Search - special

 
 
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2005

Koizumi's next act to be his toughest yet

By MAYUMI NEGISHI and HIROKO NAKATA Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's landslide victory has given him a broad mandate to privatize the postal services and downsize the bloated public sector.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2005

'Theater politics' key to poll shift

The 296 seats won by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday's general election comes second only to the 300 Lower House seats it secured in the 1986 election.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 13, 2005

Counseling, insurance and prints

TELL counseling Tokyo English Life Line (TELL) is accepting applications for the Telephone Counselors Training Program, that begins in September.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2005

Posts foe Yashiro undone by New Komeito's Ota

Akihiro Ota, deputy secretary general of New Komeito, retained his seat in Sunday's general election in the Tokyo No. 12 district, which had been a symbol of the ruling coalition's campaign cooperation.
JAPAN
Sep 12, 2005

Accountants face Kanebo fraud charge

Prosecutors are set to charge several certified public accountants at a Japan unit of the PricewaterhouseCoopers group with collaborating with executives at Kanebo Ltd. in an accounting fraud that has humbled the once premier cosmetics and textile company, according to investigative sources.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2005

SDF to upgrade, deploy new radar to detect missiles

The Defense Agency will improve its missile surveillance network by deploying four new radar units and upgrading seven others by fiscal 2009 to detect ballistic missile launches in North Korea, agency officials said Saturday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 11, 2005

Pyongyang palliative is Bush's bitter pill

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut -- Although buried by headlines from Iraq and Hurricane Katrina-devastated U.S. Gulf Coast region, the fourth round of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, about to resume in Beijing, presents the best chance yet to resolve diplomatically the simmering crisis on the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 11, 2005

The Evens

Have you hugged your local independent record store lately? It might need it, what with all those kids downloading songs and pumping them into their iPods. Whatever happened to long, lazy afternoons picking through used record stacks and cutout bins, hoping to find that deleted 13th Floor Elevator comp...
Japan Times
Features
Sep 11, 2005

What's the Point?

Fabrice Blocteur may not be as well known as Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan or Sir Francis Drake. But like explorers of old, this French-Canadian resident of a rural Kyoto village is on a quest to rewrite the maps through new discoveries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Sep 10, 2005

Escape to the land of country bumpkins

So you've decided to escape to the countryside for the long holiday weekend? Well, fine, but if you're wanting to get back in touch with nature, be prepared. If you come to an island like mine, you will have entered a world cut off not only from city life, but from the mainland as well. Without a major...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Sep 9, 2005

Despite troubles, Gooden blessed

I got a bit choked up the other day.
JAPAN
Sep 9, 2005

Seiko Noda and Yukari Sato in desperate battle in Gifu

GIFU -- A showdown between two female candidates has all eyes fixed on this sleepy conservative city in the Chubu region.
EDITORIALS
Sep 8, 2005

Try again with rights bill

The government was to have submitted a human-rights protection bill during the most recent session of the Diet. Various reasons are cited for the bill's failure to reach the Diet floor, including government leaders' obsession with other hot-button issues such as postal-service reform. Still, legislation...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 8, 2005

Downsizing government sounds great

Downsizing the public sector has been high on the agenda of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government, and both his Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan are promising this campaign season to reduce the number of people on the government payroll.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 8, 2005

Eight-map butterfly

* Japanese name: Sakahachichou * Scientific name: Araschnia burejana strigosa * Description: These are feisty butterflies, with a wingspan of about 5 cm and sharp, erratic flight. In terms of coloration, red, orange and brown usually predominate. The forelegs are merely "brushes," and are not used...
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2005

JCP wants united front on postal bills

The Japanese Communist Party plans to call on other parties to join hands to scrap the postal privatization bills that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi aims to resubmit to the Diet after Sunday's general election, JCP chief Kasuo Shii said Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2005

Takashimaya to sell diamond for 1.9 billion yen

Takashimaya Co. said Monday it will sell a 66-carat diamond for 1.895 billion yen -- the most expensive jewelry it has ever handled -- at its Nihonbashi department store in Chuo Ward, Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2005

Small shops wake up and smell the coffee to fend off big chains

As self-service coffee shop chains saturate the market, their small-scale, often pricey predecessors are feeling the squeeze, and those in Tokyo and Osaka are struggling to survive by focusing on their uniqueness.
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2005

A child-rearing environment

Policy proposals for creating an economic and social environment conducive to childbearing and child-rearing should be an important issue for voters to consider in next Sunday's Lower House election. An accelerating decline in the birthrate, followed eventually by a smaller labor force, will have a great...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 4, 2005

How to beat the high price of Japanese pro baseball tickets

Have you ever thought about going to a Japanese baseball game but, upon checking prices, thought the tickets are rather expensive?
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 4, 2005

NHK's "Dramatic Earth" offers a history of New York City and more

It's generally agreed that New York City is the most dynamic and important metropolis in the world. A global center of economics, entertainment, media and sports, as well as being the home of the United Nations, the Big Apple is peerless as a center of attention.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2005

Once more, with feeling

With a mane of wild hair and the darkly circled eyes of the sleep deprived, one could easily mistake Kieran Hebden for a grad student up too late at the lab. There is little evidence in his striped polo shirt and khaki shorts that he is one of the more sought after electronica producers and performers....
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2005

Women-only salons offer refuge after last trains

There is good news for weary women in Tokyo who stay out late and miss their last trains after working long hours or hanging out with friends.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 3, 2005

El Haddawi seeks sensational Bavarian waterfall

On any normal day, Thomas Farnbacher can wave to his partner, Ingo Taleb-Rashid, across Lake Chiemsee in Bavaria. "I live one side with my wife and children in a small village. Rashid lives on the other. The lake is too big to see one another, of course. But we know we are there."
Sep 1, 2005

Defense Agency wants 5 trillion yen

The Defense Agency on Wednesday requested 4.89 trillion yen in the fiscal 2006 budget to increase the capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces to counter threats to national security, including acts of terrorism, missile attacks and natural disasters.
Sep 1, 2005

Absentee voters get chance to cast ballots

Japanese voters living abroad were given a chance to cast their ballot Wednesday for the Sept. 11 House of Representatives election, with special offices opening in Sydney, Seoul, Beijing and other major cities.

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