Search - 2003

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2003

Panel approves hike in NTT access fees

A government advisory panel on Friday approved a controversial plan to increase the interconnection fees NTT charges other firms to use its fixed telephone lines for fiscal 2003 and 2004.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2003

Record 5.77 million visitors in '02

The number of foreigners entering Japan hit a record 5.77 million in 2002, up 9.2 percent from the previous year, the Immigration Bureau said Friday.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 28, 2003

Japanese on final roster

Linebacker Masafumi Kawaguchi and three other Japanese have made the final roster on the Amsterdam Admirals for the 2003 season of the European affiliate of the NFL, NFL Japan officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2003

Spy satellites part of intelligence quest

Intelligence can be the key to a military triumph. In assessing an enemy's strengths and positions, as well as adjusting strategies in line with fluid scenarios, accurate intelligence plays a vital role.
COMMENTARY
Mar 27, 2003

Warfare that stymies protest

LONDON -- This, we were promised, would be the most politically correct war in history. Harlan Ullman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says the strategy of conquering Iraq by "shock and awe" bombing, was devised simply because this is the most unpopular...
LIFE / Digital / NETWISE
Mar 27, 2003

Heading off spam at the pass

It's been just over a year since my personal e-mail account started getting upwards of 20 junk mails a day and I ditched it for a new, spam-free one. I created another -- simple enough when you have your own domain -- but found in mere months that I was right back where I started. Even taking great care...
BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2003

Kinki Nippon Railway facing huge extraordinary loss

Kinki Nippon Railway Co. said Tuesday it will book an extraordinary loss of 106 billion yen for the 2002 business year, primarily due to appraisal losses suffered on resort facilities and a downsizing program.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2003

Don't write off U.N. just yet

EDMONTON, Alberta-- The hawks in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush finally got what they wanted -- in New York, as well as in the Middle East. The U.N. Security Council is deeply divided, the U.N. system itself seems paralyzed and a preemptive war is about to win "regime change" in...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 23, 2003

Practice makes perfect

COPYING THE MASTER AND STEALING HIS SECRETS, edited by Brenda Jordan and Victoria Weston, with an introduction by J. Thomas Rimer. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2003, 248 pp., 14 color plates, 52 monochrome photos, $50 (cloth) As Thomas Rimer writes in his introduction to this interesting collection...
MORE SPORTS
Mar 22, 2003

RWC to be aired live in its entirety

Rugby fans in Japan will be heartened to hear that all 48 games of the 2003 Rugby World Cup will be shown live in Japan on JSky Sports, it was announced on Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 22, 2003

ASEAN counting on China

SINGAPORE -- As the third generation of Chinese leaders since 1949 hands power over to the fourth, Southeast Asia and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are following the landmark political transition with keen interest. What does ASEAN expect from the transition?
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2003

Iraq reconstruction bills could be in Diet by May

The government will submit a package of bills to help in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq to the Diet probably by early May, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Taku Yamasaki said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Mar 20, 2003

Tokyo may kill Pyongyang deal

Japan may abandon a bilateral declaration signed in September with North Korea if Pyongyang continues its provocative missile tests and nuclear program, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Mar 19, 2003

MLB Tour promises fun for everyone

Yes, I know, it's fans prediction week for Japanese baseball, but there were more entries than expected from Japan, North America and even New Zealand, and there just is not enough space to include all the picks and comments. Instead, let me tell you something about the Major League tour set to begin...
JAPAN
Mar 18, 2003

High school kids to be sent abroad

The education ministry unveiled a plan Monday in which 10,000 high school students will be sent overseas each year to study and 100 high schools will be selected to provide advanced English education by the 2005-2006 academic year.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 18, 2003

Kiwi pair hopes to put Kyushu rugby on map

Japan's new professional rugby league, the Top League, may not kick off until Sept. 13 but the 12 clubs involved are all in the process of finalizing their squads and coaching staffs for the inaugural season.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 16, 2003

Pictures of peace

VISIONS OF BUDDHIST LIFE, photographs and text by Don Farber, forward by Huston Smith, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003, 240 pp., 116 color photos, 36 quadtone photos, $39.95 (cloth) The photographer Don Farber has made his domain (in the words of his publisher) "the beauty and diversity...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2003

Decontrols to bring in more foreign doctors

Life in Japan as a foreigner is not always easy, especially if you become sick and don't speak the same language as your doctor.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

Japan Inc. plotting its own war survival strategy

Japan Inc. is on high alert.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 14, 2003

How the U.S. piqued Pyongyang

CAMBRIDGE, England -- If it weren't for the fact that the lives of several million people are at stake it could be fun watching the game of diplomatic poker being played by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and U.S. President George W. Bush. Those lives are at stake, however, as is the future stability...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2003

Fuel-cell cars now have a place to fill up

Fuel-cell vehicles took a short drive closer to the garage on Wednesday with the opening of a showroom and filling station for experimental FCVs in Yokohama's Tsurumi Ward.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2003

More BOJ stock-purchases eyed

The government plans to ask the Bank of Japan to increase purchases of bank-held stocks to combat falling share prices and head off a financial crisis stemming from a possible war in Iraq, and has asked the central bank to ease its credit grip, officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2003

Machinery orders post 7% increase

Core private-sector machinery orders rose a seasonally adjusted 7 percent in January from the previous month to 931.9 billion yen, marking the second straight month of expansion, the government said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2003

EU keeps channel open with Pyongyang

The withdrawal of North Korea from the Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, has caused great concern among members of the international community. The pillars of the 1994 Framework Agreement between the United States and North Korea and the policy that led to the establishment of the Korean Peninsula Energy...
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2003

Economists skeptical over promise to take action on stock-price tumble

As the 225-issue Nikkei average briefly tumbled below 8,000 on Monday before finishing at a fresh 20-year low, top Cabinet members began talking about government plans to counter the seemingly relentless fall in domestic share prices.
JAPAN
Mar 9, 2003

International schools to win equal status

The government plans to treat international schools like private domestic schools starting in April and give preferential tax treatment to donors to such schools, government officials said Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 9, 2003

Wallaby legend Ella to help Japan

Former Australian captain Mark Ella has been enlisted by the Japan Rugby Football Union to help national coach Shogo Mukai in the build up to this year's Rugby World Cup in October, the JRFU announced Friday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Mar 9, 2003

Sordid offspring of Uncle Joe

MOSCOW -- Wednesday was the anniversary of Joseph Stalin's death. The sordid man who for 30 years held the Soviet Union in an iron grip expired 50 years ago, but still casts a long shadow.

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