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EDITORIALS
Jul 30, 2006

Doha goes down the drain

The Doha Round of global trade talks collapsed amid bitter recriminations last week. Officially, the talks are in "indefinite suspension," but they are as good as dead if governments do not make fundamental changes in their thinking. That means facing down powerful domestic agricultural lobbies and taking...
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2006

Rate rises will not be hasty, BOJ exec says

The Bank of Japan will raise interest rates gradually while carefully monitoring the economic situation, the central bank's deputy governor said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2006

The Hashimoto legacy

Fortune did not smile on Mr. Ryutaro Hashimoto when he sought the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party, and the premiership, for a second time in April 2001. He was badly defeated by Mr. Junichiro Koizumi. But Mr. Hashimoto, prime minister from January 1996 to July 1998, who died over the weekend...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2006

Business at Beijing's pleasure

In a May 30 Wall Street Journal article, former U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Charles W. Freeman III expressed doubts about the prospects of a free-trade agreement between the United States and Taiwan: "Given its almost obsessive antipathy for President Chen (Shui-bian), Beijing will do almost anything...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 19, 2006

China's monetary surge dooms its boom

ATLANTA -- Chinese monetary authorities raised their one-year benchmark rate by 27 basis points while allowing the deposit rate to remain unchanged at 2.25 percent. This move was mostly greeted with praise, but the change is trivial and will have little discernible impact on the Chinese economy or the...
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2006

Consumers still cold to U.S. beef

Consumers are far from convinced that U.S. beef is safe, despite government efforts to ease public concerns through 10 nationwide public hearings on the issue.
EDITORIALS
Jun 12, 2006

If you can't trust the elevators

It is taken for granted by most people that an elevator moves only after its doors are securely closed and not while the doors are open. But events on the evening of June 3 at a 23-story condominium building in Tokyo's Minato Ward have betrayed this trust.
COMMENTARY
Jun 8, 2006

Big lessons from a small town

LONDON -- Al Gore has been visiting Hay-on Wye. Who is Al Gore and where is Hay-on-Wye?
BUSINESS
May 30, 2006

Seafood dealer obtains eco-label

A Tokyo-based seafood wholesaler has become the first business in Japan to be certified by a London-based conservation group as a supplier of seafood produced by sustainable fishing, officials of the group said Monday.
COMMENTARY
May 15, 2006

The post-Koizumi gauntlet

Japan's political future hinges on the successor to Junichiro Koizumi, whose tenure as president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party and, hence, prime minister will end in four months. Opinion polls show Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe is by far the most popular potential contender for the premiership,...
BUSINESS
May 12, 2006

Don't gut ChuoAoyama when it's down, rivals told

The Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants urged its members Thursday to refrain from snatching clients or staff from auditing firm ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has been sanctioned by the government.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2006

Fuji TV will sue Livedoor but may try to sell stake first

The chairman of Fuji Television Network Inc. said Thursday the TV network will sue Livedoor Co. for compensatory damages in connection with huge losses caused by a plunge in the stock price of the Internet and financial services company.
COMMENTARY
Jan 13, 2006

Gas as a weapon of choice

LONDON -- What did the Russians hope to achieve? Their threat two weeks ago, now happily averted, to cut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine unless it immediately paid four times the current contract price was bound from the start to backfire.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 3, 2006

LDP landslide buries two-party system

The result of the Sept. 11 general election was a runaway victory for the Liberal Democratic Party, and political chaos. But from the fog of uncertainty that is enveloping Japan there may emerge a new political structure that could some day be called the "2005 order."
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2005

Doha Round still snagged on farm trade

It's time for Japan's negotiators to protect rice farmers in other ways besides high tariffs, argues an economist at Hitotsubashi University, after six days of frustrating world trade talks that ended Sunday in Hong Kong.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 4, 2005

Carp skipper Brown can't wait for spring training

New Hiroshima Carp manager Marty Brown is excited about his challenge and can't wait for spring training to begin.
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2005

Roh raps Koizumi anew on Yasukuni

and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun meet Friday in Pusan, South Korea, at the APEC leaders' summit.
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2005

NTT's sales, profits fall on stiffer competition

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. said Wednesday its group net profit in the April-September period fell 4.0 percent from a year earlier to 330.73 billion, yen hit by the continuing slide in fixed-line voice communications.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2005

METI praises industry for freeing up oil

Hideji Sugiyama, vice minister of economy, trade and industry, welcomed on Monday moves by domestic oil firms to tap into their reserves in response to the government's calls last week to allay global supply concerns in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2005

Japan taps oil stockpile to help cut global price

Japan will free up part of its private-sector oil stockpile at an amount equal to 12 percent of the International Energy Agency's planned release of 60 million barrels following Hurricane Katrina, government officials said Saturday.
BUSINESS
Sep 2, 2005

Koizumi gets some high marks but must do more: Doyukai

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration should be given high marks for having addressed issues untouched by its predecessors, but there is still more to do, according to the chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai).
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2005

MHI to sell android for home use

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Monday it will accept orders from Sept. 16 to Oct. 31 for the Wakamaru humanoid robot for home use.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Aug 25, 2005

Illuminating responses to 'Glimmers of hope . . . '

One of the most entertaining things about being a columnist is getting feedback from readers.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Aug 12, 2005

Chelsea leads three-horse race in quest for Premiership title

LONDON -- According to Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon the 2005-06 Premiership title will be won by "a small bunch of one" with manager Jose Mourinho predicting the Blues will confirm their second successive English crown in the last fixture on May 7 at Newcastle. So that's this season then. Roll...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 6, 2005

Puneet Nanda

"The sari," said Puneet Nanda in Tokyo, "is a most elegant and amazing garment."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Jul 7, 2005

Battling for nature in the face of greed and neglect

I started to buy neglected woodland on a mountainside near where I live in Nagano Prefecture more than 20 years ago. Together with a local forester (and now long-time friend), Nobuyoshi Matsuki, we began tending the woods. One of the delightful results was the blooming of hundreds of wild Calanthe discolor...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 4, 2005

Ministries should seek corporate input when revamping statistics

There have been complaints that the economic statistics compiled by the government no longer reflect the developments of the times or the changing structure of the Japanese economy.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jun 16, 2005

Ancient China never looked so good

Buyers of "Jade Empire" are greeted with laughable cover art and silly character names like "Furious Ming." At first glance, the mythological theme appears to be a mockery of ancient Chinese culture. But beneath the regrettable packaging lies an honest and fun game that engulfs players in an awe-inspiring...

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami