Search - 2003

 
 
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 9, 2003

Tradition stays afloat with the tub boats of Sado Island

THE TUB BOATS OF SADO ISLAND: A Japanese Craftsman's Methods, by Douglas Brooks, with a historical essay by Toshio Sato. Sado: Kodo Cultural Foundation, 2003, 176 pp., 2,500 yen (paper). As the tides of time erode history, the centuries-deep culture of traditional Japan slowly seeps away. Without anyone...
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2003

Bad loans at major banking groups decline 13%

The combined balance of bad loans at the seven major banking groups appears to have dropped by 13 percent to 18.1 trillion yen during the six months to Sept. 30, according to banking sources.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Nov 6, 2003

"The Goose Girl," "The Tiger Bone Thief"

"The Goose Girl," Shannon Hale, Bloomsbury; 2003; 383 pp. Once upon a time, two German brothers published a collection of children's stories inspired by popular European folk tales. The stories of the Brothers Grimm became fairytale classics, and many of them -- Cinderella, Snow White, Little Red Riding...
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2003

Dell to become No. 3 PC supplier

Dell Computer Corp. of the United States appears likely to surpass Sony Corp. as the third-largest supplier of personal computers in Japan in fiscal 2003, becoming the first foreign firm to make the top three since fiscal 2000, according to a private market research institute.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2003

Serbia envoy visits to woo investors

Goran Pitic, Serbian minister of international economic relations, expressed confidence Wednesday that Japanese companies will start investing in his country, given its rapid economic growth and political stability.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2003

Borderless abstraction

The Oxford Dictionary of 20th Century Art defines Op Art as: "an exactly prescribed retinal response . . . repeated small scale patterns arranged so as to suggest underlying secondary shapes or warping or swelling surfaces."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 5, 2003

Freed architecture

Rem Koolhaas, recently awarded the 2003 Praemium Imperiale for architecture, is prolific to the point of relentlessness. Looking at the stream of bold, innovative and aggressively hip buildings Koolhaas' Rotterdam-based office has produced, one well-known Japanese architect was prompted to liken him...
MORE SPORTS
Nov 3, 2003

All Blacks pushed to limit by brave Wales

SYDNEY -- In the 40th and final pool game of the 2003 Rugby World Cup played at a cold Telstra Stadium on Sunday night, New Zealand beat Wales 53-37 in a cracker of a game.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / CLOSE-UP
Nov 2, 2003

Food for thought

Yukio Hattori, 'one of Japan's busiest men,' takes time to chew over the issue of food and other meaty social matters with staff writer Masami Ito.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Nov 2, 2003

Slippery prop for democrac

MOSCOW -- The arrest last weekend of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the richest man in Russia and the owner of the oil giant Yukos, shocked the international business community, enraged domestic opposition groups and sent Russian currency and bonds into a frightful free fall.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Nov 2, 2003

The Machiavellian good

MACHIAVELLI'S CHILDREN: Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan, by Richard J. Samuels. New York: Cornell University Press, 2003, 456 pp., $39.95 (cloth). This is an intriguing comparison between Japan and Italy, two nations that seem so different, but in fact share a great deal. Both nations came...
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2003

ANA swings back into black

Despite the impact of the SARS epidemic across Asia and the Iraq war, All Nippon Airways Co. said Friday it swung back into the black in the first half of fiscal 2003, posting a group net profit of 20.57 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2003

TV Asahi raises earnings forecast

TV Asahi Corp. said Friday it has raised its group earnings forecast for the first half and full year of fiscal 2003 due to strong performance in its music publishing business.
BUSINESS
Oct 31, 2003

Nissan to recall 2.56 million vehicles

Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday it will recall 2.56 million vehicles worldwide, including some 1.03 million units in Japan, due to defective engine sensors.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 31, 2003

Rugby world takes notice of Japan's inspirational performance

SYDNEY -- They came, they saw and they conquered the hearts of rugby fans from all over the world, but ultimately the Cherry Blossoms left Australia on Wednesday without the one thing they were craving for -- a win in Rugby World Cup 2003.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 30, 2003

Jojima, Igawa named MVPs

Kenji Jojima of the Japan Series champion Daiei Hawks and Kei Igawa of the Central League pennant-winning Hanshin Tigers were named the Most Valuable Players of the 2003 baseball season on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 30, 2003

Canada posts solid victory over Tonga

WOLLONGONG, Australia -- Following on from games in cities such as Perth, Adelaide and Townsville, the 2003 Rugby World Cup hit another non-rugby union town when the steel city of Wollongong hosted the game that decided which team would finish last in Group D.
COMMENTARY
Oct 30, 2003

Europe rues decline amid shift to Asia

PARIS -- Officially, we were discussing Russia's place in Asia. It was hard to tell whether the French senator/historian on the panel was warning of Moscow's return to great-power status or urging it on. He was no crypto-communist, however: For him, Russia's resurgence would signal the return of multipolarity...
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2003

Hino Motors net profit soars nearly fourfold

Hino Motors Ltd. said Tuesday its group net profit for the April-September half of fiscal 2003 soared nearly fourfold from a year earlier due to brisk sales.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2003

Matsushita Electric group net profit rises 31.5%

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Tuesday its group net profit for the fiscal first half grew 31.5 percent from a year earlier to 23.15 billion yen on the back of restructuring effects and strong sales of digital home products.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2003

Troubled Sony unveils restructuring plans

Sony Corp. on Tuesday unveiled sweeping restructuring measures, including plans to shed 20,000 jobs and close domestic TV plants, with the consumer electronics giant struggling to reclaim a competitive edge over its rivals.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 28, 2003

U.S. muscle proves too much for speedy Japan

GOSFORD, Australia --They say good things come in threes. Following Sunday's games that saw England and Ireland win two wonderfully competitive games, the United States and Japan produced a pearl of a match at a sold-out Central Coast Stadium on Monday evening.
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2003

Sharp to hike Spain output of LCD TVs

Sharp Corp. plans to double the output capacity of liquid crystal display TVs at its Spanish factory in April, seeking to meet surging demand in Europe.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 27, 2003

Tigers, Hawks have beer on ice

FUKUOKA -- The Hanshin Tigers had the beer on ice in anticipation of a wild victory celebration, while the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks' "Japan Champions 2003" logo T-shirts were stacked up next to a Fukuoka Dome dumpster in case they had to be thrown away.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Oct 27, 2003

War perspective of poets oceans apart

NEW YORK -- A gentleman named Paul Preusser, describing himself as "a composer and fresh graduate from the New England Conservatory," has recently written to ask if I could help him with poems of Kotaro Takamura (1883-1956). He has been commissioned to compose "a song cycle using poetry which is influenced...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 26, 2003

Hidden truths of the Hermit Kingdom

PYONGYANG: The Hidden History of the North Korean Capital, by Chris Springer, photos by Eckart Dege. Budapest: Entente Bt., 2003, 158 pp., $29.95 (paper). Although the capital of the new Hermit Kingdom is not a popular tourist destination, we now have this interesting detailed guide to the socialist...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 26, 2003

Revealing more to life and death

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF YUKIO MISHIMA, by Henry Scott Stokes. Tuttle Publishing, 2003, 271 pp., $16.95, (cloth). One afternoon in the late 1960s, Henry Scott Stokes received a visit at the Tokyo office of the London Times from the writer Yukio Mishima, who declared to the startled young journalist, "You...
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2003

Auto giants increase production in first half

Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. increased global vehicle production in the first half of fiscal 2003 to meet growing overseas demand.

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