Search - u_times

 
 
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 5, 2003

Tokyo's fastest copywriter on the run for TELL

Bob Poulson is a runner. He runs for fun, and when a good cause comes along that he believes is worth running for, he will run for that too.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2003

Police more trigger-happy in 2002: NPA

Police officers brandished or fired their guns 54 times in 2002, well up from 26 the previous year and marking the highest number of such incidents in five years, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2003

Kansai robots on march amid Astro Boy hoopla

OSAKA -- The Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, is witnessing a surge in visitors ahead of the April 7 "birthday" of Astro Boy, the humanoid robot for which the late cartoonist is probably best known.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2003

Carbon molecule inspires hope in medicine, energy sectors

In the liver or even the brain of a cancer patient, carbon molecules shaped like soccer balls seek out malignant cells and bombard them with anticancer drugs.
COMMENTARY
Apr 2, 2003

Caught between Iraq and a North Korean hard place

When the war between the U.S.-British coalition and Iraq finally began on March 20, a Japanese magazine put out a special issue headlined "The Realization of Justice or Arousal of the Devil?" to stress the importance of looking through to the essence of the war.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Koizumi's power appears to be slipping

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has gone from bypassing his party's power brokers to pleading with them -- unsuccessfully.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2003

Resignation of farm minister could be a slow-burning fuse

The sudden resignation Monday of farm minister Tadamori Oshima is a further blow to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, already fighting battles over public opinion and his handling of the economy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2003

Miura case came to define sensationalism

In January 1984, more than two years after his wife was gunned down in a Los Angeles parking lot, a major weekly newsmagazine began a series of articles titled "Bullet of suspicion," suggesting Kazuyoshi Miura arranged his wife's murder for the insurance money.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 31, 2003

The economics of friendly fire

Friendly fire is a terrible thing to be a casualty of. But such things happen in the battlefield. As has indeed been happening in the Iraqi war zone.
COMMENTARY
Mar 31, 2003

Debt owed to those inclined to be soldiers

WASHINGTON -- Americans have grown used to nearly costless wars. The New York Times headlined one story: "Invading Forces Capture Key Bridge -- More American Deaths." It left readers to ponder which was the more interesting news nugget -- that a bridge was taken, or that U.S. soldiers died taking it....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 30, 2003

An artist drawing on peace

Yoshitomo Nara is one of Japan's most popular contemporary artists, with admirers not only in Japan but also in Europe and the United States.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 30, 2003

Behind the silver screen

THE FLASH OF CAPITAL: Film and Geopolitics in Japan, by Eric Cazdyn. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2002, 316 pp., $21.95 (paper) Those who dislike that branch of criticism and cultural studies that has come to be known as "theory" will probably not care for Eric Cazdyn's "The Flash of Capital:...
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2003

Millea Insurance companies finally announce merger

After a series of false starts, the companies of the Millea Insurance Group on Friday officially announced their merger, which will take place in October 2004.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 29, 2003

Age of shifting coalitions

LONDON -- Despite the failure to gain backing from the United Nations, the war on Iraq has brought together a growing "coalition of the willing," as Washington dubs those who support the attack on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. It may have few active military members -- the United States, Britain plus...
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2003

Hoya ordered to halt misleading ads for eyeglasses

The Fair Trade Commission said Friday it has ordered eyeglass manufacturer Hoya Corp. to stop making misleading claims about its products.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2003

With Hu comes a hint of interesting times

HAINAN, China -- The 3,000-plus delegates to the annual two-week meeting of China's National People's Congress, or NPC, have packed their bags and gone home. It was an unusually important meeting this year. In addition to the usual rubber-stamping of the Chinese Communist Party's policy proposals for...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2003

Musical is well-suited to the times

"Can we sing a song of peace in a world that's full of fear?"
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Mar 27, 2003

Gambling on dopamine

Paul Newman's character in the 1967 movie "Cool Hand Luke" earns his eponymous nickname by bluffing wildly in a poker game, winning with a hand that amounts to nothing. "Yeah, well," he mumbles, "Sometimes nuthin' can be a real cool hand."
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 27, 2003

Indigenous peoples speak up for nature

"In my community," says Roy Laifungbam of the Meitei people in northern India, "water is part of our daily ritual worship, as well as our annual spring festival. And this relationship is totally disregarded when you talk about water as a commodity."
JAPAN
Mar 26, 2003

Man held over embassy bomb threats

A 37-year-old man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of threatening to bomb the Iraqi Embassy in Tokyo, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2003

Hayao Miyazaki mum on Oscar, citing war

Hayao Miyazaki, director of "Spirited Away," which won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, indicated Monday that he finds it hard to celebrate the prize because of what is going on in the world, apparently referring to the war in Iraq.
COMMENTARY
Mar 25, 2003

Weak tobacco pact reflects Japan's lukewarm attitude

The member-nations of the World Health Organization have recently approved a draft Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), putting an end to four years of negotiations. The draft is expected to be adopted at the general meeting of the WHO in May, and will take effect after 40 countries have ratified...
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2003

40 Japanese in Iraq include NGO, activists, journalists

The number of Japanese nationals in Iraq rose to 40 as of Sunday morning, after three Japanese entered the country from Jordan, the Foreign Ministry said.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / PLAY BUTTON
Mar 23, 2003

A beautiful day in the life of sound

The phone line buzzes, the electric heater drones and the pitter-patter of rain can be heard in the background. Not the perfect sonic environment for a phone interview, but for Yuko Kitamura, it is perfect.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 23, 2003

Comic culture is serious business

Can anyone be in this country a week and not notice manga -- Japan's unique contribution to comics?
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2003

U.S. must rethink North Korea strategy

MONTEREY, Calif. -- On the eve of South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's swearing-in ceremony, North Korea lobbed a land-to-ship cruise missile into the Sea of Japan. This provocation took place as the world's dignitaries -- among them U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 22, 2003

Painter enhances nature to give ikebana new life

About to spend four days in Tokyo curating her students' work for an exhibition -- "Collaboration with Nature" -- at Sogetsu Kaikan in Akasaka, Liga Pang juggles cooking lunch and packing bags as we talk.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2003

Antiwar rallies go on unfazed

Rallies against the U.S.-led war on Iraq continued Thursday in front of U.S. diplomatic offices in Japan, with hunger strikes continuing as U.S. bombs started falling on Baghdad.
LIFE / Language / KANJI CLINIC
Mar 20, 2003

Katakana-happy Japan must again look to China

During times of friendly relations with Western nations, the Japanese have laid out a linguistic welcome mat to foreign vocabulary items, particularly English.

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