Search - people

 
 
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2006

Political party donations hit a low in '05

Political parties and groups raised 132.8 billion yen in funds during 2005, down 3.8 percent, or 5.3 billion yen, from the previous year, the lowest since the bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2006

Widowed mother reflects on life post-9/11

Five years after the death of her husband Yoichi, Harumi Sugiyama, 41, still wears her wedding ring and dreams about him at night.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2006

10 athletes, coach from N.K. get visas

The Justice Ministry on Thursday granted visas to 10 North Korean athletes and their coach to attend the Synchronized Swimming World Cup 2006 in Yokohama but rejected three others in the group, officials said.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2006

Aomori governor slams MSDF's live-fire volley

Aomori Gov. Shingo Mimura lodged a protest Thursday with Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga over Tuesday's accidental firing of live ammunition toward land by a Maritime Self-Defense Force ship docked in the prefecture.
EDITORIALS
Sep 8, 2006

Japan joins the Great Game

Acentury ago, Russia and Britain contested for influence in Central Asia in a competition known as the Great Game. One hundred years later, Central Asia remains a vitally important region, and the governments fighting for influence have increased, and now include Japan.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2006

Royal families send congratulations

Royal families and governments around the world sent congratulations to Japan on Wednesday over the birth of a baby to Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2006

NTT firms say sweet potatoes best to fight heat

NTT Urban Development Co. and NTT Facilities Inc. have found that growing sweet potatoes on roofs is an effective way to combat the high heat found in urban centers.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2006

Views on succession system remain split

has maintained it for a long time." Six women have reigned in Japan eight times. The last woman on the throne was Empress Go-Sakuramachi in the 18th century.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2006

Abe will try to set up summits with Seoul, Beijing if elected

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the leading candidate to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, said Wednesday he will try to hold bilateral summit meetings with China and South Korea if he becomes prime minister.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2006

Aneha enters guilty plea over buildings

Hidetsugu Aneha, the architect accused of fabricating earthquake-resistance data for dozens of buildings nationwide, pleaded guilty Wednesday to several charges, including falsifying structural-calculation documents.
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2006

Abe's conservative lineage runs deep

looked very much influenced by his grandfather in terms of foreign policy and the anpo," said Hirotsugu Akiu, a classmate of Abe's at Seikei University. When Abe was 6 years old, he often visited his grandfather's residence in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, where rioters opposed to the new treaty set fire to pieces...
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 2006

Congratulations to the Imperial Family

Princess Kiko, the wife of Prince Akishino, the second son of the Emperor and Empress, has given birth to a baby boy. We congratulate the couple, the Emperor and Empress and the entire Imperial family on the birth of the boy, who is third in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne after the Crown Prince and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 7, 2006

Web gives niche interests a chance in the free market

Economists right back to Adam Smith in the 18th century have exalted the concept of the free market, where all commodities can be bought and sold without tariffs or subsidies. In Western neoliberal political thought, market freedom had become viewed by the 1980s as an extension of personal autonomy....
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2006

Fast expansion planned for Uniqlo

Fast Retailing Co., which runs the Uniqlo casual clothing chain, said Wednesday it will accelerate the opening of large stores across Japan, with 100 new outlets planned within the next three years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 7, 2006

Fans lift J-culture over language barrier

Global interest in Japanese entertainment continues to heat up. Quite literally.
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2006

Legal reforms changing nation's courts

, we now have to carefully narrow them down to 10, and the points of argument from 20 to five," said Kunihiko Sakai, a prosecutor with the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office, which is overseeing the changes. "For more than 50 years, we took it for granted that the judges will read everything we submit,...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 6, 2006

Concept of war on terror plagued by weaknesses

PRAGUE -- Israel's failure to subdue Hezbollah demonstrates the many weaknesses of the war-on-terror concept. One weakness is that even if the targets are terrorists, the victims are often innocent civilians, and their suffering reinforces the terrorist cause. In response to Hezbollah's attacks, Israel...
JAPAN
Sep 6, 2006

Princess Kiko's third child will shape succession debate

Princess Kiko, the wife of Prince Akishino, will give birth by Caesarean section to her third child on Wednesday morning.
BASKETBALL
Sep 5, 2006

Roundball at best (and worst) at FIBA

SAITAMA -- We've watched so much basketball over the past two weeks that we've started blurting out phrases such as "Dunk again, Gasol!" and "Hit another 3-pointer, Navarro!" in our sleep.
BASKETBALL
Sep 5, 2006

Even loss doesn't temper excitement of golden Greek guard Papaloukas

SAITAMA -- Theodoros Papaloukas experienced something unfamiliar at the FIBA World Championship: a loss in a title game.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Sep 5, 2006

Nuptials and moldy tatami

B&B Angelie asks what kind of business licenses are needed to open a Bed & Breakfast here in Japan. "I went to the local city office and walked away with tons of information on opening a ryokan . . . which is not what I had in mind at all."
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2006

Future of Japan securities reform at stake

As the trial of Japan's most famous dot-com entrepreneur opened Monday, a much wider issue was also before the court: the nation's tenuous shift toward a more freewheeling market economy.
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2006

Horie pleads not guilty to fraud

has called the first trial session a grand occasion (to make his case to the public), and I think he wore a suit to show that," defense lawyer Takai told reporters during the lunch break. If found guilty, Horie faces up to five years in prison, a fine of up to 5 million yen, or both.
COMMENTARY
Sep 4, 2006

Declining sources of pride

The 9/11 terrorist attacks five years ago added a new page to world history, posing a new threat to global security. Following the attacks, the Bush administration in the United States demanded that the international community choose between democracy and dictatorship, between good and evil. Calling...
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2006

Royal boy will put off succession crisis, not solve it

and Emperor Akihito (second from left) walk on a beach in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, with Prince Akishino (third from left) and his family -- Princess Mako, Princess Kiko and Princess Kako (from left to right), in this file photo taken Aug. 4, 2004. KYODO PHOTO
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2006

Widow cites reason for memo release

The widow of a former top aide to Emperor Hirohito said in a newspaper interview she decided to make public her husband's memorandum to tell the public that the Emperor was a talkative and humorous man.

Longform

Ayumi Matsuki, a priestess at Yoshiwara Shrine, shows off some "o-mamori" charms. She says visitors to the shrine have increased since the NHK drama “Unbound” began airing this month.
Tracing Tsutaya Juzaburo, Edo’s media maverick