Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2005

Costs chill large firms' confidence

Business confidence among large companies in Japan plummeted in the January-March quarter.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2005

Tokyo land prices grow for first time in 14 years

Land prices at five commercial areas in Tokyo edged up an average of 0.5 percent in calendar 2004 for the first increase in 14 years.
BUSINESS
Mar 24, 2005

BioCarbon Fund gets new buyer

Sumitomo Chemical Co. said Wednesday it will invest $2.5 million in the World Bank's BioCarbon Fund by 2017 to obtain some 400,000 carbon credits, which count against greenhouse gas emissions.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Mar 23, 2005

Duty calls

Special to The Japan Times In the United States, it's said that the Vietnam War was lost on TV. As the first armed conflict to receive graphic coverage on nightly news shows, the war seemed closer than it was. Consequently, questions surrounding its legitimacy eventually came to the fore and, for many...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2005

The U.N.'s 'underachievers'

Carol Bellamy, the outgoing head of the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), has bemoaned the lack of women in top U.N. posts. The organization that preaches gender equality to national governments needs some "affirmative action" to put women in senior positions, she said, adding that other organizations such...
EDITORIALS
Mar 21, 2005

Decade after Aum's crimes

For many Japanese, the March 20, 1995, sarin attack on Tokyo's subways -- which killed 12 people and sickened more than 5,000 -- is still fresh in their memory. The passage of 10 years seems hardly enough to heal the sorrow of the families of the deceased and the suffering of the surviving victims.
COMMENTARY
Mar 21, 2005

A cow walk toward a crisis

The Japan-U.S. row over beef imports looms as a grave problem that could develop into serious bilateral friction. Until recently the two countries had enjoyed what many experts regarded as the best relations yet in the postwar years. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi supported U.S. President George W....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 20, 2005

Native soul drifts back home

HUDSON: A Collection of Tanka, by Kisaburo Konoshima, translated by David Callner, text in English and Japanese. Tokyo: The Japan Times, 2004, 135 pp., 2,500 yen (paper). It was 34 years ago, in 1970, that the Meiji Era-born Japanese-American Kisaburo Konoshima (1893-1984) published "Hudson" (Tokyo,...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 20, 2005

The undeniable legacy left after Japan wreaked havoc

RACE WAR! White Supremacy and the Japanese Attack on the British Empire, by Gerald Horne. New York and London: New York University Press, 2004, 407 pp., 4,478 yen (cloth). Racism is a particularly dirty issue of World War II in Asia that is often swept under the carpet. Tokyo's claim that Japan stood...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 20, 2005

Expectations in the Sundarbans

THE HUNGRY TIDE, by Amitav Ghosh. HarperCollins, 2004, 403 pp., £10.99 (paper). Piyali Roy, the daughter of Bengali immigrants to the United States, is spotted standing on a railway platform. She is dressed in the clothes "of a teenage boy." The man who distinguishes her from the crowd, as a stranger...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 19, 2005

Reaction of Chelsea, Mourniho to Frisk incident laughable

LONDON -- Woe betide the next referee who makes what is perceived to be a bad decision against an English team.
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2005

The piracy threat to Japan

The attack on a Japanese tugboat Monday in the Strait of Malacca has underlined the threats posed by piracy in that waterway. These incidents are increasing, and the possibility that terrorists might use a hijacked vessel for a high-profile attack is real. An effective response requires a coordinated...
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2005

IBM Japan new top server supplier

IBM Japan Ltd. overtook Fujitsu Ltd. as the top server supplier in Japan in 2004 on a value basis, high-tech equipment market research agency Gartner Japan Ltd. said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2005

Pyongyang under EU's wing

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- The European Union is increasingly showing a new independent stance on foreign-policy issues as the logic of its industrial and economic integration plays out in the international arena.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2005

Fuji TV hikes dividend to 5,000 yen per share

Fuji Television Network Inc. on Tuesday decided on a sharp dividend hike for the current fiscal year in a thinly veiled attempt to defend itself against Livedoor Co.'s hostile takeover bid for Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.
COMMUNITY / LIFELINES
Mar 15, 2005

Repairs, fuel charges and a tax irritant

Upholsterer needed Tony has a chair -- actually more of a stool -- that is in dire need of recovering as well as replacement of the stuffing material. He is looking for any shops in the Tokyo (Shibuya) area that do this work.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2005

Industrial output revised up 2.5%

The nation's industrial output expanded a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in January from the previous month, revised upward from the initially reported 2.1 percent increase, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 15, 2005

New leadership in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's chief executive, Mr. Tung Chee-hwa, resigned last week. His departure was in keeping with his entire term as chief executive: confused, messy and ultimately damaging to his office and Hong Kong itself. His replacement must break that tradition and restore the luster to Hong Kong's image....
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 13, 2005

The Tokyo envoys: Englishmen in Japan

BRITISH ENVOYS IN JAPAN, 1859-1972, edited and compiled by Hugh Cortazzi. London: Japan Society, 2004, 352 pp., £39.95 (cloth). Hugh Cortazzi, distinguished diplomat and scholar, is an extraordinary octogenarian, penning columns for this newspaper and brainstorming, prodding and tirelessly seeing to...
COMMENTARY
Mar 12, 2005

Opium again driving Afghan economy

ISLAMABAD -- This month's warning by the United Nations' main drug-monitoring watchdog that Afghanistan is in danger of becoming a narcotics-driven state should hardly come as a surprise.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2005

JAL to pare 1,400 more jobs to cut costs

Japan Airlines Corp. said Thursday it will slash 1,400 more jobs by the end of March 2008 through attrition and transfers in an effort to counter high fuel prices.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2005

SMFG to issue shares to up capital

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group said Thursday it will effect a much-needed capital boost worth some 210 billion yen by issuing preferred shares.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 10, 2005

Narita wins overall World Cup women's halfpipe title

Japanese halfpipe snowboarder Mero Narita has won the women's overall halfpipe World Cup title for the 2004-05 season, the Ski Association of Japan said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Mar 10, 2005

"The Whispering Road," "The Pig in the Spigot"

"The Whispering Road," Livi Michael, Puffin Books; 2005; 336 pp. If you haven't read Charles Dickens yet, what could be a better introduction than Livi Michael's "The Whispering Road"? Michael's first novel for older children imbibes Dickens' influences, dramatic storytelling and colorful characterization...
EDITORIALS
Mar 10, 2005

Last chance for Daiei's survival

Daiei Inc., Japan's ailing supermarket operator, is ready to make its third -- and final -- attempt at rehabilitation. On Monday, the state-run Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan (IRCJ) formally selected trading house Marubeni Corp. and investment fund Advantage Partners as Daiei's business sponsors....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 9, 2005

Can Lions stay focused in midst of scandal?

This could be the final season for the Seibu Lions, at least as we know the ball club by that name.
EDITORIALS
Mar 7, 2005

Risk-free deposit era nears dusk

With Japanese banks regaining financial health, the ad hoc regime of full-deposit insurance is about to end. Beginning April 1, deposits will be protected only up to 10 million yen in principal plus interest -- the same limit that was in force until 1996 when it was removed temporarily amid growing instability...
COMMENTARY
Mar 7, 2005

Bush narrows U.S.-EU gap

PARIS -- "Forgive the Russians, ignore the Germans, punish the French." U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice didn't appreciate being reminded of this famous statement, which she made in 2003 while serving as U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser. The purpose of Rice's recent visit...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?