Search - information

 
 
JAPAN
Nov 21, 2001

Theft of bank data system leads to Aum arrest

Tokyo police Tuesday arrested a member of Aum Shinrikyo on suspicion of stealing a transaction data management system from a major Japanese bank.
COMMUNITY
Nov 18, 2001

Universal fashion: One design fits all

Everyone knows how hard it is to find clothes that fit, but imagine how much harder it would be if you had special needs. If you were a wheelchair-user looking for pants with gathers at the knees, or a frail senior looking for a blouse with easy-to-detach buttons, chances are you wouldn't find them easily...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 18, 2001

The long road to a barrier-free Japan

Compact size. Lightweight. High-speed. Extra new features. Appealing design. Competitive price. Manufacturers have long focused on criteria like these in their quest for successful product lines. In the single-minded pursuit of profits, though, consumers unable to adapt themselves to standardized products...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2001

Tobin tax: fodder for spendthrift pols

Suggestions have been made that the turmoil that swept through East Asia in 1997-98 is evidence of the instability of global capital markets. Supporters of this idea validated their claims by asserting that a contagion effect spread the turbulence to other emerging market economies.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2001

Sony plans major Vaio push in China

In a bid to break into China's rapidly growing market, Sony Corp. will produce and market a range of its popular Vaio notebook computers there starting next month, company officials said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2001

Tanaka deserves much better

Japanese politics were never famous for their logic. But the fuss surrounding Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka plumbs new depths.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Nov 17, 2001

The first step to happy marriage . . . zu

Today I bring you "Real Conversations From the English Classroom."
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

European historians give textbook tips

German, Polish, and French historians who have been working on compiling history textbooks that draw on the perspectives of both sides of the former warring nations stressed Thursday the importance of dialogue between the countries involved.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

More workers embrace early retirement

As economic woes prompt companies to pare down workforces and job-security anxiety grows amid widening cracks in Japan's storied lifetime employment system, at least one new breed is rising from the ashes -- older workers who are eager to pocket a payoff and branch out in a new direction.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

Film about Sorge in works

A veteran Japanese film director has announced he will begin shooting a movie next year on the wartime Sorge espionage case with focus on two journalists, one German and the other Japanese, who were hanged as Soviet spies.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2001

Stink raised over planned cuts to sewerage, dam projects

The Finance Ministry will cut outlays for sewerage by around 20 percent and for dam and flood-control projects by more than 10 percent next fiscal year to achieve a 10 percent cut in public works spending, ministry sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

Captive journalist's whereabouts unknown

Recent developments in Afghanistan have made it difficult to confirm the whereabouts of a Japanese national being detained by Taliban authorities, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

JAL reports plunge in interim profits, sees red for full year

Japan Airlines Co. said Thursday that the Sept. 11 terror attacks caused its interim net profit to plunge 61.3 percent to 16.4 billion yen and may lead the group into the red by the end of fiscal 2001.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

European historians give textbook tips

German, Polish, and French historians who have been working on compiling history textbooks that draw on the perspectives of both sides of the former warring nations stressed Thursday the importance of dialogue between the countries involved.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2001

Ministry urges companies to report greenhouse gas emissions

The Environment Ministry proposed Thursday establishing a mechanism to encourage companies to publicize their greenhouse gas emissions and a system of neutral third parties to evaluate and check reported emissions.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2001

Mitsubishi sees its operating profits climb

Mitsubishi Corp. said Thursday its group operating profits climbed 63.5 percent to 35.75 billion yen in the fiscal first half to Sept. 30 on the strength of robust earnings in its energy business and a weak yen.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2001

Current account surplus falls 23.5% in first half to 5.2 trillion yen

The nation's current account surplus during the first half of fiscal 2001 declined 23.5 percent from a year earlier to 5.19 trillion yen, marking the second consecutive fall in the broadest measure of trade, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday in a preliminary report.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2001

Taiwan deserves to be a U.N. member

NEW YORK -- The United Nations admitted Tuvalu, a tiny South Pacific island state, as its 189th member last fall, but not Taiwan despite the latter's efforts for the past decade. The U.N.'s action seems incongruous even by a simple comparison.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2001

Omron to intensify restructuring

Omron Corp. announced on Tuesday that it will embark on a new two-year restructuring program after chalking up consolidated net profits of 2.15 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2001, down 73.8 percent from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Nov 14, 2001

Prospects gloomy for world's economies

The unemployment rate hit a record high 5.3 percent in October, clouding prospects for yearend bonus payments and household spending.
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2001

Asahi Bank to unload 200 billion yen in bad loans

Asahi Bank announced plans Monday to cut roughly 200 billion yen in bad loans in two years through a tieup with U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc., allaying market fears about Asahi's financial strength.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2001

Three physicists, biologist, composer receive Kyoto Prizes

KYOTO -- Three physicists, a British evolutional biologist and an Austrian composer received the 2001 Kyoto Prizes during a ceremony Saturday at the Kyoto International Conference Hall for their contributions to the scientific, cultural and spiritual development of mankind.
COMMUNITY
Nov 11, 2001

Trepanners open their minds with a hole in the head

Amanda Feilding spent four years searching for a surgeon to perform the operation. Several agreed, then backed out at the last minute, fearing the consequences if anything went wrong.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 11, 2001

In praise of Japan's 'Greatest Generation'

Perhaps as a reaction against the excesses of an age of material prosperity and greed, America in recent years has seen a spate of books and movies extolling the so-called Greatest Generation, the quiet men who went off to fight in World War II. Similarly, Japan now has "Project X," a popular NHK-TV...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 11, 2001

Trying to sell the news to kids who don't care

We've heard a lot lately about the decline of literacy in the developed world, as more people turn to new technology as their principal source of information. Commentators often illustrate this claim with figures demonstrating how no one reads novels anymore or by citing the decline in advertising revenue....
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2001

Calls for Cabinet shakeup dog Koizumi

Speculation that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will reshuffle his Cabinet sometime after the current Diet session ends Dec. 7 has not ebbed, despite his repeated denials.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.