Search - 2005

 
 
JAPAN / CUSTODY OR ABDUCTION
May 14, 2010

Hague pact no answer to in-country custody fights

Applicable only in cases where children are wrongfully taken from their country of "habitual residence," the Hague Convention offers no recourse to foreigners in Japan trying to gain access to their children following a death or divorce if they are not granted custody.
EDITORIALS
May 14, 2010

Rare finding of negligence

The Tokyo District Court on May 11 found Mr. Toshihiro Kobayashi, former president of gas water heater maker Paloma Industries Ltd., and Mr. Wataru Kamatsuka, former chief quality control officer of the company, guilty of causing the death of an 18-year-old university student and the injury of his brother...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 4, 2010

Eikaiwa on the ropes after fall of Geos

RICHARD SMART Special to The Japan Times A chain of English conversation schools is closed down. Thousands of employees are left worrying whether they will get paid or keep their jobs. Students are told refunds will not be given on advance payments for lessons. G.communication steps in to pick up the...
EDITORIALS
May 2, 2010

Hasty abolition of statute

The Diet on April 27 revised the Criminal Law and the Criminal Procedure Law to abolish the statute of limitations for crimes whose maximum penalty is capital punishment, such as murder and robbery murder, and to double the period of the statute to 30 years, 20 years or 10 years, respectively, for crimes...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 2, 2010

He's unusual, so why not just kill him

In a review of the book "Shikei de Ii desu" ("The Death Sentence Is OK With Me") that appears in the Feb. 26 issue of Kinyobi, critic Tatsunori Yagashiwa asks if a society that "disregards illness" can properly judge criminal suspects.
JAPAN / POSTAL REFORM ROLLBACK
Apr 15, 2010

Reversal on deposit limit a major gamble for DPJ

The Cabinet's recent decision to accept a plan to double the ceiling on postal savings accounts to ¥20 million, as proposed by postal reform minister Shizuka Kamei, marks a drastic policy shift for the Democratic Party of Japan, which in the past argued the maximum should be halved from the current...
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Apr 7, 2010

Game director Mikami ups speed, action in 'Vanquish'

Fifty-two floors above the ground in Tokyo's Roppongi district, one man is reaping all the applause. As he soaks it up, the look on his face is difficult to read. It has been over four years since he last received such attention, and he has yet to impart the information he came to relay; has yet to experience...
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Apr 6, 2010

Japan, U.N. share blind spot on 'migrants'

On March 23, I gave a speech to Jorge Bustamante, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, for NGO FRANCA regarding racial discrimination in Japan. Text follows:
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Feb 20, 2010

Proposed new league will have major obstacles to overcome

To accurately describe what's been going on for several years now in this nation's pro hoop scene, I submit the following analogy:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Feb 16, 2010

Japan's après ski party scene heats up

The apru00e8s ski scene in Japan is heating up, as more party events bring mixers to the moguls.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2010

LDP struggling in vain to rebuild

Taking the podium last month at the Liberal Democratic Party's first convention since its fall from power at the hands of voters last summer, Katsuya Nomura, former manager of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles baseball team, had a few words of advice for the LDP.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 7, 2010

Goodell says NFL remains committed to Asian market

Fort Lauderdale Fla. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the absence of the NFL from Asia at a news conference on Friday.
COMMENTARY
Feb 7, 2010

Rebirth of Haiti begins with education effort

NEW YORK — "Did you see this?" My colleague asked me in a hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, in 2005.
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Feb 7, 2010

Clutch shooters create excitement in bj-league

Basketball aficionados and casual fans alike remember Michael Jordan's clutch shots in the closing seconds of games. Other clutch shooters, such as Jerry West and Reggie Miller, have buried dozens of shots that separate them from the NBA's ordinary scorers.
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2010

Mojo eludes Disney in Hong Kong

HONG KONG — In sharp contrast with the long-running success story that is Tokyo's Disneyland and DisneySea, the Hong Kong version is struggling.

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