search

 
 
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 6, 2003

Muslim 'jihad' not always a call to arms

HONOLULU -- In the flickering images on the television tube, anti-American Muslim demonstrators in Cairo, their faces contorted in anger, promised they would rush to Iraq to take up arms against the American invaders in a "jihad" to defend Islam.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 6, 2003

Sampling the sharp end of tradition

M shoulders have been stiff for years. I used to think the solid lump back there was simply a strange bit of bone structure I'd got somehow. In fact, I'd had my shoulder problem for so long that I had come to accept it as a fact of life.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 6, 2003

The grand illusions

Since celebrity is more a matter of exploiting opportunities than exploiting talent, this week's "Friday Showtime" (NHK-G, 8 p.m.) can be seen as an object lesson in cross-disciplinary synergy. Billed as an "astonishing entertainment" program featuring "music, comedy and illusion," the show brings together...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 6, 2003

Whole-istic medicine: being treated the traditional Chinese way

Thanks to modern medicine, many diseases that were fatal a few decades ago can now be cured. And with the decoding of the human genome, Western medicine is on the verge of taking another mighty leap forward.
JAPAN
Apr 6, 2003

Ito-Yokado president to become CEO

Sakae Isaka, an Ito-Yokado Co. senior managing director, will succeed Toshifumi Suzuki as president, and Suzuki will become chairman and chief executive officer, company sources said Saturday.
COMMENTARY
Apr 6, 2003

Finale in Baghdad may delay the peace

ISLAMABAD -- The Bush administration's race to take Baghdad, the grand finale in its military campaign, leads to many questions about what may turn out to be a much more lethal war than expected against an Islamic country. The United States may be heading toward military victory, but the conduct of the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 6, 2003

Selfishness and greed motor the American Dream

Watching the war in Iraq from the vantage point of Japan, you don't get as much of the propaganda-like white noise that accompanies the coverage if you're watching it from the United States or the Middle East. But that doesn't mean you get less information.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Apr 6, 2003

Will Hussein go out quietly?

MOSCOW -- Last week a number of American officials were saying that the war in Iraq was not unfolding as quickly as had been hoped. The remarks sound like excessive modesty because the war has actually proceeded much more smoothly than its opponents predicted.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Apr 6, 2003

Like no other country on earth

"Bom . . . bash . . . bom . . . bash . . ." The savage thud of big drums echoed off the alley walls, shook the cobbles and rattled the wonky Belgian shutters.
EDITORIALS
Apr 5, 2003

A partially changing land-price map

...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 5, 2003

Real Madrid vs. Manchester United as good as it gets

LONDON -- Arsene Wenger did not need a second to think about his answer.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 5, 2003

Friendly canceled

Japan's scheduled home friendly against Serbia and Montenegro this summer has been canceled due to a fixture clash, Japan Football Association General Secretary Takao Hirata said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

SARS carriers to be quarantined

A health ministry council decided Friday that individuals diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome will be forcibly hospitalized -- even if they refuse to seek treatment.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

State bodies decide not to appeal

The national government and the Shiga Prefectural Government will not appeal a court decision ordering them to pay damages for the abuse of mentally disabled workers at a Shiga company, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi and Shiga officials said Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Chinese towels safe from tariffs

Japan will not impose safeguard tariffs on towels imported from China for the time being, trade minister Takeo Hiranuma said Friday.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

Infrastructure spending to target priority sectors

With the nation's population rapidly aging and social security costs ballooning, the government must invest its limited financial resources into priority areas in its social infrastructure-building efforts, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said in a report released Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

IRC execs implore banks to sell bad loans

Newly appointed executives of the government's planned industrial revival body delivered a zealous sales pitch Friday, urging banks to sell to the entity loans extended to debt-laden firms as soon as possible.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

Adviser to check needs of Iraq neighbors

Yukio Okamoto, the Cabinet's foreign policy adviser, will visit areas neighboring Iraq next week to discuss what kind of humanitarian aid Japan can offer in connection with the war there, the government announced Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Kumagai Gumi seeks 300 billion yen bailout, merger

Ailing construction firm Kumagai Gumi Co. announced Friday it will ask its main creditor banks for a bailout of 300 billion yen under a new three-year restructuring plan while seeking a merger with Tobishima Corp.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

Probe reopens into problematic '95 death

Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said Friday her ministry will reopen the case of a 49-year-old male prisoner who died under dubious circumstances in 1995 after being placed in a leather restraint at a juvenile prison in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

U.S. wants Japanese minesweepers in Gulf

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage expressed hope Thursday that Japan would send military personnel, including minesweepers, to help with reconstruction efforts in postwar Iraq.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Sumitomo Mitsui expects 470 billion yen loss

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. said Friday it has cut its group earnings forecast for fiscal 2002 due to much larger losses in its securities holdings and bad loans.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2003

Pakistan ratchets up tension in Kashmir

MADRAS, India -- At a time when the world needs it the least, India and Pakistan appear to be inching toward armed conflict.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Pack of Marlboros and a JGB, please

The government is trying to make it easier for you to buy its bonds and finance its deficits.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Combat SARS with emergency loans: Ogi

...
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

Budding bureaucrats on the decline

The number of people wishing to get a foot on the ladder to a top bureaucratic post has declined sharply this year, according to an interim report released Friday by the National Personnel Authority.
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

Candidates begin stumping for local assembly elections

Official campaigning for the April 13 local assembly elections got under way Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Imported car sales surged last year

Sales of automobiles built overseas rose 2.5 percent in fiscal 2002 from the previous year to 279,381 units, marking the first increase in two years, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said Friday.

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