Search - world

 
 
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2004

Follower couldn't shake Aum's allure till its 1999 apology

When Aum Shinrikyo officially acknowledged for the first time in December 1999 that it was behind a spate of heinous crimes and apologized to the survivors, Hiroyuki Miyaguchi said he was relieved that suspicions he and other rank-and-file cultists harbored for years had finally been cleared up.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Feb 24, 2004

Advice for the stage-struck and proofing

We have received a sudden clutch of enquiries from stage-struck readers this week.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004

'Paradise' emigrant back for lawsuit

Toru Takegama's spirits were high when he left Japan in July 1956 for the Dominican Republic under a government-backed emigration project.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Feb 24, 2004

McEnglish for the masses

American sociologist George Ritzer coined the term McDonaldization to describe how a method of production that originated in fast food restaurants is sweeping through every aspect of society.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2004

Japan's Iraq role wins praise of Annan

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday won a desperately needed endorsement from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan for Japan's engagement in postwar aid missions in Iraq.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 24, 2004

Reserves could hasten Asian integration

Aside from a few indicators such as poverty levels that remain above precrisis levels (though they are coming down), East Asia's rebound from the Asian crisis of 1997-1998 is more or less complete. The capital-account crisis -- which was both a currency and banking crisis -- and Asia's increasing integration...
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2004

U.S. harsh line won't help

The official U.S. negotiating position for the upcoming North Korean peace talks in Beijing was recently laid out by the top U.S. negotiator, a respected man of peace. But details of the position may actually be a prescription for war. This is alarming.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 22, 2004

An ambassador's wild tale of the wilderness

A SIAMESE EMBASSY LOST IN AFRICA 1686: The Odyssey of Ok-Khun Chamnan, translated and edited by Michael Smithies. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2000, 115 pp., $15 (paper). In the spring of 1686, a Portuguese vessel was shipwrecked off Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. Though several on the...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Feb 22, 2004

TV Asahi's quiz show "Sekai Tsukai Dense-tsu" and more

The Asahi TV quiz show "Sekai Tsukai Dense- tsu Unmei no Da-da-da-dan (World's Exciting Legends) -- on Tuesday at 8 p.m. -- explores the lives of historical figures whose reputations have a tragic dimension. This week, the subject is a woman who caused tragedy for everyone else: Catherine de Medici....
CULTURE / Music
Feb 22, 2004

Greg Howe: Extraction

Guitar whizzes are common in the world of jazz fusion. They offer a quick, high-energy musical fix for guitar freaks, but their showy licks, screaming melodic climaxes and speed for speed's sake all tend to feel routine by the second listen.
EDITORIALS
Feb 21, 2004

Shinsei Bank's impressive revival

Thursday's listing of Shinsei Bank on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is good news. It is proof of how a failed and nationalized bank can reinvent itself as a going concern through efficient and innovative private management. The downside is that it took trillions of yen in taxpayer money to revive the bank,...
MORE SPORTS
Feb 21, 2004

Aburaya to miss Biwa Marathon

Shigeru Aburaya, who placed fifth in the men's marathon at the past two World Athletics Championships, has decided not to compete in the upcoming Lake Biwa Marathon next month. Aburaya was not on the list, including 11 national and eight overseas invitees, released Thursday by the organizers of the...
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2004

Families shell out for latest school supplies

With the new school year just around the corner in April, many manufacturers of school supplies are introducing a slew of new products with the latest designs and gadgets.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2004

GDP growth belies strong recovery

Japan's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 7 percent in the last quarter of 2003, with export-oriented large manufacturers providing the main thrust of growth. Whether this will lead to a broad and enduring recovery remains to be seen, however. The export boom will fizzle out if overseas demand...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 20, 2004

England internationals wielding far too much power

LONDON -- We like to be different in England. We drive on the wrong side of the road. We drink warm beer, our plugs have three pins instead of two and when our football fans go abroad, they tend to fight rather than make new friends.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 20, 2004

Akebono set for K-1 bout with Musashi

Former yokozuna Akebono, who lost to Bob "The Beast" Sapp in his K-1 debut on New Year's Eve last year, is set to face Japanese fighter Musashi next month at Saitama Super Arena, K-1 organizers said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2004

Three compromise plans eyed for fusion project site

A team of experts on an international nuclear fusion project has drawn up three compromise proposals in a bid to resolve the row over whether Japan or France will host the $12 billion, 30-year energy project, Japanese government sources said.
EDITORIALS
Feb 19, 2004

Upper House in need of reform

Should Japan keep its bicameral parliamentary system? Put another way, is the House of Councilors, or Upper House, really necessary? The question is not new. Many Japanese have long regarded it as the "rubber stamp" of the more influential House of Representatives. Now the issue is coming under scrutiny...
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2004

Japan Airlines System says Shinmachi will be new chief

Japan Airlines System Corp. said Wednesday it will promote its executive vice president, Toshiyuki Shinmachi, to president.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2004

Japan to request cut in tariffs due to EU expansion

The government will ask the European Union to cut tariffs on imports from Japan to offset increases that will be implemented by 10 European countries when they join the group in May.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2004

Going with the wind in Manchuria

Akai Tsuki Rating: * * * (out of 5) Director: Yasuo Furuhata Running time: 111 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Yasuo Furuhata is the most established of mainstream directors, consistently working with the Japanese film industry's biggest...
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2004

Japan won't end emperor system, Mao wrote in '45

Mao Zedong predicted in the closing days of World War II that Japan would not be quick to abolish its emperor system, according to a Hitotsubashi University professor researching Japanese Communist Party archives.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2004

Itoman exec gets suspended term in K-1 tax dodge

The Tokyo District Court handed down a suspended 18-month prison term Tuesday to a former executive of the defunct trading house Itoman Corp. for destroying evidence of tax evasion at the martial arts promoter K-1.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2004

Struggling Seiyu blames 7 billion yen loss on cold weather

Supermarket operator Seiyu Ltd. said Tuesday its group net loss for the 10 months ending in December came to 7 billion yen, blaming the red ink on the unseasonably cold summer.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2004

War erodes Bush support

HONOLULU -- After the victory of the U.S. over Iraq in 1991, U.S. President George H.W. Bush proclaimed: "The Vietnam syndrome is buried forever in the sands of the Arabian Peninsula."
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 17, 2004

Okubo dumped again

Cerezo Osaka striker Yoshito Okubo was on Monday left out of the Japan Under-23 squad for the final round of the Asia zone qualifiers for this year's Olympics, just days after being axed from the Japan senior national squad for its 2006 World Cup qualifier against Oman in Saitama on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 17, 2004

METI to boost the number of FTA staff to 80 from 35

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to increase the number of officials working on negotiations for free-trade agreements to about 80 from the current 35, a METI official said Monday.

Longform

Wealthier women in the prewar era had been the targets of various media-related health campaigns that mistakenly encouraged them to avoid everything from riding bicycles to reading novels when their monthly cycles came around.
Menstruation in Japan: Breaking the silence, slowly