Search - 2003

 
 
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2003

Subsidies to localities face cuts totaling 3.6 trillion yen

The national government is set to cut its subsidies to local governments by at least 3.6 trillion yen a year by fiscal 2006 as part of its reforms of tax and fiscal systems, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2003

Ministers fail to settle row over funding allocations

Cabinet ministers failed Tuesday to bridge their differences over the best way to revamp the allocation of funds between the central and local governments, agreeing only to discuss the issue again Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 17, 2003

McClain homers twice as Lions fry Nippon Ham

Scott McClain hit a pair of two-run homers in consecutive at-bats and Daisuke Matsuzaka kept batters off-balance with a nasty heater to post his league-high ninth win as the Seibu Lions won their fourth straight with a 5-1 victory over the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Pacific League on Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 15, 2003

Shades of good sense

Parasols are peculiar things. Meaning "to ward off the sun" in Latin-based languages, these lightweight umbrellas were long ago the height of coquettish fashion in Europe. Until recently though, in Japan they were the preserve of its distinctly uncoquettish obasan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 15, 2003

Sunshine: It's enough to make you blanch

An extinction of sorts has taken place in Tokyo's Shibuya district over the last couple of years. The area was once a happy hunting ground for herds of skimpily clad young girls with tans so deep they were known as the ganguro (black-faced) girls. But go to Shibuya today and you'll hardly find any trace...
EDITORIALS
Jun 14, 2003

Hope for Germany's recovery

The German economy, long the engine of Europe, has been sputtering of late. The nation's gross domestic product has registered little or no growth, the unemployment rate is climbing and, for the second consecutive year, the government budget deficit will top the 3 percent limit set by the European Union....
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jun 14, 2003

Champions League to become more defensive with new format

LONDON -- The season has ground to a halt even though David Beckham's traveling circus is still touring the world, but it is time to look back on what we have learned from 2002-2003.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2003

Fund reform details to go in key report

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told his ministers Friday to ensure that the controversial issue of reforming the flow of money between the national and local governments is included in a key economic report scheduled to be finalized this month.
BUSINESS / Q&A
Jun 14, 2003

What do 'Trinity Reforms' mean for our taxes?

With Japan's public debt snowballing, the government is gearing up efforts to review national and local-level finances under what has been dubbed the "Trinity Re- forms" plan. But with differences within the government still unresolved, there is little likelihood of a conclusion in the near future.
JAPAN
Jun 13, 2003

Jaguar, Fiat dealers to recall vehicles

Importers of Jaguar and Fiat cars and Harley-Davidson motorcycles said separately Thursday that they will recall some of the vehicles to repair defective parts.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2003

Quarterly GDP is revised upward

The economy grew a real 0.1 percent in the January-March quarter from the previous quarter, revised upward from the initially reported 0.006 percent rise, the government said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2003

UPS to buck economic trend and expand in Japan

Despite the current volatility of the economic climate, United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest package delivery company, will actively expand operations in Japan, according to the head of UPS Asia Pacific Region.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2003

S. Korea emerges from Japan's shadow

NEW DELHI -- Despite resentment against Japan for its colonial domination of the Korean Peninsula (1910-1945), South Korea followed Japan in its model of postwar economic development. In both countries, the central government established close links between commercial banks and companies while ensuring...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Jun 12, 2003

"Ned Mouse Breaks Away," "The Devil's Toenail"

"Ned Mouse Breaks Away," Tim Wynne-Jones, Groundwood Books; 2003; 192 pp. If you were caught playing with your spinach -- or worse, using long, stringy bits of it to write "I hate what Mom makes me eat" -- what would happen? You'd probably get grounded for a few days, right? But imagine if you got locked...
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2003

Tesco buys into Japan market

Major British retailer Tesco PLC announced Tuesday it will acquire Tokyo-based supermarket chain C Two-Network Co. for 32.8 billion yen, joining the growing list of foreign retail giants gaining a foothold in the world's second-largest economy.
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2003

Number of people over 75 topped 10 million in 2002

The number of people aged 75 and older topped 10 million for the first time last year in another sign Japanese society is steadily aging, the government said Tuesday in an annual report.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Jun 10, 2003

Security firm develops fuel-cell robot

Fuel cells that generate electricity via a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen are emerging as an environment-friendly alternative source of power.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 8, 2003

Empowered by consumerism

THE NEW JAPANESE WOMAN: Modernity, Media, and Women in Interwar Japan, by Barbara Sato. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2003, 241 pp., $19.95 (paper). Barbara Sato's excellent analysis of changes in gender discourse and women's identity in the 1920s recasts the landscape of 20th-century women's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / JAZZNICITY
Jun 8, 2003

Synergetic possibilities at the heart

The piano trio is the heart of jazz. This core unit of piano, bass and drums pumps life into the music. All jazz groups, big or small, rely on the piano, bass and drums (called "the rhythm section") for their crucial thrust of energy. Taken out of a larger group, the piano trio contains all the essentials...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2003

Shiokawa extends tax reform olive branch

The deadlocked tax reform debate took a small step forward Friday, when Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa stated that he is ready to relinquish some national income tax revenue to give local governments room to raise residence taxes.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 6, 2003

Ongoing in Kanto: Meguro

"Digital Image 2003," till July 13.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2003

Capital investment slides for sixth quarter in row

Capital investment dropped 3 percent in the January-March period from a year earlier, down for the sixth consecutive quarter, according to a Finance Ministry survey released Thursday.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 6, 2003

Ongoing in Kanto: Ibaraki & Gunma

Exhibition of Rosanjin Kitaoji, till June 29.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2003

SDF taps Peace Channel for PR blitz

By NAO SHIMOYACHI
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 4, 2003

'Chicago': After the movie, we had it coming

Bathed in bright lights, but almost shrouded by the haze of jazz, booze and dancing, lies a story of adultery, murder and greed. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "Chicago."
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2003

SDF taps Peace Channel for PR blitz

By NAO SHIMOYACHI
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2003

SDF taps Peace Channel for PR blitz

By NAO SHIMOYACHI
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Jun 3, 2003

Sanyo charging ahead in cell phone battery sector

Chances are if you use a mobile phone equipped with a camera, it's powered by a Sanyo battery.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan