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BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2004

S&P lifts Japan outlook; Fukuda remains peeved

Standard & Poor's said Wednesday it has raised its outlook on Japan to stable from negative due to signs of an economic recovery.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Mar 21, 2004

Bush morphs into a scrappy candidate

WASHINGTON -- Mid-March is a time of significant anniversaries:
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2004

Chinese being frozen out of student visa process

Things are looking pretty grim for Chinese students who have their sights set on pursuing their Japanese language studies here.
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2004

Perilous drop in readership

One long-standing trend in Japan has been the "shift away from print" -- an aversion to serious reading. For example, in the past four years, book sales have continued to decline. Compared with other countries, the books being read woefully lags in quality and quantity.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 7, 2004

Much ado about Shakespeare: Reworking a Renaissance giant

SHASHIBIYA: Staging Shakespeare in China, by Li Ruru. Hong Kong University Press, 2003, 306 pp., 14 plates, £21.50 (cloth). It has been 100 years since Shakespeare was first staged in China. His name now sinicized to Shashibiya and even colloquialized, ("Old Man Sha"), productions of his plays continue...
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2004

Honda, GE to market engine for business jets

Honda Motor Co. and General Electric Co. said Monday they have agreed to jointly commercialize a new turbofan jet engine for small business planes.
Japan Times
Features
Feb 15, 2004

Shades of sunakku

Ask 10 Japanese to tell you exactly what a sunakku (snack) is and you'll likely get 10 different answers.
COMMENTARY
Feb 3, 2004

British society's fatal divide

LONDON -- Last week the inquiry by Senior Appeals Judge Lord Hutton into the July 18 death of weapons expert Dr. David Kelly cleared all state politicians and civil servants -- bar one -- of any blame for Kelly's death and indicted the media, in particular the BBC, for Kelly's wretched end. The one state...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 31, 2004

Preconceptions on Japan expats go out window

When Gwyneth Merner asked if she could interview me for her Division 3 thesis, we struck a deal: She could talk to me if I could talk to her. Now we are in her father's home overlooking Sagami Bay, and she is getting to know what it feels like to be on the other side of the table, so to speak.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jan 25, 2004

Surprise guests inspire unholy thoughts

MOSCOW -- It started with a rectangular jellyfish floating toward the lower right-hand corner of my computer screen. The jellyfish carried a logo, Kodak Easy Share, and was of a nauseating white-yellow-red design. The jellyfish had been there for quite a while, distracting me from students' papers and...
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2004

Students' academic ability below ministry's expectations

The academic ability of high school seniors in mathematics and science is significantly below the education ministry's expectations.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 18, 2004

'Losing dog' believers are barking up the wrong tree

In last week's column I mentioned that the media now likes to divide people and things into winners and losers (kachigumi, makegumi). This device is mainly used for economic-related matters, but it has trickled down into other social spheres.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2004

Shiretoko named candidate for UNESCO heritage list

Japan on Friday formally endorsed the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido as its candidate for UNESCO's World Heritage List.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2004

Isuzu foresees decline in truck output

Truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Friday it plans to produce 480,000 trucks globally in 2004, down 6 percent from the previous year amid shrinking domestic demand.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jan 14, 2004

Zoom in on Shinjuku for photogalleries galore

Arguably the premier creative medium in Japan, photography has undergone significant changes over the last few years. The advent of digital imaging has made it easier and cheaper for people to experiment with photography, while the latest generation of inkjet printers have made it possible to display...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2004

Family plot not for all women

Women in Japan may have made great strides in deciding how they live their lives, but such freedom has yet to translate into their final resting place.
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2004

Sales of new vehicles rise for first time in three years

Domestic sales of new motor vehicles, excluding minicars, rose 1.5 percent in 2003 to 4.03 million units, the first year-on-year increase in three years, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2004

Ministry profilers to give short-termers hard look

The Justice Ministry will toughen its immigration procedures by using past data to profile people who would be likely to stay on illegally in Japan, according to ministry officials.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2003

Affluence of retirees makes them targets

After losing his wife six years ago, the retired realtor decided to spend the rest of his life in pursuit of his passions.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2003

Cabinet approves 82 trillion yen budget

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a 82.11 trillion yen budget for fiscal 2004 that experts say gives Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's budgetary reform initiative short shrift.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 25, 2003

Egypt game brought to life

Sphinx is an ancient but not unathletic Egyptian hero with gangly arms and a lion's tail. Tut, short for Tutankhamen, is a goofy prince turned into a mummy before his time by an evil brother -- but being a mummy has certain advantages.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2003

2 Channel most popular keyword

Internet bulletin board 2 Channel was the most typed-in keyword on the Yahoo Japan Web site in 2003, the operator of Japan's leading Internet portal said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2003

Japan pleased but still wary of security situation

Japan welcomes the much-awaited capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, but the local security situation still needs careful assessment ahead of any dispatch of Self-Defense Forces elements, top government officials said Monday.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 16, 2003

Tsukada to compete in Europe

Over 78-kg world silver medalist Maki Tsukada will be among the top judoka competing at international tournaments in Europe from January, the All Japan Judo Federation said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 3, 2003

Balanced diet eludes kids of junk food age

Getting kids to eat their vegetables is not easy. And in fast-paced urban Japan, where both parents usually work and the landscape is dominated by convenience stores overflowing with junk food, the chore is ever more difficult.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?