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BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2005

Showa Denko pretax profit up 63%

Chemical maker Showa Denko K.K. said Wednesday its consolidated pretax profit in 2004 jumped 63.2 percent from the previous year to a record 38.91 billion yen as sales grew 7.4 percent to 740.71 billion yen.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Feb 10, 2005

Jungle crow

* Japanese name: Hashibuto-garasu * Scientific name: Corvus macrorhynchos * Description: The Jungle crow is a large, black, fearsome-looking bird with a wingspan of up to 104 cm and a body length of 50 cm. It weighs up to 650 grams and lives up to 19 years. It has a close relative, the Carrion...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 9, 2005

Red Sox boosting association with Japanese baseball

The 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox are one of the major league teams becoming increasingly involved with Japanese baseball as evidenced by the recent signing of Japanese pitcher Denney Tomori and an agreement to send two coaches and two players from the BoSox organization to join the Fukuoka...
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2005

Good sportsmanship in Saitama

Japan's national soccer team plays the North Korean team today in a qualifying match for the Asian World Cup in Saitama City, just north of Tokyo. Given the continued tense relations between the two countries, the Japanese government is calling on Japanese supporters to avoid quarreling with supporters...
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2005

LDP missing the big picture

How to privatize postal services is the biggest issue in the regular Diet session. The government plans to introduce a privatization package in mid-March, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has vowed to "get it through the current session at all costs." But with many members of the Liberal Democratic...
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2005

Nippon Shinpan, UFJ to adopt JCB credit card software

Nippon Shinpan Co. and UFJ Card Co. said Monday they have agreed to adopt JCB's computer software to control key functions in their credit card operations, possibly by the end of fiscal 2008.
COMMENTARY
Feb 7, 2005

Bet on the sustainable option

In the 20th century, science and technology was aimed at contributing to economic development and growth. In the 21st century, though, it must seek to promote sustainable development.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 6, 2005

Calls for change as WHS status threatens one of Japan's gems

The breathtaking mountain landscape of the Kii Peninsula, and its ancient temples, monasteries and shrines have captivated the Japanese people for more than 1,000 years.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Feb 5, 2005

'O-baa-chans' on the loose in Bali shops

I recently had the opportunity to accompany two Japanese women to Bali, Indonesia. This is not the first time I have been a personal tour guide for Japanese going to Bali, but this time was different because I was taking two very special people: my next-door neighbor Kazuko and another islander, Hiroko....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Feb 4, 2005

In search of the real flavor of Yokohama's Chukagai

In some quarters it's become almost knee-jerk to denigrate Yokohama's Chinatown. Too clean and tidy, they sneer, it feels like a theme park. It's just for tourists. And, the most serious charge of all, the food just isn't authentic. To which the Food File would retort: Perhaps so; not necessarily; and...
EDITORIALS
Feb 3, 2005

Miyakejima calling

It has been four years and five months since volcanic activity on Miyakejima island, about 200 km south of Tokyo, forced all residents to evacuate. On Wednesday, the first group of 62 people returned to the island. We congratulate them on their homecoming, although life on the island is fraught with...
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2005

FSA mulling life insurance deregulation

The Financial Services Agency might partially deregulate the life insurance sector in fiscal 2005, including expanding the range of insurance products with discounted premiums, according to agency sources.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 2, 2005

1995: A tumultuous year for Japan, a great one for baseball

Ten years have passed since one of the most unforgettable times in Japan's history.
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2005

Yoshinoya plans 'gyudon' sales for one day only

Yoshinoya D&C Co. said Tuesday it will serve "gyudon" bowls of beef-on-rice for one day only on Feb. 11 to mark the first anniversary since the popular dish disappeared from the chain.
EDITORIALS
Feb 2, 2005

Winning the world's confidence

International talks on how to reform the United Nations are entering crucial stages as nations stake out their positions. Last month, the nations involved, including Japan, attended a special session to discuss a report published in December by a high-level advisory body to U.N. Secretary General Kofi...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Feb 2, 2005

Seduction twice over by Cooper

How lucky we are in Tokyo, to be graced with the world premiere of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by one of the leading dancers of our time, the former Royal Ballet principal, Adam Cooper.
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2005

Not just rhetoric anymore

Nine days ago, U.S. President George W. Bush delivered his second inaugural speech, a rousing, 21-minute address in which, among other things, he extolled liberty and proclaimed "ending tyranny in our world" the ultimate goal of U.S. policy. God himself backed this policy, Mr. Bush said. Wasn't it in...
Japan Times
Features
Jan 30, 2005

'Curiosity' at the core of days packed with lots to chew on

Atsuko Tanuma's day begins at 5 a.m. It's a routine she has followed for 17 years, since she started preparing lunch-boxes for her first son when he began kindergarten at the age of 4.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2005

Roppongi: from ashes to 'High Touch Town'

The Roppongi district of Tokyo has been through a turbulent time in the 60 years since it was destroyed by firebombing during World War II.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2005

Former deportee protests denial of bid to live here, near wife's grave

A Bangladeshi man once deported from Japan staged a protest Friday in front of the Justice Ministry, slamming the government for not allowing him back quickly enough to spend time with his Japanese wife as she died of cancer and for telling him he must now leave the country where she is buried.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2005

Seibu urged to merge with spinoff, sell team

A Seibu group reform panel released an interim reform plan Friday urging Seibu Railway Co. to merge with a spinoff from Kokudo Corp., its core firm, absorb the Prince Hotels chain, and consider selling the Seibu Lions baseball team.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 29, 2005

All good things come to those who wait

Judy Ishizu holds up her latest English textbook, "Sekando Raifu no Eikaiwa" ("Second Life English Conversation"), and can scarcely contain her enthusiasm. "It's a dream come true to be in print. This is not my first book, however, but the fifth. To date the second -- "Eigo de Imi . Kangae wo Ieru Hyogen"...
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2005

Tokyo's volunteer-guided tours invite tourists to meet the locals

and Noboru Suzuki.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Jan 28, 2005

Way off the main drag

Amaranth Lounge is a word-of-mouth bar. But when my friend told me about this place on Namikibashi off Meiji-dori, not far from Shibuya, that looked like the lounge from the dream sequences in David Lynch's classic TV series "Twin Peaks," I think he got a bit of a shock at the speed with which I said,...
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2005

Promotion just for Japanese: supreme court

principle of national sovereignty and in view of the fact that the people should in the end be responsible for how the central and local governments govern, (the Constitution) should be viewed as presuming that Japanese nationals in principle will assume local civil service positions" that require the...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 27, 2005

Wonderfully easy on the eyes

Sony launched its new PlayStation Portable in Japan in December. According to Sony, it is slated to launch in the United States by the end of March. Who knows about Europe.

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’