Search - 2005

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2006

Human rights bill may get another try

Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura said Monday that a controversial provision on regulating media coverage in a human rights protection bill may be revised or deleted before submitting the once-killed bill to the Diet next year.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2006

Oji Paper to launch hostile takeover bid for competitor

Oji Paper Co., the nation's leading paper producer, said Sunday it aims to make Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd. a wholly owned subsidiary through a takeover bid beginning in mid-August.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jul 24, 2006

Cutting corporate taxes best course for Japan

The government's 2006 basic policy on economic and fiscal management and structural reforms, approved by the Cabinet on July 7, established two national pillars of economic policy for the coming decade -- the pursuit of growth in a shrinking population, and the rebuilding of state finances to reinforce...
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2006

Embezzlement fears beset sports body

An Olympic sports association headed by Foreign Minister Taro Aso is facing charges of fund embezzlement and opaque accounting, according to association sources.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jul 23, 2006

Faces of terrorism

The Richman's Cafe seemed an unlikely place to meet a terrorist, but at least it was well lit and public.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Jul 22, 2006

Central League captures opener

Kyuji Fujikawa couldn't even get a save for his birthday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 22, 2006

Putting Lebanon back together again

LONDON -- Today's crisis in Lebanon is a crisis of the Lebanese state. It is this structural crisis that must be addressed if the violence is to stop.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2006

Magic touch in East Timor

Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, 56, is the $14 billion man. During 2005, while serving as foreign minister, he is credited with playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in rescuing Timor Sea resource negotiations between Australia and East Timor. Talks had hit an impasse, partly owing to the abrasive style of...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2006

Toyota not looking to block GM tieup talks

Toyota Motor Corp. President Katsuaki Watanabe said Thursday his firm has no plan to block alliance talks involving General Motors Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 21, 2006

Putting pop back together

"I'd say Canada's music scene is very healthy at the moment," says Brendan Canning, founding member of Toronto's swollen indie supergroup Broken Social Scene. And he's not wrong. Dozens of diverse Canadian bands are becoming worldwide exports: Montreal's Arcade Fire have swept the globe, selling over...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 21, 2006

Double trouble for Poles used to benefits

WARSAW -- Much of the world seems fascinated by the fact that Poland is now governed by identical twins who first became famous as child movie actors: President Lech Kaczynski, and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, whom Lech appointed to the post of prime minister earlier this month. They are indeed intriguing, but...
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2006

Paloma hit for killer heaters

Paloma Industries Ltd. has issued a recall for some 260,000 gas water heaters made between 1980 and 1989 after they were linked to 20 carbon monoxide deaths since that time and the president was summoned Wednesday to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and told to speed up the firm's probe into...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2006

Korean-Japanese bridges the gap for movie crew

Born in 1978 as a third-generation Korean in Japan, Chung Ji Hye used to hesitate about revealing her family background to her friends.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 20, 2006

"Robin Rhode "

Shiseido Gallery Closes in 11 days
CULTURE / Music
Jul 20, 2006

Senegal is calling

Time and again Western journalists ask superstar Senegalese pop singer Youssou N'Dour, arguably the most successful African musician in history, the same question: Why, despite selling hundreds of thousands of records in the West and collaborating with artists such as Peter Gabriel, Sting, Wyclef Jean...
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2006

December to see TOEIC speaking, writing tests

Responding to growing demand for tools to assess English speaking and writing abilities, U.S.-based Education Testing Service said it will launch speaking and writing sections of the Test of English for International Communication here in December.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2006

Toyota recalls 268,000 cars over faulty engine

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it is recalling 268,000 vehicles in Japan over a faulty engine, the latest in a string of recalls rasing doubts over whether the automaker can maintain quality standards amid booming sales.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2006

LDP sees bureaucratic white paper glut

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has begun studying how to restructure the annual issuance of government white papers, both to cut costs and to reduce the work of bureaucrats, but how much of a reduction can be made is uncertain as bureaucrats themselves are cool to the idea.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2006

Hope of the marketplace

The Bank of Japan's lifting of its zero-interest rate policy last week represents an end to an extraordinary policy that continued for five years and four months. With its decision, which marks a step toward normalization of the nation's monetary policy, the central bank has signaled that the Japanese...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2006

The difference gaman can make

THE ART OF GAMAN: Arts and Crafts From the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946, by Delphine Hirasuna. Berkeley/Toronto: Ten Speed Press, 125 pp., 2005, $35 (cloth). In Japanese, the word "gaman" means the display of calm forbearance and poise in the face of adverse circumstances beyond one's...
CULTURE / Books
Jul 16, 2006

Adventures in Gerontology

THE OKINAWA DIET PLAN by Bradley J. Willcox, D. Craig Willcox and Makoto Suzuki. Three Rivers Press, 2005, 432 pp., $14.95/2,300 yen (paper). In works like "Awakenings" and "The Island of the Color Blind," neurologist Oliver Sacks showed how serious medical subjects could, in the right hands, be turned...
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Paloma water heaters killing since '85

Water heaters manufactured by Paloma Ltd. have caused 17 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning resulting in 15 deaths between 1985 and 2005, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Plan to disband defense facilities agency is ready

The Defense Agency compiled a plan Friday for disbanding the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, whose senior officials were embroiled in bid-rigging.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2006

Matchmaker looks to cash in on population woes

For the government, the declining birthrate and delayed marriages are its biggest headaches as the graying of Japan accelerates.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 15, 2006

'Comfort women' issue far from closed

NEW YORK -- V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls, is putting the "comfort women's" crusade for reparations in its spotlight for 2006. As part of the activities, in the summer of 2006 the Global Campaign will include celebrity benefit performances of "The Vagina Monologues"...

Longform

A man offers prayers at Hebikubo Shrine in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward. The shrine is one of several across the country dedicated to the snake.
Shed your skin and reinvent yourself in the Year of the Snake