Search - 2004

 
 
BASEBALL / HIT AND RUN
Oct 5, 2010

Road set up for Hawks to make run at title

There are no more excuses for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 1, 2010

For artist Tokumaru, music is but a dream

Shugo Tokumaru's music is a dream come true — literally.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2010

'Friendly diplomacy' gaffe

The Sept. 7 collision between a Chinese fishing boat and the Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel Yonakuni in Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands resulted in the arrest and detention of the fishing boat captain on suspicion of obstructing the coast guard's official duty. He was released last...
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 16, 2010

Government organ sets sights on student-loan scofflaws

The knock-on effect of the recession has led to less job openings for college graduates and more delinquent student loans.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Sep 15, 2010

Facebook is sidelined in Japan as social network battle heats up

In July, the number of active users on social networking site Facebook worldwide surpassed 500 million. More than 60 percent of Internet users in the United States have signed up with the site, and its presence has reached into almost every country on Earth. You might think that Facebook is taking over...
EDITORIALS
Sep 14, 2010

Indictment under unjust scenario

The Osaka District Court on Sept. 10 declared Ms. Atsuko Muraki, a former head of the welfare ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau, innocent of a charge that she issued a fabricated certificate to recognize an organization as a group for the disabled, thus enabling it to use a postage...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Sep 7, 2010

Anime makes Japan a cultural superpower

Japan may be on a slow decline as far as being a global economic force, but the "soft power" of its modern entertainment genres, from manga to "anime," has global appeal, especially among young people.
CULTURE / Books
Sep 5, 2010

Glass ceiling has not budged for many of Japan's working women

As we enter the third decade of the "lost decade," there is much to despair about the state of Japan. There has been a sharp increase in the number of working poor, mostly due to the spread of nonregular employment, which now involves 34 percent of the workforce, nearly double the level of the asset-bubble...
JAPAN
Sep 2, 2010

Kingpin win would delay charges

Now that Ichiro Ozawa has made it official and will run for president of the Democratic Party of Japan, a key question is whether he can be indicted over his alleged financial illegalities should he win and become prime minister.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Aug 22, 2010

'Field of Screams' book includes chapter on Japan

From the authors of "Haunted Baseball" we have what is essentially a Volume 2 of that book. Mickey Bradley and Dan Gordon have come out with "Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room and Beyond."
COMMENTARY
Aug 3, 2010

Drug use is fueling AIDS epidemic in Russia

NEW YORK — Russia has one of the world's most serious epidemics of injection drug use, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS. It is estimated that Russia has 2 million injecting drug users (IDUs), 60 to 70 percent of whom have HIV-related illnesses. In the past decade, the number...
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2010

Toyota recalls 412,000 cars in U.S., 16,000 here

Toyota is recalling 412,000 cars, mostly the Avalon model, in the U.S., and another 16,420 vehicles in Japan for steering problems, the automaker said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 26, 2010

No reason not to intervene

The Child Abuse Prevention Law went into force in November 2000. Under a 2004 revision, people are obliged to report to the authorities concerned whenever they come across children with bruises or a feeble build that suggests physical abuse. A 2007 revision enables a court to issue a permit for children's...
EDITORIALS
Jul 20, 2010

Citizens' view of Mr. Ozawa

Tokyo's No. 1 Inquest of Prosecution Committee, an independent judicial panel composed of 11 citizens, said in its decision dated July 8 that the prosecution's decision not to indict former Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa in connection with the alleged false reporting on political...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 9, 2010

Kreva keeps Japan's hip-hop heart beating

The last thing anyone expects one of the country's leading hip-hop artists to say about the scene he's part of is that it's uninspired. But for Japanese hip-hop veteran Kreva, that's the unfortunate truth. "There's not really anyone I'm excited to listen to right now," explained the artist offhandedly...
JAPAN / DECISION 2010
Jul 6, 2010

Campaigning in Tokyo heats up

With beads of sweat pouring down his forehead, veteran Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Toshio Ogawa addressed a small crowd in Tokyo late last month, begging for their support in the Upper House election.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 4, 2010

Manga's Cinderella story

"I want to tell you a real love story," whispers a pen-wielding Misako, a graphic-novel version of comic artist Misako Takashima, on the first page of the 2007 book, "Rock and Roll Love."
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 27, 2010

Asahiyama's natural touch

Ivan the polar bear has been having relationship problems recently.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 18, 2010

'Hearts and Minds'/'Winter Soldier'

There has been a lot of informed opinion lately suggesting that the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan has already become a "new Vietnam."
EDITORIALS
Jun 13, 2010

Flawed pretrial investigation

On June 14, 2009, the special investigation squad of the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Ms. Atsuko Muraki, who was then chief of the welfare ministry's Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureau, on suspicion of issuing a fabricated certificate to recognize an organization as a...

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