Search - 2003

 
 
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 5, 2005

Koizumi remains firm on visiting Yasukuni

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated his firm determination Sunday to continue his controversial annual visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
EDITORIALS
Sep 4, 2005

Asia's ever expanding arms market

A sia's economic growth has many effects, not least of which is providing more money for governments to buy arms. So it should come as no surprise that the most authoritative assessment of the world's conventional arms market puts Asian nations at the top of the list of arms purchasers.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2005

Hot Hot Heat

Since last we saw Hot Hot Heat at Summer Sonic in 2003, the Victoria, British Columbia, band lost their invaluable guitarist Dante Decaro and released a major label album, "Elevator" (Sire-London/Rhino), that has incurred the unallayed derision of the indie-rock cognoscenti. For sure, "Elevator" doesn't...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 4, 2005

Once more, with feeling

With a mane of wild hair and the darkly circled eyes of the sleep deprived, one could easily mistake Kieran Hebden for a grad student up too late at the lab. There is little evidence in his striped polo shirt and khaki shorts that he is one of the more sought after electronica producers and performers....
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2005

South Korean surrogates on offer

Tokyo-based Excellence has been offering to match Japanese with surrogate mothers in South Korea since the beginning of the year, with two clients signed up, the head of the firm said Friday.
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.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2005

Pilots on global flights face rigorous English exam

Pilots of Japanese airlines working international flights will be required to pass a national English exam to avoid accidents due to miscommunication with air traffic controllers, transport ministry officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2005

Indonesia crisis-aid vow is doubled

The central banks of Japan and Indonesia signed an agreement Wednesday for Tokyo to provide Jakarta with up to $6 billion in the event of a financial crisis, the Finance Ministry said.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2005

Koizumi reinvents race as issue-specific affair

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is changing the face of election campaigns, and one place this is being felt is the Liberal Democratic Party's Kyoto prefectural chapter, which traditionally has been the LDP's nerve center for local candidates.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2005

Panel refuses to link Isahaya to fish damage

The Environmental Dispute Coordination Commission on Tuesday rejected a request by fishermen to determine that a major government reclamation project in Kyushu has damaged the local fishery industry, saying a causal link cannot be scientifically confirmed.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2005

Postal rebel Yashiro to run against New Komeito pick

Former posts minister Eita Yashiro declared Monday he will run as an independent in the Tokyo No. 12 district in the Sept. 11 general election and tendered his resignation from the Liberal Democratic Party, alleging he was betrayed by LDP executives.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2005

Government looking to boost adoption rate

The welfare ministry plans to dispatch staff across the country who specialize in finding foster parents for kids separated from their biological parents because of abuse or other problems, it was learned Sunday.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2005

Pat Robertson gives religion a black eye

NEW YORK -- Statements broadcast last week by television evangelist and former U.S. presidential candidate Pat Robertson throw a disturbing light on the influence of religion in American politics. Robertson told his audience that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to...
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
Aug 28, 2005

Cell transplant lets man forgo heart pump system

A 61-year-old man who had a serious heart condition was released from a hospital Saturday after his condition recovered enough to do away with a left ventricular assist system, or LVAS, following a transplant of his own bone marrow cells, the Saitama Medical Center announced.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2005

Interns would keep patients, not kin, in dark about cancer

Japanese medical interns, who rarely have chances to reveal terminal-stage cancer diagnosis in their daily work, generally say they would inform patients' families about cancer before patients, a joint survey by Japanese and U.S. groups showed 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.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2005

Toyota top income earner in Japan for a sixth year

Toyota Motor Corp. was Japan's biggest corporate income earner in fiscal 2004 for the sixth straight year, credit research agency Teikoku Databank said Thursday.
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.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2005

U.S beef faces further study, bureaucratic steps

More study on the risk of imported U.S. beef being infected with mad cow disease is needed before reopening the Japanese market, a food safety panel said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Court nixes policy payout to family of journalist slain in Iraq

The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday rejected a demand by the wife and son of a freelance photojournalist assassinated in Iraq to receive insurance benefits over his death.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

Suit denying pair's wartime beheading spree fails

The Tokyo District Court dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday filed by the relatives of two executed Japanese soldiers against two newspapers and a journalist over publications that said the two competed to be the first to behead 100 Chinese in 1937 during the advance on Nanjing.
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2005

JAXA looks to resume Aussie tests on rocket-borne unmanned SST model

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will resume flight tests on a small unmanned plane as early as next month in its quest to develop a next-generation supersonic transport aircraft.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Aug 24, 2005

The best from a bygone era

I was recently tempted to term the handsome old Bridgestone Museum as "the last of a dying breed." But that hardly seems appropriate any more, considering the Nihonbashi art space's ongoing evolution. Instead, the Bridgestone might be better described as "a survivor" -- and one of the best -- from a...
MORE SPORTS
Aug 23, 2005

Takahashi to run in Tokyo marathon

Sydney Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi will return to a competitive marathon race in Tokyo in November after an injury-caused two-year absence, her management office said Monday.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go