Search - 2004

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

State, civil servant must pay for forced tweezing

The Tokyo District Court ordered the state and a health ministry employee Wednesday to pay a combined 550,000 yen in damages to a woman who was forced to pluck the whiskers from a coworker's face.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2006

State pension fund saw record 8.7 trillion yen surplus in '05

The Government Pension Investment Fund said Thursday it posted a record-high surplus of 8.68 trillion yen in fiscal 2005 due to investing in stocks and bonds.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2006

Defense expert set to head academy

A former member of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's advisory body on security issues will be the next president of the National Defense Academy, government sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2006

GSDF troops enjoyed Japanese rice, cup noodles sent over to Samawah

Throughout their 2 1/2-year mission in Iraq that concluded Monday, Ground Self-Defense Force troops survived mostly on food transported from Japan, including 420 tons of rice, logistics officers said.
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jul 16, 2006

Up close . . . and virtually personal

When the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan characters fell in love via the virtual world of Web chat in the 1998 movie "You've Got Mail," it seemed a classic case of something that could only happen in the movies, not in the real world.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2006

Bridge bid-riggers face fines, prison

Prosecutors on Friday asked the Tokyo High Court to fine 23 bridge builders and imprison eight former senior officials accused of rigging bids for bridge construction projects financed by the now-defunct Japan Highway Public Corp. and by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2006

Mizutani in 2 billion yen tax dodge

Mizutani Kensetsu Co., an engineering company suspected of tax evasion, is believed to have hidden some 2 billion yen in income in the two business years to the end of August 2004, sources said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2006

Tunnel workers get 69 million yen

The Tokyo District Court ordered the government Friday to pay 69.3 million yen in compensation to victims of pneumoconiosis who worked on tunnel projects ordered mainly by the state.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2006

North's missile threat

The following is a chronology of the events surrounding North Korea's missile program:
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.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2006

Explanations only deepen suspicion

A South Korean man believed to have been kidnapped by North Korea 28 years ago was allowed to meet his mother and sister last week at Mount Kumgang in North Korea. Mr. Kim Young Nam (also known as Kim Chol Jun) is thought to be the man who married Ms. Megumi Yokota of Niigata, who was kidnapped by North...
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2006

Exec allegedly paid to stop probe

complaints about the taxation probe, but I was not asked to do anything specific and did not do anything," Tanaka was quoted by his office as saying. "I understand the donation was made as a token of congratulation on my victory in the general election" in September. Meanwhile, Sugiyama also denied the...
SOCCER / World cup
Jul 3, 2006

Curse of the penalty shootout sends England packing

GELSENKIRCHEN, England -- The curse of the penalty shootout struck again for the English.
Japan Times
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.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Jul 1, 2006

England should not underestimate Portugal

HAMBURG, Germany -- Holland, which should know about such things, has warned England to beware of dirty tricks from Portugal's Men o' War when the teams meet in the World Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2006

Sony, Mazda, Mitsui, Mitsubishi face back taxes

Tax authorities ordered Sony Corp. and three other major companies to pay billions of yen in back taxes Friday as part of a crackdown on tax evasion on overseas earnings as the government hunts for more revenue and tries to improve corporate transparency.
JAPAN
Jun 28, 2006

Soaring growth in child abuse cases raises alarm

The government warned Tuesday of a nationwide surge in child abuse reports, saying serious cases show no sign of abating and society as a whole urgently needs to address the problem.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 27, 2006

Troops hurt in Iraq when vehicle flips

A light-armored vehicle of the Ground Self-Defense Force overturned near the Tallil air base in southern Iraq, injuring three GSDF soldiers in an apparent accident, Defense Agency officials in Tokyo said Monday evening.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jun 25, 2006

Smiles on retail's fastest track

Triple-A-size batteries, cigarette packs, and evening papers with screaming headlines are all at her fingertips. Kiyomi Okita knows exactly where they and hundreds of other items are, as well as their prices and what is flying off the shelves to whom.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2006

Ah, no kids afoot: Empty trains, work till you die

There has been a great deal of hand-wringing in the media and government about Japan's population implosion. A breakdown in the pension system, soaring health-care costs, slower economic growth and a looming labor shortage are just a few of the dark clouds on the horizon.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2006

Plastic recyclers can't compete with China

Many Japanese companies that produce materials recycled from used plastic bottles are on the verge of bankruptcy as more and more of their raw material ends up in China and may soon be finding their way to India as well.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2006

A united lobby for life

Japan has seen more than 30,000 people kill themselves annually for eight consecutive years since 1998. Last year, 32,552 people took their own lives, a total that breaks down to 89.18 suicides per day and 3.71 suicides every hour. Certainly these are grim figures.
EDITORIALS
Jun 15, 2006

One step forward in Iraq

Last week's killing in Iraq of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al-Qaida leader, must have come as good news for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who had formed a "national unity" government a little more than two weeks earlier. The death of the Jordanian-born insurgency leader will aid the government's...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2006

Japan bashing then, China bashing now

LONDON -- Pressure on China today to push up the value of the yuan against the dollar is eerily similar to the pressure on Japan 30 years ago to make the yen appreciate. Back then, "Japan bashing" came to mean the threat of U.S. trade sanctions unless Japan softened competitive pressure on American industries....

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?