search

 
 
BUSINESS
May 26, 2005

High oil prices trim trade surplus 10.4%

Japan's customs-cleared trade surplus shrank 10.4 percent in April from a year earlier to 962.8 billion yen as high oil prices inflated the value of imports, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2005

Lack of trading on new JEPX blamed on utilities

The daily average trading volume on the Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX), inaugurated last month as part of electricity market liberalization, is barely flickering, at only one-20th of its target.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
May 26, 2005

Butterfly dragonfly

* Japanese name: Choutonbo * Scientific name: Rhyothemis fuliginosa * Description: With huge wings colored a beautiful deep blue, this dragonfly is unmistakable. Its body is fairly short and stout, at 32-41 mm long, while its hind wings are 30-40 mm across. The name "butterfly dragonfly" refers...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 26, 2005

Mining the Earth's problems for drama

'It starts with the Earth. How can it not?"
BUSINESS
May 26, 2005

Banks must wait eight months to sell insurance

The Financial Services Agency will not let banks sell savings-based insurance products, including endowment insurance, for another eight months, it was announced Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2005

Ito-Yokado to up stake in China JV

Supermarket chain Ito-Yokado Co. said Wednesday it will turn its Chinese supermarket joint venture, Hua Tang Yokado Commercial Co., into a consolidated subsidiary by raising its stake to 51.75 percent from the current 36.75 percent.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
May 26, 2005

Parenting book gets princely praise

Parenting expert Dorothy Law Nolte enjoys a huge following worldwide; her 1998 book, "Children Learn What They Live," sold over 700,000 copies in her native U.S. and has been translated into 36 languages. The Japanese version was a steady seller -- until February this year, when the father of a certain...
BUSINESS
May 26, 2005

OIE rules not tough enough on BSE? Prove it: adviser

Japan will need to provide sound scientific evidence if it plans to have stricter regulations to combat mad cow disease than the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), according to an honorary adviser to the international body.
SOCCER / World cup
May 25, 2005

Injured Takahara doubtful for World Cup qualifying game

German-based striker Naohiro Takahara, who picked up a hamstring injury in a league game Saturday, is doubtful for Japan's upcoming World Cup qualifier away to Bahrain, national team officials said Tuesday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
May 25, 2005

Agbayani leads the way as Marines hand Giants a thrashing

Benny Agbayani drove in a pair of runs Tuesday as the Pacific League-leading Chiba Lotte Marines pounded the Central League's last-place Yomiuri Giants 11-0.
OLYMPICS
May 25, 2005

Japan aiming for five medals in Turin Winter Olympics

The newly appointed head of Japan's delegation for next year's Winter Olympics, Kenichi Chizuka, said Tuesday that winning five medals is an attainable goal for the country's athletes at the Turin Games.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2005

Stop the torture and abuse

The steady drip of revelations about the abuse of prisoners in the global war against terror is doing serious damage to the U.S. image and efforts to win that battle. Contrary to official claims, the instances of misbehavior are not episodic or exaggerated; they appear to be serious, widespread and systematic....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 25, 2005

Stage plays restore your faith in comedy

"Comedy is an escape, not from the truth but from despair; a narrow escape into faith," wrote the English playwright Christopher Fry in Time magazine in 1950. These days the moment you switch on television in Japan, you are likely to be assailed by gales of laughter as young comedians talk frantically,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 25, 2005

Designs to refresh the spirit

Some Westerners, when faced with Oriental creativity, have a tendency to gush. Instead of taking a calm, rational, inquisitive point of view, they tend to ascribe the aesthetic effect of what they see to some mysterious, spiritual force -- whether they call it Zen, Tao, yin and yang -- something they...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

Seibu placed in hands of ex-Mizuho exec

Shareholders of Seibu Railway Co. agreed Tuesday to let Takashi Goto, a former executive of Mizuho Corporate Bank, head an empire rendered leaderless by a series of scandals ranging from falsified financial reports and charges of insider trading to the arrest of tycoon Yoshiaki Tsutsumi.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

Final moves to clear U.S. beef imports under way

The health and farm ministries on Tuesday asked the independent Food Safety Commission to discuss whether Japan should maintain the import ban on U.S. and Canadian beef because of mad cow disease.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

ATMs need to take foreign cards: critics

The inability of most automated teller machines at Japanese banks to accept foreign credit cards has long irritated tourists and short-term foreign residents in a country where cash still plays a key role in everyday life.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

MMC pinning hopes on new SUV

Struggling Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will launch a new sport utility vehicle in its Grandis minivan series.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

SMFG posts record group net loss

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said Tuesday it posted a record 234.2 billion yen group net loss for the business year ended March 31, a sharp reversal from the 330.4 billion yen net profit it recorded a year earlier.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

Service industries up for sixth year

Service industries expanded for the sixth straight year in fiscal 2004, with the tertiary industry activity index posting the biggest growth in eight years, the government said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
May 25, 2005

Too soon to let computers replace university libraries

at Houston has announced that it is removing almost all the books from its undergraduate library to provide space for a digital learning center, where students can use computers to access a wide variety of information. University officials are proud to be leading a trend. It is good to see academia catching...
BASKETBALL
May 24, 2005

Basketball nomad Bryant's latest stop in Tokyo

Joe Bryant's career as a basketball player and coach has taken him all over the world. Now the father of Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant will add Japan to his list of far-flung destinations.
EDITORIALS
May 24, 2005

Breaking the legislative logjam

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's campaign to privatize the postal-services system has entered a crucial stage now that the Lower House has set up an ad hoc committee on government-sponsored privatization bills. The establishment of the panel attests to the prime minister's resolve to get the package...
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2005

Power politics ensnare reform

NEW DELHI — Sixty years after its establishment, the United Nations is at a crossroads, its future direction and authority uncertain, even as it struggles with the diminution of its role in world affairs. Reforms are essential to revitalize the U.N.'s role, shore up its legitimacy and make it politically...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

Sukiya opposes relaxing BSE testing

The president of Zensho Co., operator of the Sukiya chain of restaurants, voiced opposition Monday to the government's plan to ease blanket testing of cattle for mad cow disease.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 24, 2005

Here comes the fear

Japan is following other developed countries in drafting antiterrorism laws.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

NTT Com to offer fragrances via Net

NTT Communications Corp. said Monday it has developed a way to offer fragrances via the Internet.

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?