search

 
 
SUMO
May 23, 2002

Musashimaru extends summer basho lead

Yokozuna Musashimaru ushered out komusubi Tochinonada with the conviction of a grand champion Wednesday as the lone undefeated wrestler opened up a two-win lead with only four days remaining in the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2002

Don't sweat three warships

During the Persian Gulf War, I wrote that "average Americans would think friendlier and more respectful thoughts about Japan if it were able to contribute soldiers -- standing side by side with Americans in the sands of Arabia -- than if it contributes a billion or more dollars." Now, Japanese sailors...
COMMENTARY
May 23, 2002

U.S. idiosyncrasies on Cuba, free trade

LOS ANGELES -- Undoubtedly, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's red-carpet reception in Cuba rubbed President George W. Bush the wrong way.
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Panel to mull bids for 15 new colleges

The education ministry has asked an advisory panel to study applications to establish 15 new universities in fiscal 2003, according to ministry officials.
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Man, 70, runs down bank robber

OSAKA -- A 70-year-old man foiled a bank heist Wednesday morning by chasing down the robber and turning him over to police.
SOCCER / J. League
May 23, 2002

Paraguay defeats Jubilo in World Cup warmup

Paraguay beat J. League first division side Jubilo Iwata 3-1 in a World Cup warm-up friendly in Japan on Tuesday, while Costa Rica fell 2-0 to Nagoya Grampus Eight.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2002

Nissan Diesel nets 600 million yen profit

Nissan Diesel Motor Co. said Wednesday a decline in group sales due to reduced sales volume in the 2001 business year was offset by an expansion in group net profits resulting from cost cuts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Helper dogs get legal power to work in public facilities

The Diet enacted a law Wednesday that makes it mandatory for public and transportation facilities to permit the entry of helper dogs that accompany disabled people.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2002

South Asia on a hair trigger

What will it take to bring the governments of India and Pakistan to their senses? Once again, the two nuclear-armed neighbors are flirting with disaster. Tensions have been escalating since December, and they will continue to rise as summer approaches. Both governments appear to believe that war is impossible;...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 23, 2002

Intelligence that got the U.S. nowhere

WASHINGTON -- "What did they know and when did they know it?" That is a paraphrase of the critical question that dogged Richard Nixon through the dreadful days of Watergate. Now, the same question is being asked again. What did the intelligence community know about the threat of terrorists -- specifically,...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2002

Odakyu Electric Railway sees black

Odakyu Electric Railway Co. said Wednesday it posted a group pretax profit of 29.41 billion yen in the 2001 business year, up 6.9 percent from the previous year, due to its strengthened management bases.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 23, 2002

Scientists petition Japan to lay down harpoons

Early this week, readers of the New York Times may have been surprised to find among its pages a full-page petition, in English and Japanese, signed by 21 eminent scientists, including Richard Dawkins, E.O. Wilson and Jane Lubchenco, and the Nobel prize-winners Roger Guillemin, Sir Aaron Klug and Alan...
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Japanese intervention brings yen to 125 level

The yen soared to a new high for the year of 123.50 against the dollar in Tokyo on Wednesday before yen-selling intervention by the Finance Ministry and Bank of Japan brought it back down around the 125 level later in the day.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 23, 2002

When it comes to giving money, just go with the flow

In answer to the reader in Mita-ku enraged with having to 'pay out' money for so many of the activities that at home she takes as freely granted (parties, weddings, funerals), best remember perhaps that everything has its price.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 23, 2002

Stocks climb, appear poised to top 12,000

Tokyo stocks are out of the doldrums and now appear poised to lift the Nikkei average back above 12,000, a level unseen for years.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2002

Investment keeps Wowow in red

Satellite broadcaster Wowow Inc. on Wednesday said it remained in the red in the 2001 business year under the weight of initial investments in launching digital broadcasting services.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 23, 2002

Buyers be wares -- shopping consumes Japan

I was once asked to translate a pamphlet published by the municipal government of one of the most beautiful and historically endowed cities in Japan. The material was aimed at foreign companies and their expat employees to entice them to the city.
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Kids at 'broadband schools' get PCs

A consortium has been set up by 18 computer- and education-related companies to provide schools with personal laptop computers that students can use anywhere at school as part of efforts to raise their skills.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2002

BOJ upgrades economy for third month

The Bank of Japan on Wednesday upgraded its economic assessment in May for the third consecutive month, saying the rate of decline has eased.
COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
May 23, 2002

Marines on Okinawa are worth keeping

Thirty years after reversion to Japan, the U.S. Marine bases on Okinawa remain a contentious issue. Periodic calls for their reduction or elimination may be good politics, and offer academics and other commentators the satisfaction that they are taking a "progressive" stance on the issue.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2002

Skepticism fuels short selling

The balance of shares sold short topped 1 trillion yen for the first time in seven weeks last week, mirroring growing skepticism about the outlook for domestic stock markets.
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Aum remains dangerous: Justice Ministry agency

Aum Shinrikyo remains dangerous and continued surveillance of the cult is needed, Yukio Kakiage, head of the Justice Ministry's Public Security Investigation Agency, said Wednesday.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
May 23, 2002

Dallying where daimyo strolled

Next time you find yourself in Okayama Prefecture, down by the beautiful Seto Inland Sea in western Honshu, you could do worse than allow some time to visit Shuraku-en Park, a well-known historical garden in the Sanyo district of Tsuyama.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Quake survivor, 61, now golf pro

KOBE -- The 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake took the lives of more than 6,400 people and left tens of thousands homeless, but it helped turn one middle-aged man who lost most of his worldly possessions into a professional golfer.

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’