Search - 2004

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 31, 2007

Ruling bloc steamrolls pension bill

The ruling bloc rammed a hastily compiled bill through the Lower House welfare committee on Wednesday, steamrolling testy opposition lawmakers as it raced to put a lid on the explosive pension data fiasco.
CULTURE / Books
May 27, 2007

Ethnic cop caught between cultures

CHINATOWN BEAT by Henry Chang. New York: SOHO Press, 2006, 214 pages, $22 (cloth) Well before Sax Rohmer created his sinister villain Dr. Fu-Manchu in 1911, Chinatowns figured prominently in British and American popular fiction. These are chronicled by such scholarly works as William Wu's "The Yellow...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 26, 2007

Treatment of Liverpool fans result of actions back home

LONDON — The police baton-charged "blameless" fans who could not gain entry to the stadium despite having valid tickets, while many inside the ground were allowed in with forgeries.
JAPAN
May 26, 2007

Diet lowers incarceration age to 'about 12'

The Diet enacted a package of new juvenile crime laws on Friday that lowers the minimum age at which a child can be sent to a reformatory to "about 12."
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 26, 2007

Bringing about world change through literacy

Imagine. You are a rising executive with Microsoft, with a corporate credit card and an associated lifestyle. Then one day, at age 35, you clear your desk, cash in your investments and walk away.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2007

Juvenile Law revision

A bill to revise the Juvenile Law, which passed the Lower House with the backing of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito, is now in the Upper House. The bill is designed to provide harsher treatment of juvenile offenders. Lawmakers must question whether such a move will really help to prevent juvenile...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 25, 2007

Rapper Madlib's mad assortment

Sometimes you wonder how Otis Jackson Jr. even finds time to sleep. The Californian hip-hop producer and rapper, better known as Madlib, churns records out at a rate so furious, that even dedicated beat heads struggle to keep up. His discography on the Stones Throw Records label Web site lists over 50...
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2007

Uptick in shooting incidents

One month after Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito was shot to death by a gangster, a former gangster holed himself up in his house in Nagakute, Aichi Prefecture. He shot and injured his two children and a policeman and killed a member of the police special assault team (SAT). These incidents underline the need...
JAPAN
May 24, 2007

More families willing to pay companies for home security

, Japan's second-largest home security firm, put a service plan on the market in 2004 with a lower monthly fee to increase contracts. The monthly bill for a condominium with three rooms plus a dining room and kitchen is 4,200 yen. The installation cost is 33,600 yen and a 20,000 yen deposit is required. "For...
SPORTS / MULLY'S MISSIVES
May 23, 2007

Liverpool fans swamp Athens ahead of CL final

ATHENS — Liverpool fans began to pour into central Athens on Monday ahead of the Reds' Champions League final against AC Milan on Wednesday, thousands without tickets and some still looking for hotel rooms.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2007

MMC to reduce dealerships in domestic revamp

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will start paring its group dealerships to five from 29 on July 1 to help streamline sales channels and turn around its money-losing operations at home.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2007

Strengthen India-Japan ties

Japan and India are two of the largest democracies in Asia, sharing a commitment to the rule of law and respect for human rights. Japan and India have continued to develop friendly relations founded on a long history of exchanges.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / WEEK 3
May 20, 2007

Set on a course to be gone with the wind

Trundling homeward in the dark, cheeks-to-cheeks and pondering the meaning of life in a steamy train carriage. The conductor up front, immaculate and deadpan in a climate-controlled cubicle oblivious to Japan Rail's rolling Apache sweat lodge.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 19, 2007

Mourinho's criticism of Ronaldo for diving is laughable

LONDON — If the Wembley gods are looking down on the first F.A. Cup final back at the rebuilt national stadium, they will decree that Manchester United takes an early lead against Chelsea.
EDITORIALS
May 19, 2007

ASDF's role in Iraq

The Lower House has passed a bill to extend by two years the July 2003 ad hoc law to deploy the Self-Defense Forces for noncombat activities in Iraq. The specific aim of the bill is to extend the operations of the Air Self-Defense Force in Iraq since the law expires at the end of July.
JAPAN
May 18, 2007

Compensation cases for mental illness, suicide hit record

More people claimed and received compensation for work-related suicides and mental-health problems last year than ever before, officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 18, 2007

'Pacchigi! Love & Peace'

In 2004, Kazuyuki Izutsu made "Pacchigi! (Pacchigi! We Shall Overcome Someday)," a serio-comic Romeo and Juliet romance set in 1960s Kyoto. Starring Shun Shioya as a naive high school boy and Erika Sawajiri as the cute-but-tough zainichi (ethnic Korean living in Japan) girl whom he falls for, the film...
EDITORIALS
May 18, 2007

Nurturing forests and workers

The fiscal 2006 annual report on the nation's forestry shows that self-sufficiency in the wood supply has stopped falling due to conditions abroad that make wood imports to Japan difficult. The government can use this opportunity to revitalize Japan's forestry.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 17, 2007

Wong's mood a delicious match for Jones' melancholy

You can be sure organizers of the Cannes Film Festival had knotted stomachs ahead of Wednesday night's scheduled screening of Wong Kar-wai's "My Blueberry Nights." WKW films are always born in chaos, and he's delivered a few wet prints to Cannes in the past: "In The Mood For Love," which won two prizes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 17, 2007

Creating atmospheres

An array of recent exhibitions in Kyoto and Osaka offers an engaging cross section of contemporary art practice in western Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 17, 2007

Changes of note

She has quietly become one of the decade's best-selling artists, has a third No.1 album in the charts — and debuts as an actor in the film opening this week's Cannes Film Festival

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