Search - news

 
 
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2005

Japan to release 7.3 million barrels of oil

Japan will release 7.3 million barrels of reserve oil kept by 66 private-sector refiners over a 30-day period beginning Wednesday in a concerted action by the International Energy Agency to help stabilize the world oil market in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2005

Ishihara turns to Taipei as Beijing exits forum

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara will visit Taiwan on Tuesday to discuss ways to run a forum for major Asian cities, following the recent withdrawal of Beijing from the network, Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials said.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2005

Minimum for oil reserves to be cut in line with IEA

Japan will cut its mandatory minimum for oil reserves held by refiners and other private-sector oil firms in a concerted action by the International Energy Agency, a senior government official said Monday.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2005

Fast Retail to pay big to put Uniqlo on world fashion stage

Fast Retailing Co., which runs the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, said Monday it will spend up to 400 billion yen over the next three years to acquire apparel businesses as part of an overall plan to evolve into a global powerhouse.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2005

LDP leading in polls with a week to go

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is likely to win a majority Sept. 11, while the Democratic Party of Japan may not end up with the 175 seats it held when the House of Representatives was dissolved, a Kyodo News survey shows.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2005

Japanese confirmed dead in Afghanistan

Two bodies recently found in southern Afghanistan were confirmed Saturday to be those of a missing Japanese man and woman, the Foreign Ministry said.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2005

Politician's gripe sparks sales of Mimolette cheese

Mimolette, a French cheese criticized as "hard and shriveled" by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in a hot fray over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's threat to dissolve the House of Representatives, is catching on with curious consumers.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2005

Women-only salons offer refuge after last trains

There is good news for weary women in Tokyo who stay out late and miss their last trains after working long hours or hanging out with friends.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2005

APEC ministers plan oil coordination

Asia-Pacific finance ministers at their meeting next week will call for increased policy coordination between oil-producing and -consuming states, including the launch of annual dialogue in the International Energy Forum, to curb surging oil prices, according to a draft joint statement.
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2005

Groups against revisionist history text call campaign a success

Civic groups opposing a contentious revisionist history textbook on Thursday hailed the result of the publisher's recent survey, as well as their own, that less than 1 percent of the nation's junior high schools are likely to use the book from next April.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2005

Ailing Ito-Yokado to close 30 stores

Supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. said Wednesday it will close about 30 unprofitable outlets by February 2009 as part of its group restructuring plan.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2005

Japan 'regrets' China drilling

A Chinese Embassy official was summoned Wednesday to the Foreign Ministry to be told that Tokyo regrets that a Chinese consortium is set to begin drilling in the Chunxiao gas field in the East China Sea, where the two countries are disputing the boundary, a ministry spokesman said.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Sep 1, 2005

Learning to enjoy where waters flow free

Every summer in Japan there is news of a few children drowning in rivers, and the message that comes from the media with those tragic stories is that rivers are dangerous and children should not go near them.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2005

Asahi fires reporter for fabricating story info

The Asahi Shimbun has fired a 28-year-old reporter at its Nagano bureau and removed a senior editor over false information of a meeting between a former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief and the governor of Nagano.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2005

Jobless rate rises to 4.4%

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage point to 4.4 percent in July from June partly because more people were seeking better jobs amid the economic recovery, the government said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 30, 2005

A timely warning to Tokyo

It is tempting to overreact to warnings that al-Qaeda is preparing an attack on a large financial center in Asia. That would be a mistake. If accurate a big if the reports should spur officials to better prepare for that awful possibility. But the news is not really new: Japan has already suffered one...
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2005

Koizumi vows to step down if ruling bloc loses election

Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Junichiro Koizumi stressed Monday he will step down immediately if the ruling coalition fails to win a majority in the 480-seat House of Representatives in the Sept. 11 election.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2005

Oil-triggered slump in U.S. is the worry in Japan

Crude oil prices around $60 to $70 a barrel for the next six months will have little direct impact on the Japanese economy, but look out for indirect hits if higher prices hurt consumption in the U.S., economists say.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 28, 2005

Summer scorecard: road trips, managers, scraped bathtubs

Road Trip of Survival: The Hanshin Tigers came through their "Road Trip of Death" in pretty good shape. The team went 10-9 while away from their home Koshien Stadium (being used for the national high school Tournament) for 25 days from Aug. 1 and was still in first place in the Central League, leading...
Features
Aug 28, 2005

Surrender seen close up

Col. Hervey Bennett Whipple was made logistics officer for U.S. Forces in the Southwest Pacific, operating from bases in Australia, in February 1942. In the following month he came to work for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who had arrived in Australia after a daring escape from Corregidor in Manila Bay.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 28, 2005

Postal reform gets stamp of approval from celeb politicians

Opponents of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal reform plans have a number of complaints, but the point they tend to harp on about, presumably because it's the only one the average citizen can appreciate, is the downsizing of post offices in far-flung regions.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 28, 2005

Privacy of sperm donors leaves lives in limbo

Emi Nishimura's identity quest began the hard way.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2005

State to draft law on asbestos redress

The government will draft a law outlining compensation for victims of asbestos-related illnesses, including those who lived near asbestos-linked factories and the families of those who worked with the unburnable material, the Cabinet decided Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 26, 2005

North Korea deports asylum-seeker

North Korea has deported a Gunma Prefecture man who illegally entered the communist country, Pyongyang's state-run news agency, KCNA, reported Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 25, 2005

China and Russia: brothers in arms?

Last week, China and Russia began their first ever joint military exercises. The drills have some armchair strategists warning of a new entente between Beijing and Moscow that could pose a threat to the existing regional security order. The truth about the exercises is considerably less exciting. For...
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2005

Keidanren to officially back Koizumi

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) will officially back the Liberal Democratic Party in the Sept. 11 Lower House election as a show of support for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reforms, sources said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Two new parties announce candidates

Two small parties inaugurated earlier this month released Tuesday their lists of candidates for the Sept. 11 election.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat