search

 
 
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jul 1, 2007

High school teen sitcom, JR conductor melodrama, dream-house design

Some high schools are famous for producing star athletes, while graduation from others practically guarantees entrance to a prestigious university. The fictitious Sakurazaki Gakuen is known for one thing and one thing only: cute boys.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jul 1, 2007

Food for thought — and a writ to go

Dear Reader: Today I bring you news of the most chilling and awful purport. Don't worry, it doesn't affect you — at least I hope it doesn't. It is yours truly who is getting the short end of the chopstick on this one. I tell you, I feel as if I've been reborn with a greasy spoon in my mouth — but...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Jul 1, 2007

Kotaro Sawaki: Writer on the road of life

Kotaro Sawaki is one of the most popular nonfiction writers in Japan. He made his name with "Shinya Tokkyu (Midnight Express)," a reportage of a yearlong overland trip through Asia and Europe he took when he was in his mid-20s. Those stories — whose title refers to a euphemism for "prison break" used...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 1, 2007

Immigrant workers in Japan caught in a real racket

The debate over whether Japan should allow foreign workers in to make up for current and future labor shortages is dominated by the so-called foreign trainee program, which is overseen by the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization (JITCO). The program is itself the subject of a debate,...
EDITORIALS
Jul 1, 2007

Passing of a statesman

Former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa was a leader of postwar Japan's mainstream conservatism who strove to rebuild Japan while preventing it from retracing the militarist path. He died Thursday at 87.
CULTURE / Books
Jul 1, 2007

Yoshibumi Wakamiya on Japan's shift to the right

BETWEEN THE CONSTITUTION AND KIMIGAYO (Migite ni Kimigayo, Hidarite ni Kenpo) by Yoshibumi Wakamiya, Asahi Shimbun-sha Shuppankyoku, 2007, 156+184 pp., 1,890 yen (cloth) For anyone living in Japan and fascinated by Japanese politics, it is a good thing to step back occasionally from the surprises and...
MORE SPORTS
Jun 30, 2007

WWE hysteria all McMahon's doing

NEW YORK — Hucksters make their living ahead of the curve, or at the very least, by selling that illusion.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2007

Ruling bloc poised to steamroller pension bills

The opposition parties made one final attempt Friday to stop the ruling bloc from ramming pension system-related bills through the Diet with motions to censure Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2007

Hong Kong media thrive under China

LOS ANGELES — Not every place in the world takes its news media seriously, to say the least. Some governments view it as a nuisance, if not a menace; others as an arm of public instruction, if not propaganda. But this is not the view taken here in what (since the 1997 handover from Britain) is officially...
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2007

Miss Universe director turns Japanese into women of world

and "sekushii" (sexy) woman. "The kawaii concept is for 12-year-old girls," she said. "Real beauty for women comes from the inside. It's a mental thing. It's about sensuality and intelligence."
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2007

JAXA sets ISS Japanese menu

Astronauts in for long-term stays at the International Space Station can look forward to having ramen, rice balls and green tea on their menus, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2007

Expense-reporting bill passed, slammed

The Diet on Friday enacted a revision to the Political Funds Control Law aimed at keeping better tabs on how lawmakers use their funds, though critics charge the legislation is riddled with loopholes and will not result in increased transparency.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2007

H.K. man wins first 'Manga Nobel' for cartoonists abroad

A Hong Kong artist has won Japan's first "Nobel Prize of Manga" for artists working in the comic book genre abroad, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Jun 30, 2007

Britain's future tied to Europe

LONDON — The recent European summit in Brussels reached a compromise on a treaty that would replace the proposed European constitution rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands.
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2007

New nursing-care plan already struggling

system is not designed for providers to earn profits," Hattori said. However, she said the way Comsn tried to expand its business was particularly despicable. Before the fraud scandal mushroomed, if Comsn got caught inflating the number of employees at a nursing-care facility, it would shut the facility...
EDITORIALS
Jun 30, 2007

A new era for Britain

In physical terms, Mr. Gordon Brown has not gone far this week: He moved his office one door down, from No. 11 to No. 10 on Downing Street in London. He did not even have to move his family, which already lives at the private quarters at No. 10. But the change in jobs from chancellor of the Exchequer...
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2007

JVC ends car audio sales in Japan

Victor Co. of Japan said Friday it will stop selling car audio products in Japan on Saturday and focus on its overseas activities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jun 30, 2007

The trouble with foreigners — wayward ways amid the regiment

Renting rooms to foreigners can be a sensitive subject for many minshuku owners in Japan. It's not that the owners can't speak English, nor that they don't like foreigners. Through the years, I've gotten to know some minshuku owners and have learned that foreigners can indeed be a bit mendokusai (troublesome)...
JAPAN
Jun 30, 2007

Hawker's parents get show of support from suspect's family

and mother Julia look on during a news conference Friday at the British Embassy in Tokyo. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTO
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2007

U.S. beef back on Ito-Yokado shelves

Major supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. brought American beef back to its shelves Friday, about 3 1/2 years after sales were halted in the wake of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease, a parent company spokesman said.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo