Eric Johnston - The Japan Times

November 08, 2025

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Eric Johnston

BUSINESS

Oct 9, 2004

Osaka parties as beer event commences

OSAKA -- The most popular autumn party in Osaka -- the annual International Beer Summit -- began Friday at the Umeda Sky Building.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Oct 7, 2004

Chubu airport to add to Kansai's unease

TOKONAME, Aichi Pref. -- With the February opening of Chubu Centrair International Airport, its general manager of sales and marketing has a few words for those who worry the new facility will take flights away from Kansai International Airport.

JAPAN

Oct 5, 2004

Sustainable development program tall order

KYOTO -- Next year marks the start of the U.N. mandated Decade of Education for Sustainable Development -- an ambitious program pushed by UNESCO to promote international resource development that is socially desirable, economically viable, culturally appropriate and ecologically sustainable.

JAPAN

Oct 1, 2004

Rain forest advocacy NGO notes decline in ramin wood imports

OSAKA -- An Osaka-based environmental nongovernmental organization fighting to save tropical rain forests says both legal and illegal imports of ramin wood to Japan have been greatly curbed in recent years.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel

Sep 10, 2004

Dodging tourist traps in Kyoto

Ebisugawa has a vast array of small shops that sell dozens of varieties of high-quality green tea and traditional Kyoto sweets, as well as bric-a-brac stores that are a bargain-hunter's dream.

JAPAN

Aug 22, 2004

'Fahrenheit 9/11' opens to big, enthusiastic crowds

OSAKA -- "Fahrenheit 9/11," American film director Michael Moore's savage attack on the policies of President George W. Bush, opened nationwide Saturday to long lines and enthusiastic crowds.

JAPAN

Aug 16, 2004

Mihama accident latest in long string of nuclear plant woes

OSAKA -- In early 1999, a group of German nuclear scientists and engineers had just returned to Osaka after visiting nuclear power facilities in Fukui Prefecture. Sitting in a bar in the Hotel New Otani, they were deeply disturbed.

JAPAN

Aug 11, 2004

Kepco cost-cuts proved fatal: protesters

OSAKA -- Antinuclear activists in Fukui and Osaka prefectures said Tuesday the accident the day before at the Mihama atomic plant was due to Kansai Electric Power Co.'s attempts to cut costs and will negatively effect the utility's plans to burn MOX fuel in the reactor.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Aug 10, 2004

Nuclear fuel plant not biz as usual

ROKKASHO, Aomori Pref. -- Despite safety concerns and local anger over allegations raised in July that the government hid a report showing that reprocessing spent atomic fuel costs more than burying it, officials at Rokkasho say they hope to begin uranium testing soon in preparation for the opening of...

Japan Times

JAPAN

Aug 10, 2004

Nuclear fuel plant not biz as usual

ROKKASHO, Aomori Pref. -- Despite safety concerns and local anger over allegations raised in July that the government hid a report showing that reprocessing spent atomic fuel costs more than burying it, officials at Rokkasho say they hope to begin uranium testing soon in preparation for the opening of...

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jul 16, 2004

Kobe, Osaka vie to be home where Buffaloes, Orix may jointly roam

OSAKA -- The proposed merger between the Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave has not only shaken the baseball world but also heated up the rivalry between Osaka and Kobe for economic, social and cultural dominance of the Kansai region.

JAPAN

Jul 12, 2004

Scandal-hit Tsujimoto loses Diet comeback bid

OSAKA -- Scandal-tainted Kiyomi Tsujimoto failed Sunday in her bid to return to the Diet, finishing fourth in the race for three seats in the Osaka electoral district.

JAPAN

Jul 10, 2004

Hunger-striker returns to cell after hospital visit

IBARAKI, Osaka Pref. -- A 37-year-old Iranian who has been held at the West Japan Immigration Center here since February 2003 and has been on a hunger strike for over a month, was briefly hospitalized Friday, according to his supporters.

JAPAN

Jul 8, 2004

Delegates at Kyoto talks push Security Council expansion

KYOTO -- A two-day conference on reforming the United Nations ended here Wednesday with participants agreeing that the number of Security Council seats should be expanded to better meet threats to global security.

JAPAN

Jul 7, 2004

Experts mull security issues at informal Kyoto meeting

KYOTO -- Nearly two dozen former political leaders and policy experts from around the world met in Kyoto on Tuesday for informal discussions on how to make the United Nations more effective in responding to international security threats.

Japan Times

JAPAN / ELECTION '04

Jul 3, 2004

Convict Tsujimoto seeks mercy of voters

OSAKA -- Kiyomi Tsujimoto likes to call herself the "wasabi of Japanese politics," whose job is to add some zest to the blandness of debate.

JAPAN

Jul 2, 2004

Kin of kidnapped fret lack of focus on Pyongyang in Upper House poll

KOBE -- Seven months ago, on the eve of the House of Representatives election, North Korea's abductions of Japanese was one of the main campaign topics.

JAPAN

May 25, 2004

Wrangling over new Kobe airport rumbles on

OSAKA -- Tension over the future of airports in the Kansai region boiled over recently, with politicians and business leaders in Kobe and Osaka engaging in public skirmishes with the central government and with each other.

Japan Times

LIFE / Travel

May 21, 2004

Osaka's west side story

In the cult-film classic "Death Ride to Osaka," there is a scene in which tough Tokyo yakuza drag a Western hostess kicking and screaming out the door. The hostess has just been banished from the bright lights of Tokyo's Ginza to the foul backwater of Osaka.

JAPAN

May 20, 2004

Never in Japan, can kin 'return' here?

OSAKA -- Many Japanese newspapers, magazines and TV stations are reporting that the offspring of five Japanese who were abducted to North Korea in 1978 and repatriated in October 2002 will be "returning" to Japan if North Korea lets them leave.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.

The second life of Japan's net cafes

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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