Search - 2000

 
 
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2002

Business leaders push for free-trade pact

Japanese and South Korean Business leaders agreed Friday that the two countries should sign a bilateral free-trade agreement at an early date, providing impetus for both governments to launch a full study on the issue.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2002

Officers can't hide behind new IDs

The National Police Agency on Friday showed off a new police identification badge and pin created in an effort to better identify officers and improve accountability following a series of scandals.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2002

Corporate perks decline as recession continues

New figures show that Japanese companies, seeking to weather a prolonged economic slump, are cutting back on employee perks.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2002

Peugeot challenging Germans in import car mart

France's Peugeot Citroen is grabbing a larger share of Japan's market for imported vehicles, challenging the dominant German automakers, according to industry officials.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2002

World Cup flights to go via Haneda

Tokyo's Haneda airport will accommodate up to 26 international charter round-trip flights per day during the World Cup finals between May 31 and June 30, airline industry officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2002

Trade surplus fell 38.3% in '01

Dogged by a global economic slump that started early last year, Japan's merchandise trade surplus in 2001 plunged 38.3 percent from the previous year to 6.61 trillion yen, marking the biggest percentage fall in 31 years, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2002

Supermarket sales sank 5% last year

Supermarket sales fell for the fifth straight year in 2001, reflecting depressed consumer spending, an industry association said Thursday.
SOCCER / J. League
Jan 25, 2002

Alex confident of making World Cup squad

IBUSUKI, Kagoshima Pref. -- As many players fight over places on Japan's World Cup squad, Shimizu S-Pulse midfielder Alessandro Santos, known as Alex, calmly expressed his confidence in surviving the selection race.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2002

Seibu may shut five bleeding stores

Seibu Department Stores Ltd. is considering closing down about five loss-making outlets in rural areas over the next three years, company sources said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2002

Daring assault in Calcutta hijacks peace moves

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's landmark pledge on television two weeks ago to crack down on religious extremist groups appears to have been hijacked by terrorists.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jan 24, 2002

A case for campaign finance reform

WASHINGTON -- Controversy is raging about the Enron collapse. Is it a political story? Is it a criminal story? Is it a business story? Is it a story about personalities? The Enron story is all three. The real question is which category is the most important. and that all depends on your perspective....
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2002

O'Neill against relying on weak yen for recovery

In an apparent move to step up pressure on Japan, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill warned Wednesday that Tokyo should not resort to a weak yen to revive the long-ailing economy.
EDITORIALS
Jan 24, 2002

How to check nosocomial infection

Yet another outbreak of hospital-acquired group infection caused by serratia bacteria has occurred. At a hospital in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, a total of 12 inpatients on the same floor were infected, and seven of them died within a week. This is an extremely serious case of medical error.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2002

Site sought for fusion project

The government is expected to soon announce its candidacy to host an international nuclear fusion project, despite the concerns of citizens, lawmakers and scientists about its safety and feasibility.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2002

Snow Brand unit admits to mad cow subsidy scam

Snow Brand Food Co. admitted Wednesday that it misidentified Australian beef as domestic to take advantage of a government subsidy introduced after the mad cow disease outbreak.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2002

Facing fraud charges, disgraced bureaucrat pledges to pay his debt

A former Foreign Ministry official pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding the government of 422 million yen by padding hotel bills during meetings of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Osaka in 1995.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2002

NGO says conference built walls around itself

A major international donor meeting on reconstructing Afghanistan, which wrapped up in Tokyo on Tuesday, should have been more transparent and accessible to nongovernmental organizations and the news media, the leader of a Japanese NGO said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / THE WRITERS' SPIN
Jan 23, 2002

Consultant wary of 'U.S.-style' info, mutual funds

Hajime Yamazaki must be an enemy of mutual fund companies.
Events
Jan 22, 2002

Speedskater suit to let racers go with the airflow

OSAKA -- During the four years since the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, athletes have tried hard to improve for next month's games in Salt Lake City.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2002

Japan should salvage the mystery vessel

Many Japanese might have rejoiced while watching television footage showing the recent sinking of an unidentified ship following an exchange of gunfire with Japanese Coast Guard cutters, but I was dismayed by Japan's fragile national defense system that was exposed by the incident in the East China Sea....
SOCCER / THE BALD TRUTH
Jan 22, 2002

Japan must watch sex and vampires at World Cup

So Premier League side Bolton Wanderers finally saw the light and decided to give back Japan striker Akinori Nishizawa after just six months on loan from Cerezo Osaka. Anyone surprised?
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2002

Jungle rockets in French Guiana

KOUROU, French Guiana -- It must be one of the best-protected sites in South America. To the north is the ocean, full of devious currents and deadly sharks. To the south is dense rain forest, unforgiving to those who enter unprepared. The site's most important buildings are ringed with electronic fencing...
LIFE / Travel
Jan 22, 2002

Jungle rockets in French Guiana

KOUROU, French Guiana -- It must be one of the best-protected sites in South America. To the north is the ocean, full of devious currents and deadly sharks. To the south is dense rain forest, unforgiving to those who enter unprepared. The site's most important buildings are ringed with electronic fencing...
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2002

Schizophrenia given new Japanese name

Japan's psychiatric society decided Saturday to change the Japanese name of schizophrenia to help dispel prejudice against people with the disorder, sources close to the society said.
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2002

Aid group barred from Afghan confab

Peace Winds Japan, a major Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization, said Sunday the Foreign Ministry has barred it from attending a two-day ministerial meeting on the reconstruction of Afghanistan that begins in the capital today.
CULTURE / Music
Jan 20, 2002

Blonde Redhead: Melody of the inexpressible

New York's Blonde Redhead is an excellent reminder of what made "indie" rock independent in the first place. Trying to pin them down, to encapsulate their music in a pithy phrase or two is, to quote the title of their fourth album, like trying to give "an expression of the unexpressible."
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 20, 2002

Discussing the humane execution of the law

As far as I know, no one has tried to figure out why two of the most popular theatrical releases of 2000 in Japan were "The Green Mile" and "Dancer in the Dark," movies whose dramatic core involved capital punishment and whose moral compass pointed toward the opinion that noncombat state-sanctioned killing...

Longform

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