Search - 2003

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2004

New coalitions of the willing seek change

While I was in London in January, The Guardian newspaper ran a front-page story about an independent evaluation of some of Britain's leading international charities that tried to help southern Africa avoid a food crisis in 2002-2003. The evaluation concluded that the charities had overstated the seriousness...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 21, 2004

Wrong ways to a Shanghai potboiler thriller

SHANGHAI, by Donald G. Moore. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse Inc., 2003, 218 pp., $24.95 (cloth). ROBERT LUDLUM'S THE ALTMAN CODE, by Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lynds. New York: St. Martin's Paperback, 2004, 496 pp., $7.99 (paper). Brand-name thriller "Robert Ludlum's The Altman Code" is part of a growing...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 20, 2004

Landmark hosts second intensive ballet seminar

From March 30 to April 1, Landmark Hall in Yokohama's Landmark Tower will echo to the sound of classical ballet instruction in English to a Japanese piano accompaniment. Since lots of nice things were said about the first Yokohama Ballet Intensive in 2003, YBI Director Helen Price is confident this year's...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Mar 19, 2004

Failure to include Takahashi on team for Athens a joke

I guess if you live long enough, you will see everything.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
Mar 19, 2004

Firms expecting market for digital SLR cameras to explode

Confined to professionals and top-end amateurs thus far, the market for digital single-lens reflex cameras is expected to explode this year with the release of more affordable models.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2004

Future of Taiwan at stake in elections

NEW YORK -- No less than the future of Taiwan is at stake in the presidential election Saturday. If President Chen Shui-bian is re-elected, Taiwan's move toward becoming an independent state will accelerate and the Taiwan-China impasse will harden. If the Lien Chan/James Soong ticket wins, China will...
EDITORIALS
Mar 19, 2004

A victory for terrorists in Spain

Terrorists won an important victory last week in Spain. A series of bombs exploded in trains and rail stations in Madrid, killing some 200 people and injuring nearly 1,500 others. Al-Qaeda has taken credit for the savage attacks, saying Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the war against terror...
MORE SPORTS
Mar 18, 2004

Miyazato picks up Academic Award

The Japan Golf Association on Wednesday named Tohoku High School senior Ai Miyazato the Academic Award winner, honoring her as the most valuable student golfer in 2003 in the high school division.
EDITORIALS
Mar 18, 2004

Burden of the Kanebo bailout

Following weeks of tortuous bailout talks that put the notion of corporate governance to shame, the government's Industrial Revitalization Corp., or IRC, last week unveiled a huge rescue package for Kanebo Ltd., the troubled cosmetics firm that has looked like a rudderless ship all the while. What lies...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2004

Longer prison term for rape urged

Rapes are on the increase, a government panel said Tuesday, proposing that prison terms for the crime be lengthened.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2004

Suit seeks to nix deportation order that will split up family

A Turkish Kurd, his Filipino wife and their 3-year-old Japan-born daughter have filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse the Justice Ministry's decision to deport them over visa violations.
EDITORIALS
Mar 16, 2004

A sad day for Korean democracy

Even by the rough and tumble standards of South Korean politics, the events of last week were tumultuous. On Friday, the South Korean Parliament impeached President Roh Moo Hyun. President Roh is likely to prevail in this squabble with the opposition, but the unprecedented move has introduced new uncertainties...
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
Mar 16, 2004

LDP policy panel calls the shots, not Diet

The Diet shall be the highest organ of state power, and shall be the sole lawmaking organ of the State. Thus reads Article 41 of the Constitution.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 14, 2004

Japanese erotica exposed

FORBIDDEN IMAGES: Erotic Art from Japan's Edo Period, by Monta Kayakawa, (Trilingual: Finnish, Swedish, English). Helsinki: City Art Museum, 2003, 112 pp., 82 color plates, 3,800 yen (cloth). Japanese shunga -- erotic paintings and prints, some of the world's most beautiful -- remain indigenously unknown....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2004

Plants built amid digital gadget boom

With more and more Japanese households using digital appliances that can be monitored and controlled via the Internet and mobile phones, many firms are planning to build more plants in Japan to make components for these smart products.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2004

Kobe killer set free

A 21-year-old man who strangled and decapitated a boy and bludgeoned a girl to death when he was 14 in one of Japan's most notorious juvenile crimes was paroled Wednesday, having spent more than six years at a medical reformatory, the Justice Ministry announced.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2004

JAL group to slash 4,500 jobs in next three years

Japan Airlines System Corp. will reduce its workforce by about 8 percent, or 4,500 employees, by the end of March 2007, with net losses expected amid sluggish demand.
JAPAN
Mar 11, 2004

Yen loans to China set to be reduced by 20%

China will slip from the top of Japan's yen-loan recipient list for fiscal 2003, as Tokyo plans to reduce aid to the country by 20 percent from the previous year to about 96.7 billion yen, according to a Foreign Ministry report unveiled Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2004

Security bills merit deliberation

For all the talk about defending the country against possible armed attacks from abroad, Japan has no legal framework for protecting civilian populations in these national emergencies. Now, belatedly but necessarily, the government is seeking Diet approval of such legislation as a followup to the military...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2004

Part-timers seek some respect; unions step up

Longtime part-time employee Yasue Kitamura found her job becoming more worthwhile after being assigned responsibility for the Calvin Klein bedroom items corner at Takashimaya Co.'s Nihonbashi flagship department store five years ago.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2004

More fake IDs found at airports

The number of fake passports, visas and other official identification documents found by immigration officers at Japanese airports rose 41 percent in 2003 from the previous year, hitting 3,660, the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau said Monday.

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