Search - 2005

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2006

Capital spending jumps 9.5%

Capital spending rose 9.5 percent in the October to December quarter of 2005 on an all-industry basis compared with the previous year, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 5, 2006

Attention divided between WBC and NPB preseason

Kind of a strange atmosphere in Japan's yakyu world this week with the World Baseball Classic attracting a lot of attention, as it should but, at the same time, the 12 Central and Pacific League teams have concluded their spring training camps and are into the exhibition season, preparing for Opening...
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2006

Bid-riggers to be barred for a while

Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga said Friday that 178 companies will be temporarily barred from bidding for defense facilities contracts following a series of bid-rigging incidents.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Feb 23, 2006

Ichiro steps up to the plate in Fukuoka

FUKUOKA -- Ichiro Suzuki is back in Japan, and he is feeling good. The Seattle Mariners star painted the right-field stands at Yahoo Dome from both cages during batting practice at Japan's World Baseball Classic training session Wednesday, looking at ease before, during and after his time at the plate....
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Feb 22, 2006

S. Korean wetland faces doom

For those readers long ago numbed to the fraud, waste and environmental abuse that accompanies public works projects in Japan, here's one that might jump-start your ire: A project by the South Korean government to landfill and develop 40,100 hectares (almost 100,000 acres) of coastal waters and wetlands...
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2006

ANA's profit up 11% despite surging fuel prices

All Nippon Airways Co. said Tuesday its group operating profit for the first three quarters of fiscal 2005 rose 11 percent from the previous year to 89.9 billion yen, thanks to strong demand for passenger and cargo flights that more than offset the impact of rising fuel prices.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2006

Industrial production up third year

Industrial production rose an unadjusted 1.3 percent in 2005 from the previous year, the third straight annual increase, with upbeat December data leading the government to revise upward its earlier economic assessment, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2006

New HIV, AIDS cases top 1,000

The combined number of people in Japan newly infected with the HIV virus and the number of new AIDS cases came to 1,124 in 2005, topping 1,000 for the second consecutive year, a health ministry panel said in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2006

Annual retail sales record first increase in nine years

Retail sales rose 1.1 percent in 2005 to 129.52 trillion yen, chalking up their first year-on-year rise in nine years, due largely to soaring fuel prices and robust clothing sales, the government said Friday.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2006

China again top Japan trade partner

Japan's trade with China totaled 24.949 trillion yen in 2005, making it the country's biggest trading partner for the second year running despite souring bilateral relations, according to Finance Ministry data released Thursday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 24, 2006

Can Japan absorb foreign influx?

When discussing the recent ethnic riots in France, The Economist newsmagazine ("Minority Reports," Nov. 10, 2005) posed an important question: How come some countries assimilate immigrants more peacefully than others?
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jan 22, 2006

Roster of foreign players nearly complete for 2006 season

Spring camps begin for the 12 Japan pro baseball teams in just 10 days, and there has been a flurry of activity in the past week with the Central and Pacific League clubs signing new-and second-hand-foreign players and finalizing rosters for the coming season. Following is a team-by-team update on the...
EDITORIALS
Jan 21, 2006

A new empire is shaken

Mr. Takafumi Horie, president of the high-flying Internet services company Livedoor Co., has once again been thrown into the media spotlight as a criminal investigation into his business activities begins.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2006

Foreign tourists hit record high 6.73 million

The number of foreign tourists to Japan in 2005 is estimated to have been a record high 6.73 million, up 590,000 from the previous year, transport chief Kazuo Kitagawa said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jan 17, 2006

Hiroshima adds ex-Sox prospect

The Hiroshima Carp agreed Monday to a one-year deal with pitcher Felix Diaz, a Dominican right-hander who played for the Charlotte Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, in 2005.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jan 13, 2006

Miyamoto joins squad

Yakult Swallows infielder Shinya Miyamoto has joined the Japanese squad for the World Baseball Classic to fill the void left by Chicago White Sox infielder Tadahito Iguchi, the baseball commissioner's office said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 13, 2006

Reduction in bank lending slowed to 0.1% in '05

Lending by Japanese banks fell 0.1 percent in 2005 after adjustment for special factors, marking the smallest drop since the Bank of Japan started tracking the data in 1999, the central bank said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Dec 30, 2005

Carrying on with fewer people

Japan's population started shrinking this year, according to two separate reports by the Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. The shrinkage began one year earlier than the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research had projected....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Dec 29, 2005

A gradual rise to excellence

A loss of direction appeared to afflict large parts of the Japanese theater world in the beginning of 2005 as last year's promising stream of new actors and directors failed to live up to their 2004 debuts. Dramatists responded by looking outward for inspiration, creating an upsurge in international...
EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2005

Portrait of a year in buzzwords

If it's December, it's time for those list-loving dictionary folks to be announcing their Words of the Year again -- and in the process providing editorial writers with a revealing lens on the past 12 months. This year, their labors yielded a couple of startlingly different scenarios.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2005

Japan's population declines by 19,000

The total population of Japan, including everyone who has been a resident longer than three months, fell to 127.76 million as of Oct. 1 for the first drop in the postwar period, the government said Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 24, 2005

Asada, Valentine win FSAJ Awards

Figure skater Mao Asada, the Grand Prix Final and world junior champion this year, and Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine have been selected as the top Japanese and foreign sports figures for 2005 in voting by the Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 22, 2005

Elemental expressions

Art comes in many forms, but all those forms have in common their intimate dependence on light (something to bear in mind on this, the shortest day of the year). Without this miraculous form of energy you wouldn't know the difference between an Old Master canvas, an Abstract Expressionist work or an...
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2005

12.5% cut urged to take 'zaito' to 27-year low

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday proposed a 12.5 percent cut in the government's fiscal investment and loan program in fiscal 2006 to a 27-year low.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2005

Deflation's end on horizon for next fiscal year

The economy may finally emerge from seven years of deflation in fiscal 2006, although growth will slow to a real 1.9 percent from the 2.7 percent growth forecast for this fiscal year, according to a government report released Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 6, 2005

Genki drinks riding high

People the world over are raising a toast to the growing mainstream acceptance of energy and functional drinks.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 30, 2005

'Secret' dolphin slaughter defies protests

Japan's annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins began Oct. 8 in the traditional whaling town of Taiji on the Kii Peninsula of Honshu's Wakayama Prefecture. These "drive fisheries" triggered demonstrations, held under the "Japan Dolphin Day" banner, in 28 countries. The protests went almost entirely...
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2005

Microsoft eyes server software foray

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it will start marketing Japanese versions of two new server software products in February, as the U.S. software giant moves to bolster its enterprise in Japan.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Nov 6, 2005

Hot hibachi league heating up; can Jojima cut it in majors?

Welcome to the new sponsored "Baseball Bullet-In," and thanks to Jeff Libengood and the staff of the just-opened East West Fitness workout place in Tokyo for the support. If you would like to sponsor a column in an upcoming edition of The Japan Times, please contact me at the e-mail address below.
COMMENTARY
Nov 1, 2005

Reform march must go on

The Diet on Oct. 14 enacted the postal-privatization bills that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi called the "centerpiece" of his reform agenda. It was a dream come true for Koizumi, after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner New Komeito won two-thirds of the Lower House seats...

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.