Search - 2003

 
 
JAPAN
Dec 20, 2004

Public opinion of China hits record low, national poll shows

Only 37.6 percent of Japanese feel friendship toward China, down 10.3 percentage points from a year earlier, according to a Cabinet Office survey.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2004

Funding deal reached for new Kansai runway

The finance and transport ministries agreed Saturday to construct a second runway at debt-ridden Kansai International Airport to be operational by 2007, transport minister Kazuo Kitagawa said.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 19, 2004

Final warning: The horror of horrors medical TV show

The medical industry has become as scary as the diseases it treats. On Dec. 10, the government released a list of 7,000 medical institutions nationwide that handled tainted blood products before 1994, and on the same day a judge ordered the Tokyo Medical University Hospital to preserve evidence related...
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Dec 19, 2004

Mannequin sculptor stars crafting heavenly bodies

Next time you spot a short, bespectacled old man closely examining a woman's curves as she climbs the station stairs, don't jump to conclusions. Instead of a would-be groper or pervert, that man could be Makoto Kakeda -- one of Japan's most respected mannequin sculptors.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Japanese school gets more asylum-seekers

Seven asylum-seekers believed to be North Korean entered a Japanese school in Beijing on Friday morning, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2004

Fraud sweeping nation amid rise in scam artists, police say

Fraud jumped 41.9 percent to 75,427 cases in the 11 months through November compared with a year ago, the National Police Agency said.
Japan Times
Dec 18, 2004

Japanese school gets more asylum-seekers

Seven asylum-seekers believed to be North Korean entered a Japanese school in Beijing on Friday morning, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2004

JR Tokai rapped over snub for disabled

The Justice Ministry has told Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) that it should allow access to its stations by disabled people who use electric carts, officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2004

State may downgrade economy

The government will probably downgrade the economy in its December report, making it clear things are slowing down, sources at the Cabinet Office said Thursday.
Dec 17, 2004

JR Tokai rapped over snub for disabled

The Justice Ministry has told Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) that it should allow access to its stations by disabled people who use electric carts, officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2004

Egypt backs Japan's UNSC quest, troop dispatch to Iraq: ambassador

Cairo supports Japan's bid to be a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and its deployment of Ground Self-Defense Force troops to southern Iraq, Egyptian Ambassador to Japan Hisham Badr said.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2004

Prosecutors seek seven-year term, fine, forfeiture for 'loan-shark king'

Prosecutors Wednesday demanded a seven-year prison term, a 30 million yen fine and 5.1 billion yen in forfeiture for a gangster known as the "loan-shark king."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2004

Muraoka denies role in donation coverup

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka on Tuesday denied helping to cover up a 100 million yen donation made to the Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction by the Japan Dental Association in 2001.
Dec 15, 2004

Muraoka denies role in donation coverup

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka on Tuesday denied helping to cover up a 100 million yen donation made to the Liberal Democratic Party's largest faction by the Japan Dental Association in 2001.
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 15, 2004

Nagashima's son named adviser

The Yomiuri Giants said Tuesday they have named Kazushige Nagashima, son of former manager and star player Shigeo Nagashima, as a special adviser for the team.
Dec 14, 2004

Terrorist tracking center planned

The Justice Ministry will set up an intelligence center to track the movements of suspected terrorists and identify weaknesses in immigration controls at airports, according to ministry sources.
Dec 14, 2004

Data on subscribers to Yahoo BB leaked

Softbank Corp. said Monday personal data on some 6,500 subscribers to its Yahoo BB Internet service may have been leaked, based on information it received from two Tokyo-based publishers.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Dec 12, 2004

Wrapping things up in time for Christmas

Tokyo bibliophiles will no doubt look back at 2004 as the year in which a revered Tokyo institution -- the Maruzen book store -- moved from its original location in Nihombashi, where it had operated since 1870, to a new home on the first through fourth floors of the OAZO Building in Marunouchi. While...
JAPAN
Dec 11, 2004

Kenyan marathoner struck blind turns disability into gold medals

Winner of three gold medals at the Sydney and Athens Paralympics, Henry Wanyoike also broke the world record at the marathon for the visually disabled held in Boston this year, completing the race in 2 hours, 33 minutes and 20 seconds.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

Cell phones answer music players' call

After e-mail, Internet access and cameras, music will likely be the next killer application for cell phones in Japan, where online distribution is yet to catch on.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2004

Tax hikes could be recipe for recession, analysts say

Books and Web sites devoted to the art of economizing describe the savings per month from "recycling" leftovers by putting them in stews and tempura (2,600 yen), taking shorter showers (540 yen) and flushing toilets at low-intensity (720 yen).
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Dec 11, 2004

Controversial Hoddle given one more chance by Wolves

LONDON -- "You and I have been physically been given two hands and two legs and a half-decent brain. Some people have not been born like that for a reason.
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2004

GDP revised downward to annual 0.2%

The economy grew an annualized 0.2 percent in the July-September quarter, not the 0.3 percent stated in the preliminary report last month, the government said Wednesday after tweaking the nation's gross domestic product under a new calculation method.
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2004

Should English be compulsory in elementary schools?

After visiting an English class at an elementary school in Arakawa Ward, Tokyo, early this year, then education minister Takeo Kawamura told the principal, "In the near future, I think there should be English classes in all of Japan's elementary schools."
JAPAN
Dec 8, 2004

'Sesame Street' making waves -- in Japanese

Rena Mizushiro sits in a cramped position with other puppeteers as she works her character, Teena, to sing in a scene about Elmo's birthday in "Sesame Street."
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 8, 2004

Skipper Deeble proud of his Aussies in Athens

One of the big baseball stories of 2004 was the winning of the silver medal in the Athens Olympics by Australia, which upset a highly rated Japanese team twice during the Summer Games. The 1-0 and 9-4 victories by the Aussies stunned Japan, which had to settle for bronze, and it also raised the excitement...

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