Search - 2004

 
 
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Jul 18, 2007

Putting 'rarity' into context

Stepping outside this morning, I heard a skylark singing above the open field adjacent to where I live. It's a rare event for me, but perhaps you hear skylarks all the time. Then again, perhaps you have never heard that silvery cascade of notes pouring endlessly from high in the sky.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 17, 2007

Hinomaru, 'Kimigayo' express conflicts both past and future

To some they are symbols of national pride, to others icons of a militaristic past. "Kimigayo," the national anthem, and the Hinomaru, the national flag, have been perpetual sources of controversy because of their contentious historical backgrounds. Following are some basic questions and answers about...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 15, 2007

No care in the world for caregivers as profit is all that matters

Scandals are coming so fast and furious now it seems eons ago when nursing care provider Comsn Inc. was busted by the government for inflating the number of employees on its payroll. Actually, it was only last month, and at the time the media could only concentrate on the particulars, namely Comsn's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 13, 2007

First Lady of blues

She recently came close to death; now, about to headline the Japan Blues & Soul Carnival, Koko Taylor talks about her 50-year career — and the future of blues
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 13, 2007

Asobi Seksu

In a country with no shortage of sexual fetishes, any group whose name translates into "playful sex" in English is bound to go over well in Japan. While Asobi Seksu's vocalist/ keyboardist Yuki Chikudate and her male cohorts are likely no strangers to praise from lustful showgoers longing to gain carnal...
SOCCER
Jul 9, 2007

Osim: Japan motivated to repeat as champion

HANOI, Vietnam — Ivica Osim and captain Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi put on a united front Sunday after questions were raised over a poor attitude permeating the Japan squad ahead of its first Asian Cup finals game.
SOCCER
Jul 8, 2007

Osim lashes out as storm causes concern

HANOI, Vietnam — Another storm is brewing in Vietnam — and it's got nothing to do with Typhoon Toraji which lashed parts of the country this week.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2007

How the West lost its nerve with Russia

MOSCOW — Nation-states are built on ethnic and territorial unity, and their histories and political development are grounded in a sense of collective identity. Empires emerge when a national group considers its existence inside its territorial borders either risky or ineffective, and embarks on a forced...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 6, 2007

Crystal Kay is all yours

"I've been on the Crystal Kay train," says the R&B diva sitting across the table. Twenty-one-year-old Crystal Kay isn't speaking figuratively, or in some sort of existential code; she's referring instead to Tokyo's Yamanote Line, whose carriages were recently plastered inside and out with her visage...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jul 6, 2007

An American Idol takes direct action for charity

Taking place this weekend in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, International Heart Expo 2007 is a charity event that aims to take "direct action" to support children in developing countries. Volunteers from Japan and abroad will participate.
SOCCER
Jul 5, 2007

Japan's Asian hopes hit by Bando injury

Japan suffered a further setback ahead of the Asian Cup when Gamba Osaka striker Ryuji Bando was ruled out of the finals with a hamstring injury.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2007

'Japan's Condi Rice' known for courting controversy

OSAKA — New Defense Minister Yuriko Koike, 54, is a world traveler fluent in Arabic and English and considered one of the Diet's leading experts on the Middle East.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Jul 4, 2007

Lakers won't buckle and trade Kobe

NEW YORK — Before I go away for the summer (to camp . . . at least that's what my family is telling me), there are certain things I want to get off my chest.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 3, 2007

Eight-year ordeal nears end for Kurdish family

Visitors to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau can't miss a giant banner strung over the main hall of Shinagawa JR Station. Sponsored by the bureau, the sign implores those who pass under it to obey the rules as Japan globalizes. In the household of Erdal Dogan, it provokes hollow laughs.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007

Citibank Japan opens with eye on retirees

Citibank Japan Ltd., a new subsidiary formed Sunday by U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc., has kicked off operations targeting wealthy retail banking customers, the company said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 3, 2007

How Japanese tax-payers' money is lost in bid-rigging

Every few years, politicians, bureaucrats and construction company bigwigs get embroiled in bid-rigging scandals — and the public's faith in government sinks deeper.
JAPAN / Q&A
Jun 30, 2007

Why the big fuss about SIA? Some answers

Two bills to replace the Social Insurance Agency with a government corporation were set to be enacted in the early hours of Saturday morning, despite the opposition camp's last-ditch attempts to stop the vote in the House of Councilors.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2007

The Dutch trick: flextime and shorter workweek

AMSTERDAM — Trying to figure out a Dutch work schedule is a little like solving a Sudoku puzzle: You bog down in numbers.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 29, 2007

Malajube "Trompe L'oeil"

If the first you hear of Malajube is the single "Montreal -40 C," you may dismiss them as an undistinguished, shiny-happy Euro-pop rock act thrown together in homage to The Cardigans. This would be a tragic, but understandable, error, since it's not until the fourth track of "Trompe L'oeil" that the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 29, 2007

Office weighs less in the work-life balance

After his son was born last April, Hyogo Prefecture civil servant Akira Hirabayashi decided to cut back on overtime at work. He yearned for more time with little Susumu and also wanted to give his wife, Chie, a chance to return to her teaching job at an elementary school.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 29, 2007

Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love "Ends Of June"

Based on their long-winded name, some may dismiss Low Low Low La La La Love Love Love as pretentious indie rockers or a mere novelty act. The British sextet are neither. Influenced by the fragile pop of Elliott Smith and alt-folk of Iron & Wine, their sophomore effort, "Ends Of June," is full of well-written...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 29, 2007

'The Bridge'

On a trip to San Francisco last month, I drove out to Marin County with a friend. We parked our car in the Vista Point parking lot, got out, and there, towering over a rise in the ground, was the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge's two, 230-meter-high towers loomed majestically, wrapped in a shroud of drifting...

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