search

 
 
JAPAN
Dec 5, 2003

Time to send people to the frontline in Iraq, Kawaguchi says

Despite the recent fatal ambush of two Japanese diplomats in Iraq, Japan should send Self-Defense Forces troops to the country to help speed up its reconstruction, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2003

China dreads contagion of unrest

SINGAPORE -- The heavy losses suffered by proadministration and pro-Beijing parties in Hong Kong's Nov. 23 municipal elections clearly bore out a prodemocracy message.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Few warm to greater-Tokyo assembly idea

Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa advocates creation of an unprecedented regional administrative system that would deal with issues affecting the multiple prefectures and municipalities that constitute greater Tokyo.
MORE SPORTS
Dec 4, 2003

Williams, Sugiyama to join Toray Open

Venus Williams and Ai Sugiyama will be among the top seeds competing at next year's Toray Pan Pacific Open, the sponsor said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Terminator, Godzilla adorn battledores

Caricatures of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui are some of the faces that adorn decorative "hagoita" battledores at an annual exhibition of the traditional paddles that began Wednesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Ishiba briefs Koizumi on fact-finding mission, slips away

Defense Agency chief Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday reported the results of a fact-minding mission to Iraq to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Takei issued wiretap orders, former Takefuji exec tells cops

A former Takefuji Corp. executive has told police that Yasuo Takei, founder and chairman of the consumer loan company, ordered him to bug the phones of seven senior Takefuji officials, investigative sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Auto repair exam questions leaked to candidates

Nearly 80 percent of questions in a highly competitive government-sponsored exam for auto mechanic licenses held earlier this week were leaked to examinees through Toyota Motor Corp. dealerships, the nation's top automaker said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Diplomats' killers attacked from four vehicles: witnesses

The two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver who were gunned down in northern Iraq were ambushed by assailants in three or four vehicles, two witnesses said Tuesday. The assailants' cars surrounded the diplomats' four-wheel-drive vehicle Saturday on a highway near Tikrit and fired into its left...
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 4, 2003

Rivers made the final call on dumping Armstrong

NEW YORK -- Four defeats A.D. (After Doc), hints and allegations continue to dribble-drive-and-dish throughout the league; the misinformed majority would like you to believe Magic GM John Gabriel undermined his undeviatingly adored coach by refusing to re-sign force field Darrell Armstrong. Not.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2003

Grand vision touts rejiggered cities to suit aging population

The infrastructure ministry unveiled action plans Wednesday to revise city planning measures to concentrate welfare, medical and other facilities near stations and municipal offices to meet the needs of the rapidly aging population.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2003

New highs forecast for imports, exports

Imports and exports are expected to rise to new highs for a third straight year in fiscal 2004, a trade industry association said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2003

Canada to lift ban on Japanese pears

Canada has told Japan it will lift a ban on imports of Japanese-grown pears that began in 1997 due to a quarantine problem, officials of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2003

Pension levels to stay above 50% of income

Cabinet ministers and ruling party executives agreed in principle Wednesday to maintain future pension levels at 50 percent or more of workers' incomes when reforming the public pension system.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2003

Sony PSX 'for people who want to buy DVD recorders'

The Sony Corp. PSX that goes on sale next week is an audiovisual product and not a new PlayStation video game console, according to the firm and industry watchers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Dec 4, 2003

"Lionboy," "The English Roses"

"Lionboy," Zizou Corder, Puffin Books; 2003; 352 pp. How old do you have to be to write your first book? Thirty years old? Twenty? How about 10? If you're Isabel Adomakoh Young, 10 is as good an age as any.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2003

Survey finds firms short of manpower

Companies short of manpower in November outnumbered those with too many workers for the first time in almost six years.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Dec 4, 2003

Alarm mars a runaway success story for salmon

In October, I spent some time in Vancouver. I have grown-up children there, as well as grandchildren and a lot of old friends, most of whom I met while working for the Environmental Protection Service. Even though I left Canada in 1978 to come to Japan and pursue the often dubious course of a writer,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 4, 2003

Learning the finer points of this, that and 'nani'

Like the Japanese economy, the Japanese conversation has dwindled. Our words have lost their luxurious sheen, our sentences have been reduced to short strings of blah. We no longer need the metaphors of Osamu Dazai to convey our emotions, since a handful of familiar phrases have been encoded to cover...
EDITORIALS
Dec 4, 2003

Returning a bank to health

The collapse of Ashikaga Bank, a major regional bank in Tochigi Prefecture, shows that Japan's debt-heavy banking system is not yet out of the woods. The government, which has nationalized the bank temporarily, is expected to provide a cash injection of more than 1 trillion yen. The bank will be sold...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2003

Game-console makers cut prices ahead of yearend showdown

Makers of video game consoles are gearing up for the all-important yearend shopping season.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2003

Postal service shop for kids to open in May

Japan Post and the operator of Tokyo Disney Resort said Wednesday they will launch a postal service shop for children in May.

Longform

The volunteer lifesavers of Nishihama Surf Lifesaving Club never know what's in store at the start of their day.
It's no simple day at the beach for Japan's volunteer lifesavers