Search - 2005

 
 
COMMENTARY
Jul 8, 2006

A Germany not ashamed to wave the flag

BERLIN -- It was clear from the taxi ride into town from Hamburg airport that something was different: Most buildings had a German flag hanging from a balcony. More remarkable still were the cars with small German flags protruding from windows. By the time I got to Berlin, it seemed that every third...
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2006

Japan, China likely to ink aviation deal next week

Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kazuo Kitagawa said Friday he hopes Japan and China can settle their stalled aviation talks next week.
EDITORIALS
Jul 8, 2006

Payback time after merging

The drama triggered when the Murakami fund, managed by maverick investor Mr. Yoshiaki Murakami, purchased a large chunk of Hanshin Electric Railway Co. shares came to an end last week as shareholders of both Hanshin and Hankyu Holdings Inc. voted for a merger. It is the first merger of major railway...
BUSINESS
Jul 8, 2006

GDP forecast to be upgraded to a real 2.1%

The government plans to raise its economic growth projections in fiscal 2006 to a real 2.1 percent and nominal 2.2 percent, both up 0.2 percentage point from January's estimates, government sources said Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 7, 2006

Boycott against civil conduct

LONDON -- "It could happen here" is the shorthand phrase frequently used for a variety of alarming hypothetical scenarios. "How could this happen here?" was the question more pertinently asked in Britain recently, as its universities witnessed the unfolding of an all-too-real and perplexing action.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 6, 2006

An animist explores old themes

Over the last few years, the traditional art form of nihonga has emerged as a player on the Japanese contemporary art scene. I can only guess why this is -- something connected to nostalgia or nationalism perhaps? Or could it be that growing social and economic uncertainty has led Japanese to regard...
BASKETBALL
Jul 5, 2006

Japan now set to take on Lebanon

Japan's opponent in a tuneup for the men's world basketball championship getting under way in August has been changed to Lebanon from Puerto Rico, the Japan Basketball Association said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2006

Schindler: People stuck in lifts 320 times in '04

Schindler Elevator K.K., the domestic subsidiary of the Swiss-based global elevator and escalator maker, said Tuesday that people in Japan were trapped inside its elevators 320 times in 2004.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2006

Big life insurers apologize to policyholders

Major life insurance companies, reeling from a series of misdeeds, held their annual meetings of policyholders' representatives Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2006

Elevator death bares systemic ills

are left as they are." He also said elevator manufacturers are reluctant to sell repair parts to independent maintenance firms.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2006

July rate hike seen amid rosy 'tankan'

Business confidence among major manufacturers improved in the April-June quarter and fiscal 2006 corporate capital spending is expected to post double-digit growth, the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey showed Monday, increasing the likelihood that the central bank will raise the key short-term interest...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jul 4, 2006

How not to lose your cool with the kids this summer

July and August are brutally hot across most of Japan, and for parents with young children at home, the challenge is on to somehow enjoy the summer without getting bitten, burned or bummed out.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2006

A new team in Vietnam

Vietnam has overhauled its leadership. The country's National Assembly last week affirmed the individuals selected by the congress of the Vietnam Communist Party. Members of the new team are considerably younger than their predecessors, and their common characteristic is a commitment to economic reform....
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2006

Hashimoto brought a rare passion to politics during his long career

Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who died Saturday at age 68, was a passionate, tough politician with a great deal of policy expertise.
COMMENTARY
Jul 3, 2006

Will India-China border talks ever end?

NEW DELHI -- For 25 years, India has been seeking to settle by negotiation with China the disputed Indo-Tibetan frontier. Yet, not only have the negotiations yielded no concrete progress on a settlement, but they also have failed so far to remove even the ambiguities plaguing the long line of control....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jul 2, 2006

Desperate Giants bring in Japan veteran Arias from Mexico

Not sure what to make of the Yomiuri Giants signing infielder George Arias just three days prior to the June 30 Japan pro baseball deadline for acquiring new foreign players.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 2, 2006

Journeys across turbulent waters

MAD ABOUT THE MEKONG: Exploration and Empire in South-East Asia, by John Keay. HarperPerennial, 2006, 294 pp., £8.99 (paper). The long-lasting conflict in Vietnam made the name of the Mekong familiar to people in other countries, but to those who live along its banks and tributaries it is known simply...
EDITORIALS
Jul 2, 2006

Touching base before stepping down

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush have reaffirmed not only their five-year "very friendly relationship" but also the strong ties between the two nations in a meeting at the White House, their 13th summit -- which may be their last.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2006

Japan's population now world's grayest

The proportion of people age 65 and older in Japan reached the world's highest at 21 percent in 2005, surpassing Italy's 20 percent, the government said Friday in a preliminary report.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2006

Clay captures the motion of organic forms

Seeming to peer out the window of the gallery is a brightly colored red and blue polka-dot blob. For a moment the amorphous shape looks like it is slowly crawling up the wall, till further inspection suggests that the piece is actually still -- or is it? Such is the work of Japanese ceramic artist Chiho...
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2006

Toshiba shareholders OK poison pill

Toshiba Corp. shareholders approved measures to fend off hostile takeover bids at their annual meeting Tuesday, company officials said.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2006

Japan, Brunei kick off FTA talks

Japan and Brunei kicked off their first round of official negotiations Monday in Tokyo aimed at sealing a bilateral free-trade agreement, with Tokyo aiming during the five-day run to win tariff cuts on its industrial goods exports and a stable supply of natural resources from the Southeast Asian country....
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2006

Warner Japan taking greater interest in local movie scene

Warner Entertainment Japan Inc., a subsidiary of U.S. media giant Time Warner Inc., plans to acquire more Japanese films and increase local production of movies in response to the growing popularity of domestic films, said William Ireton, who was named president of the company in May.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jun 27, 2006

On dual citizenship, pensions

Dual citizenship Reader S. doesn't recall ever reading anything in the Lifelines column on dual citizenship.
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2006

Landlords get crash course on dementia

Condominium managers will be required to take courses starting next month on how to handle residents with senile dementia.

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.