Search - 2005

 
 
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2007

Aussie skiers spark land boom in Niseko

"When I started the business, people told me 'Ben, you're crazy, it's too expensive,' " he said. "But our buyers were saying the opposite: 'Ben, you're crazy. Why is it so cheap?' " suggesting properties in the area are still underpriced compared with overseas ski resorts.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Mar 4, 2007

Nanae Aoyama: Office worker takes exalted literary status in her stride

Nanae Aoyama only turned 24 in January, but already she has won literary prizes for each of the two books she has published.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 27, 2007

Death row: limbo of not knowing when

Japan is among 69 nations, including the United States, that have the death penalty.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2007

Mag on foreigner crimes not racist: editor

"Now!! Bad foreigners are devouring Japan," screams the warning, surrounded by gruesome caricatures of foreigners who look like savages, with blood red eyes and evil faces.
EDITORIALS
Feb 22, 2007

'Secrets' with a public interest

The Self-Defense Forces' investigation of an SDF member in connection with a news report of an accident in a Chinese Navy submarine in 2005 raises concerns regarding people's right to know and the freedom of the press. It could lead to limits on basic rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution....
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2007

Ozawa says big office expenses were for real estate

Democratic Party of Japan leader Ichiro Ozawa on Tuesday released details of how his political management body spent the large amounts of money listed as "office expenses" on his political funding reports from 2003 to 2005.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 20, 2007

TV shows spur 'health' food fads

How many people would believe a doctor who says eating two packages of natto fermented soybeans every day helps you lose weight?
MORE SPORTS
Feb 15, 2007

Thomas walks away a winner, maybe not a Raven

HONOLULU -- After the game, there was a beaming smile on Adalius Thomas' face. No wonder -- he had just returned a Marc Bulger fumble for a touchdown in the AFC's 31-28 win over the NFC in the Pro Bowl on Sunday.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2007

From rackets to real estate, yakuza multifaceted

The yakuza have long played a powerful, if often unseen, role in society. Romanticized in literature and film as noble outcasts replete with punch-perms, extensive tattoos and severed pinkies, the underworld is one of archaic language and secretive rituals and customs as well as extreme violence and...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Feb 14, 2007

Eyewitness to slaughter in Taiji's killing coves

Almost every day, pods of dolphins ply their way across Hatagiri Bay near the whaling town of Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture, central Japan. It's a scenic, serene area on the beautiful Kii Peninsula. But death haunts two pristine coves adjacent to Taiji's whale museum.
EDITORIALS
Feb 10, 2007

Boost fire-prevention efforts

The number of people who died in accidental residential fires reached 1,041 in 2003, topping 1,000 for the first time. 2005 saw 1,220 deaths in such fires -- a record since 1979 when the oldest comparable statistics were taken, according to a white paper on fire defense approved by the Cabinet in December....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2007

Pending retirees suddenly find, dote on wives

Mitsutoshi Fukatsu has been with his wife for three decades, but their lives have grown apart.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2007

Sony sees 15% fall in profit for quarter

Sony Corp. said Tuesday its group operating profit in the October-December period plunged 14.9 percent from 2005 to 178.9 billion yen due to the cost of launching the PlayStation 3 in November.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Jan 22, 2007

Demographics, wisdom push Japan's overseas M&A deals

Last month Japan Tobacco, perhaps as a kind of Christmas present to itself, announced it was going to buy Gallaher Plc of the United Kingdom. The quoted figure for the deal was 2.25 trillion yen (14.5 billion euro), making it the largest-ever foreign takeover by a Japanese company.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 21, 2007

Carp manager Brown confident of his team's success in 2007

Hiroshima Carp manager Marty Brown arrived back in Japan on Jan. 9 after a short winter break to get ready for the long 2007 pro baseball season.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Jan 21, 2007

IBL looking to become part of basketball boom in Japan

It's an exciting time for basketball in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007

Get out of this world

Forget Hawaii, Hong Kong, Bali, Britain or Paris -- before too long your family vacation choices will include staying at space hotels or taking a 10-day spin around the moon.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.