill to extend antiterror law

The House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday to extend the antiterrorism law another year to allow the Maritime Self-Defense Force to continue refueling U.S.-led coalition vessels in the Indian Ocean.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2005

Osaka's scandal-hit mayor to resign, run again in snap poll

OSAKA -- Osaka Mayor Junichi Seki announced Monday he will resign his post and then run again in a snap election that he said will determine voter faith in his proposed reforms.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Oct 16, 2005

Popular blog goes drama at Fuji TV's "Oni Yome Nikki" and more

Blogs are getting popular in Japan, as shown in the new Fuji TV drama series "Oni Yome Nikki (Devil Bride Diary)" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), which is based on one written by a woman called Sanae. The blog's theme, as is apparent in the title, is the casual, everyday cruelty wives inflict on their husbands....
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 16, 2005

No point in going if you can't wait in line

The next time you go to Tokyo Disneyland and find yourself waiting an inordinate length of time for five minutes of thrills on Space Mountain, spare a thought for Hung Wah-fung, who is certainly thinking of you -- or, more precisely, your situation.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2005

Postal bills become law

The hotly contested postal-privatization bills that have been at the center of a political firestorm this year were finally approved Friday, passing through a House of Councilors plenary session with relative ease.
EDITORIALS
Oct 15, 2005

Reining in medical expenditures

The Japanese spent 31.4 trillion yen for medical services in fiscal 2004, or about 246,000 yen per person, an increase of 2 percent from the previous year. The figure of 2 percent may be a small and acceptable growth, requiring no stricter lid on the rise of the nation's medical spending. But Japan's...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2005

TBS set to fight Rakuten's bid

Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. may take countermeasures against online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc., which has suddenly emerged as the TV station's biggest shareholder and takeover threat, market sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Oct 14, 2005

Impasse to delay TSE stock listing

Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc. President Takuo Tsurushima said Thursday it will be difficult for the TSE to list the company on the stock market by the end of the current fiscal year as planned.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Oct 14, 2005

Psychedelic radar 10.14

Saturday, Oct. 15
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2005

Taiwanese let ruling on Yasukuni lawsuit stand

Taiwanese who sued the government over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine will not appeal to a higher court, their lawyers said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Oct 12, 2005

Looking at both sides of the equation

Someone asked me the other day if I wouldn't like to be a woman, just to see what it was like. Sure, I'd love to try it, I said, for a day or two. Imagine seeing the world from the other side, seeing how men assess you and wielding power over them with a glance. Or if you're a woman, imagine being a...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Oct 12, 2005

Striped diving beetle

* Japanese name: Shima-gengorou * Scientific name: Hydaticus bowringii * Description: This beetle is small, some 15 mm long, but sturdy. Its elytra (wing cases) are black, with an almost lacquered quality. What makes this species unmistakable are the two golden stripes running down the length of each...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2005

Giant salamander, green iguana captured

Following a recent rise in the number of exotic pets that have escaped or been abandoned across the country, a giant salamander and a green iguana were spotted Saturday in Kanagawa Prefecture and caught by police.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2005

LDP rookies debut in postal deliberations

Three new faces in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who were elected in the Sept. 11 general election as proponents of postal privatization made their debut in the Diet Friday during deliberations on the issue.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Oct 8, 2005

Conor Hanratty

Conor Hanratty of Ireland says there is obvious benefit in studying a subject ranking amongst the less sought-after. When he enrolled in Royal Holloway, University of London, for his master's degree in Greek theater performance, he was one of only four in his class. Undoubtedly he did not require individual...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 8, 2005

Kanazawa to Hayama for workshop and concert

A flute in full blow draws me to a Taisho-period building behind the Catholic church in Hayama. A window is open, and whoever is playing sounds pretty good to this amateur.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Oct 7, 2005

Battle losses to fashion victims

Shibuya has many faces: a glitzy youth-oriented fashion center as represented by the 109 Building, a mass transit terminal handling 1.77 million passengers a day, a fast growing village of IT niche market players, and so on. With a complex network of large and small streets, the versatile town offers...
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2005

Lump-sum asbestos redress elusive goal

The government agreed Sept. 29 on the outline of a special bill to help asbestos victims, but officials admit the legislation provides no lump sum compensation.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2005

CDs with cardboard jackets find a groove

Jazz and rock compact disks that come in cardboard jackets mimicking those of the long-playing records of yore are creating a boom among nostalgic buyers in their 30s and 40s as record companies rush to revive great recordings of the past.
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2005

When numbers don't add up

of a Japanese unit of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Group were arrested last month on suspicion of falsifying accounting reports of Kanebo Ltd., a maker of sundries, food products and pharmaceuticals. If these CPAs are found guilty of violating the Securities and Exchange Law, the credibility of the nation's...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2005

Shortwave eyed to reach out to abductees

will begin broadcasting the names and ages in Japanese of people it believes were abducted for about 30 minutes a day possibly starting this month. "If the Japanese in North Korea listen to the broadcasts, they will know we are still trying to bring them home," said Sadaki Manabe, a senior member of...
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2005

ChuoAoyama board members quit; chairman stays

ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers said Monday all 11 of its board members except the chairman have stepped down to take responsibility for the arrest and indictment of its auditors charged with helping Kanebo Ltd.'s massive window-dressing.
COMMENTARY
Oct 3, 2005

Toward a sensible U.S. foreign policy

LOS ANGELES -- An admittedly general but perhaps not insignificant consensus in America on the necessary future direction of U.S. foreign policy appears finally to be emerging -- and not a moment too soon.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2005

Telecom exec wanted over share-price scam

A former executive of a failed telecommunications firm has been placed on the nationwide wanted list on suspicion of announcing an unrealistic mobile phone service to raise the stock price of its parent company, investigative sources said Saturday.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan