Search - 2003

 
 
EDITORIALS
Mar 9, 2004

Diet's plate remains full

Diet deliberations have been proceeding fairly smoothly since the 150-day regular session opened on Jan. 19. This augurs well for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who wants to avoid a legislative gridlock before July's Upper House election. He cleared a major hurdle last month when the Diet approved...
EDITORIALS
Mar 8, 2004

No end to political scandals?

Once again, a lawmaker has had to resign from the Diet after admitting to having borrowed somebody's name to misappropriate the state-paid salary of a bogus secretary. This time, the scandal involves Mr. Kanju Sato of the Democratic Party of Japan, a former minister of home affairs and chairman of the...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2004

Initial test indicates nation's 11th case of mad cow disease

A dairy cow from a Hokkaido farm has tested positive for mad cow disease, making it Japan's 11th case of the brain-wasting disease if formally confirmed, farm ministry officials said Sunday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Mar 8, 2004

Speed key to making most of new tax pact

On Feb. 27, a new Japanese-U.S. treaty on taxation was finally submitted to the Diet for ratification by the legislature. The treaty, if approved, will make dividends and royalties earned by U.S. subsidiaries in which the Japanese parent firm has a stake of more than 50 percent tax-free, doing away with...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 7, 2004

Much ado about Shakespeare: Reworking a Renaissance giant

SHASHIBIYA: Staging Shakespeare in China, by Li Ruru. Hong Kong University Press, 2003, 306 pp., 14 plates, £21.50 (cloth). It has been 100 years since Shakespeare was first staged in China. His name now sinicized to Shashibiya and even colloquialized, ("Old Man Sha"), productions of his plays continue...
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2004

Pension funds set to make a profit

Japan's public pension funds are expected to generate an investment profit of around 3 trillion yen in fiscal 2003, thanks to a global stock market recovery since the spring, the government said Friday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 6, 2004

Sun sets on Russian democrac

MOSCOW -- Relapses are always regrettable, particularly when the gains lost had been won at such a high cost.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2004

A maritime nightmare in the making

HONOLULU -- A nightmare in the making is a potential lash-up between seagoing pirates and organized terrorists in Southeast Asia, and it has Asian and American security officials sweating.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2004

Foreign reserves hit record $776.86 billion

Japan's continued dollar-buying intervention pushed its foreign-exchange reserves to a record $776.86 billion as of the end of February.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2004

Cabbies slam deregulation, cite danger from long hours

Taxi drivers paraded their cabs Thursday around government buildings in Tokyo to protest their deteriorating working conditions, which they blame on industry deregulation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2004

Amusement parks on white-knuckle ride

Roller coasters and merry-go-rounds at amusement parks offer people an opportunity to spice up their lives with a few thrills and spills.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2004

Five held over crash-insurance scam

Five people were arrested Wednesday for allegedly defrauding insurance firms by faking traffic accidents, Tokyo police said.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2004

Sato offers to quit DPJ over salary scam

Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Kanju Sato tendered his resignation from the main opposition party Wednesday amid allegations that he misappropriated the state-paid salary of a woman falsely registered as his public secretary.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2004

U.S. rice industry to expand sales network in Japan

An association of rice producers and related businesses in the United States said Wednesday it plans to increase the number of retailers selling U.S. rice in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 3, 2004

Girls just wanna kill men

Fukuro Rating: * * * * (out of 5) Director: Kaneto Shindo Running time: 119 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Kaneto Shindo thoroughly deserves the title of Grand Old Man of Japanese movies. Now 92, he has been a scriptwriter and director...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2004

DPJ lawmaker denies taking aide's pay

A senior lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Japan denied Tuesday he registered as his publicly paid secretary a woman who did not work for his office.
COMMENTARY
Mar 3, 2004

Secret operations rock Blair's boat

LONDON -- From the moment Tony Blair let it be known that he had decided to send troops to Iraq, his days of smooth government were over. The decision unleashed all the dark forces of suspicion and a sense of illegality that are usually contained by democratic institutions. As the prime minister battles...
JAPAN
Mar 3, 2004

Former abductee saw 20 Japanese in North Korea

A South Korean man who had been abducted to North Korea said Tuesday in Tokyo he saw at least 20 suspected Japanese abductees there in the early 1970s.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2004

Kumamoto Family Bank threatened with fresh rebuke from government

The government may issue a second business improvement order to the ailing Kumamoto Family Bank, Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka indicated Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Tax revenues decline 11.1%

Tax revenues in January fell 11.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.89 trillion yen as smaller winter bonus payments for civil servants and company workers pushed down income tax revenues.
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Feb 29, 2004

Street fighting men in the funhouse

"I saw your review about my band I was so disgusted with your review They'll say you're right and I'm not right But I'm OK 'cos it's nothing to me." The Gimmies -- "Dirty Trick"
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 29, 2004

'Opening up' to raise risks of instability

SINGAPORE -- At a Feb. 23 international conference in Tokyo titled "Future Prospects of the East Asian Economy and Its Geopolitical Risks," which was organized jointly by the Policy Research Institute, Japan's Finance Ministry and the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins University,...
Japan Times
Features
Feb 29, 2004

Creature comforts fuel business boom

The growing popularity in Japan of dogs as pets has turned its pet industry into a lucrative market in which suppliers and sellers are eagerly competing to offer products and services from the pet's cradle to its grave.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Feb 29, 2004

A past becoming urban myth

JAPANESE CAPITALS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Place, Power and Memory in Kyoto and Tokyo, edited by Nicolas Fieve and Paul Waley. London: Routledge/Curzon, 2003, 418 pp., 75 plates, £65.00 (cloth). Japanese cities are unusual. Compared to those in Europe or even the United States, there are few physical...

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