Search - 2004

 
 
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 28, 2007

Feting Japan's finest animators

Omnibus films are hard sells to ticket buyers and critics; the former because they want a full cinematic meal, not a plate of hors d'oeuvres, the latter because they see a package of segments as a sort of horse race — and proclaim disappointment when all the horses/segments don't cross the finish line...
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2007

Activist investors impact annual meetings

Steel Partners, Ichigo Asset Management and other investors in Japanese companies are doubling their involvement at annual meetings as overseas shareholders lead a drive for higher returns.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jun 27, 2007

Is this a poisons coverup?

Mariners say the oceans reveal their secrets only grudgingly. Shelly Parulis would say the same of the U.S. Navy.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2007

Nippon Steel unsure about expanding ties with Arcelor Mittal

Nippon Steel Corp., the world's second-largest steelmaker, said Tuesday no "concrete" decision had been made about expanding cooperation with bigger rival Arcelor Mittal.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2007

Mitutoyo execs receive suspended terms

The Tokyo District Court gave four former executives of precision instrument maker Mitutoyo Corp. suspended prison sentences Monday for illegally exporting devices that could aid the production of nuclear weapons.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Jun 26, 2007

Metaphys, Bunaco, etc.

Earlier this month at Tokyo Big Sight exhibition center, the massive Interior Lifestyle show hosted more than 600 exhibitors, more than half of which were domestic companies. Having dug through the many products on display, this week I will spotlight the best Japanese designs you can expect to see on...
EDITORIALS
Jun 25, 2007

Hazy fiscal reform plan

The government has approved an economic and fiscal reform plan for 2007 that will serve as the basis for compiling the fiscal 2008 budget. It encompasses a variety of policy measures that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration thinks are necessary to ensure both economic growth and financial reconstruction....
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 25, 2007

Tobacco watch on public health policy

BANGKOK — A powerful consensus is emerging among health advocates and public officials around the world that the tobacco industry should not have any influence on public health policies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 24, 2007

Somewhere between history and the imagination

David Mitchell is one of Britain's most influential novelists. "Ghostwritten" (1999), his first novel, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Shortlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize for fiction, his second novel, "number9dream" (2001),...
EDITORIALS
Jun 23, 2007

Iraq mission needs clarification

The Diet has passed a bill to extend by two years the July 2003 ad hoc law to deploy Self-Defense Forces in Iraq for noncombat activities. The Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito supported it, while the Democratic Party of Japan and three other opposition parties opposed it. The...
SOCCER
Jun 22, 2007

Osim: Japan's build up to Asian finals a joke

Ivica Osim has blasted the Japan Football Association for bungling the national team's build up to the upcoming Asian Cup finals.
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2007

Sato pleads innocent to bribery

and his brother, Yuji (center back), enter the Tokyo District Court for the Thursday start of their bribery trial. KYODO PHOTO
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jun 22, 2007

'Office' star in 'Japanese classic'

'When I heard that my play 'Warai no Daigaku (Academy of Laughter)' was going to be staged as 'The Last Laugh' in England, I handed my script over with no strings attached and told them they could adapt it any way they wanted. I even said they didn't have to bother giving me a credit," said 45-year-old...
JAPAN
Jun 21, 2007

Crime victim bill enacted; critics fear trials turning into outlets for revenge

hits (you), (you) hit back," Morosawa said, reckoning such acts of revenge were permitted until "the enactment of modern law, when the government took away the right to retribution — or rather, the government was to carry out (retribution) on behalf" of the victims. People in Japan victimized by crime...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 21, 2007

Asian artists echo biennale director's themes

VENICE, Italy — By the light of the setting sun, a skateboarder practices tricks on the edge of a seaside jetty. Heavy waves roll in and break against the shore in a constant motion in the background. The skateboarder keeps to a narrow radius and his movements are rhythmic and supple. The board appears...
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2007

Troubled Nova staff slams work conditions

Nova Corp. teachers and other employees in Tokyo criticized the company Tuesday, saying the troubled chain of foreign-language schools must improve its business not just so it becomes more honest with customers but also for the sake of its workers.
SOCCER
Jun 19, 2007

Osim announces provisional squad

Ivica Osim named Japan's provisional squad for the Asian Cup finals at JFA House on Monday evening, and the national team coach couldn't find room in his 30-strong list for Europe-based players Koji Nakata and Junichi Inamoto.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 19, 2007

Crime victims get their day, say in court

The Diet is expected to pass a controversial bill this week to revise the Criminal Procedure Law to enable people victimized by crime to participate in trial proceedings.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 18, 2007

What the Basel regulations mean for the Japanese banking industry and monetary policy

Anew set of rules governing capital adequacy of banks debuted this year, and Japanese banks, many of whom close their books in March, became the world's first to announce their earnings results under the new standards.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2007

Governance rules often spun by managers: expert

It is company managers, not politicians or institutional investors, who call the shots on corporate governance, an American scholar said at a recent seminar in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 17, 2007

Stand by your language — but not as a nationalist icon

Last month, on May 21 to be exact, something caught my eye in the English-language IHT/Asahi Shimbun newspaper. In an article headlined "Holistic patriotic education still missing," Professor Nobukatsu Fujioka of Takushoku University in Tokyo made an impassioned plea for Japanese children to be imbued...
EDITORIALS
Jun 16, 2007

Toward greener transportation

A compromise agreement at the Group of Eight summit to seriously consider halving global greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 incorporates Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's proposal for halving the emissions by that year without setting a baseline year. Japan, the host of next year's G8 summit, must do its utmost...

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