search

 
 
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Political fundraisers collected record high 13.7 billion yen in 2001

Political parties and related organizations, including support groups for individual politicians, collected a record 13.7 billion yen through fundraising events in 2001, according to a government report issued Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Better traffic lights protect pedestrians, NPA finds

The number of traffic accidents involving pedestrians fell to less than one-third what they had been at intersections equipped with a new pedestrian-friendly traffic light system, the National Police Agency said in a study released Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Former Yakult executive sentenced to seven years

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced a former vice president of Yakult Honsha Co. to seven years in prison and fined him 60 million yen for engaging in illicit transactions of "Princeton bonds" over the past decade.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Foreign performers both young and old help keep traveling big top alive

KANAZAWA, Ishikawa Pref. A glimpse of the giant tent reveals that a traveling circus is in town.
SUMO
Sep 13, 2002

Taka tumbles again

Takanohana suffered a setback in his comeback from injury as the yokozuna went down to his second defeat against a rank-and-filer at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Farm ministry files complaints

The farm ministry filed criminal complaints Thursday against the former chiefs of three sales offices of a Nippon Meat Packers Inc. subsidiary on suspicion of defrauding the government out of nearly 10 million yen.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2002

Hubbard tells Shiokawa about tax-cut benefits

Glenn Hubbard, visiting chairman of U.S. President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, offered a tip to Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa on Thursday, telling him that lowering the corporate tax rate helped stimulate economic activity in the United States.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2002

Current account surplus soars 58.1%

The country's current account surplus in July rose 58.1 percent from a year earlier to 1.14 trillion yen, according to a preliminary report released Thursday by the Finance Ministry.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Writer slams Iraq attack via petition

OSAKA -- Writer Makoto Oda is waging a petition drive, seeking people who support his opposition to the threatened U.S. attack on Iraq and his call for the Japanese government to act as an intermediary to prevent a war.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2002

Corporate governance re-examined: S&P

Growing investor demand and more than a decade of economic stagnation are forcing Japanese companies to re-examine their traditional corporate governance practices, Standard & Poor's Corp. said in reports released Thursday.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Tokyo woman arrested after confessing to strangling kids

A woman was arrested Thursday after confessing to strangling her two children.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2002

Handshakes may not soften U.S. line

WASHINGTON -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's trip to North Korea next Tuesday is, in many ways, a double-edged sword. At first glance, the trip appears to be a positive development. In what has become the norm in Asian diplomacy of late, the surprise announcement reflects positively on Japan's...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 13, 2002

Malaysia's security law loses some of its Draconian bite

KUALA LUMPUR -- The focus of attention surrounding a controversial Malaysian security law has shifted to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi after the country's highest court allowed an appeal of five opposition detainees in a dramatic decision last Friday. The legislation allows detention of suspects,...
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Two wetlands slated for protection

Two wetlands should be added to the list of wildlife preserves with the aim of registering them under an international convention on wetlands to be held in Spain in November, the Environment Ministry's Central Environment Council decided Thursday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Sep 13, 2002

Manager's gaffe, Petagine's bat pay off for Yakult

Wearing a T-shirt and shorts, Yakult pitcher Yataro Sakamoto was sitting back in front of the TV at the Jingu Stadium clubhouse prior to Thursday's game against the Hanshin Tigers. It was his night off in the rotation.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2002

Mitsubishi Electric, Sodick settle suit

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Thursday it has reached an out-of-court settlement with Sodick Co., a specialized producer of numerical control electro-dischargers, over a long-standing patent dispute.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Sep 13, 2002

Neville, Raul top Champions League charts

LONDON -- He may not a player who springs readily to mind when talking about all-time greats of the Champions League, but in one respect Manchester United's Gary Neville is out on his own.
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Sep 13, 2002

School selection comes to Japan at last

In many countries, parents have a choice of public schools. Not Japan. Here, you get just one choice: Send your child to the closest public school, or pay a lot of money for private school. But this is changing. School choice is coming to Japan.
COMMENTARY
Sep 13, 2002

Koizumi gambles for results

I'm not sure whether to be cautiously optimistic or pessimistic about Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to North Korea next Tuesday, but either way, "caution" is the watchword.
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
Sep 13, 2002

"Artemis Fowl," "Egg Drop"

"Artemis Fowl," Eoin Colfer, Puffin Books; 2002; 282 pp. "Stay back, human. You don't know what you are dealing with."
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2002

Management-labor cooperation urged

The heads of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) agreed Thursday that management and labor need to cooperate in areas such as pensions and medical care, Rengo officials said.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / ANIMAL TRACKER
Sep 13, 2002

Giant hornet

* Japanese name: Oo-suzumebachi * Scientific name: Vespa mandarinia japonica * Description: This monster is the largest social wasp in the world. Workers grow to between 25 and 35 mm long, drones (males) up to 45 mm long, and queens a startling 55 mm in length. Giant hornets have wide, orange heads...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2002

Afghan asylum seekers try to use 9/11 to press their case

Taking the occasion of the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks on the United States, Afghans seeking asylum in Japan called Thursday for public attention to their tribulations and those of their homeland.
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2002

Mr. Supachai to the rescue

The World Trade Organization has a new director general. Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi, a former Thai trade minister, recently took the helm of the trade body at a critical juncture. The global economy is experiencing one of its slowest periods of growth in decades. A new trade round is essential to rejuvenating...
Japan Times
JAPAN / THE OKINAWA FACTOR
Sep 13, 2002

Okinawa's free-trade zones failing to attract companies

GUSHIKAWA, Okinawa Pref. -- The Acrorad Co. factory in Okinawa's Nakagusuku Free Trade Zone looks out on more than 100 hectares of empty lots.
EDITORIALS
Sep 12, 2002

The limits of military power

What a difference a year can make. Although the fear of terrorism continues to stalk the world, the popular perception of it has changed significantly over the past year. Following the atrocity of Sept. 11, 2001 -- an attack on freedom, as U.S. President George W. Bush put it -- the international community...

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’