Search - member

 
 
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2002

Lawmakers flock to Yasukuni

Ninety-one lawmakers, including Jin Murai, head of the National Public Safety Commission, visited Yasukuni Shrine on Tuesday in the wake of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's surprise visit there Sunday.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2002

Nabbed prosecutor now probed for tax evasion

OSAKA -- The prosecutor arrested Monday on suspicion of fraud owns 16 real estate properties but has not declared at least 5 million yen in rent revenue, informed sources alleged Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2002

Peace Boat trip to Kunashiri irks minister

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi expressed displeasure Tuesday over a Japanese peace group's plan to sail this summer to Russian-held Kunashiri Island, which is claimed by Japan.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Apr 24, 2002

Two men and a poor baby

I have a thang, as Isaac Hayes would say, for Yuki Koyanagi. Maybe it's her sultry pout. Maybe it's her bleached-blonde hair. Or it could be her gloriously trashy fashion sense.
EDITORIALS
Apr 23, 2002

Mr. Gusmao's next fight

East Timor has its first president. To no one's surprise, Mr. Xanana Gusmao won last week's election by a landslide. He will need every bit of that popularity as his country deals with the difficult times ahead. East Timor starts from scratch; it will need the help and patience of the world, and the...
COMMENTARY
Apr 23, 2002

A path through the smoke

Japan indisputably is the top smokers' paradise in the industrial world, as well as in East Asia, where China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan are tightening restrictions on smoking. In Japan, smoking is allowed in many government and company offices, restaurants and taxis. Some hospitals do not restrict...
COMMENTARY
Apr 22, 2002

Role remains for British royalty

LONDON -- On March 31, the Saturday before Easter Sunday, Elizabeth, the queen mother, passed away peacefully at the age of 101.
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2002

Japan's deflation a puzzling issue for Europeans

BRUSSELS -- Viewed from Europe, there are some signs that the Japanese economy might be starting to emerge from its 10-year slumber, but it remains essential that Tokyo focus on far-reaching structural reforms and antideflation measures rather than short-term policy lurches if the economy is to avoid...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2002

Nutritional company targets a 'priceless' market

Nature's Sunshine Products, the Utah-based company that revolutionized the nutritional supplement industry, this month celebrated its 30th anniversary with a convention in Fukuoka that brought together top executives and its Japanese "family."
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 21, 2002

Koizumi trade pitch misses

CAMBRIDGE, England -- At the Baoa Forum for Asia that met on Hainan Island in China earlier this month, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made yet another proposal for a greater economic cooperation agreement for East Asia. This time Japan's focus is on an ASEAN-plus-five formula, as announced...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 21, 2002

A force to be reckoned with

THE JAPANESE POLICE SYSTEM TODAY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY by L. Craig Parker, Jr.. London: M.E.Sharpe, 2001. 266 pp., $22.95 (paper) The Japanese police system has come under increasing pressure in recent years. Crimes have become more horrific, and the high level of professionalism generally ascribed to...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 21, 2002

Peak attraction

When the cherry trees in the highlands of Nagano Prefecture start blooming, Hajimu Miyamoto of the Azumi Village tourist association begins to feel excited -- and a little nervous.
SOCCER / World cup
Apr 20, 2002

JFA sets bonuses for World Cup wins

Each of Japan's World Cup players will pocket a tournament bonus of 5 million yen if they get through the first round and 30 million yen if they win the quadrennial tournament, the Japan Football Association confirmed Thursday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Apr 20, 2002

Comedy on the heels of traged

As the saying goes, "tragedy at first, followed by comedy." Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's dismissal of Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Jan. 29 was a tragic event in the political world. The collapse of the Koizumi-Tanaka team, at the forefront of the government that emerged in April 2001 to tremendous...
JAPAN / KANSAI BEAT
Apr 20, 2002

NGOs target immigration center

OSAKA -- Amid concerns over allegations of human rights abuses at the West Japan Immigration Detention Center in Ibaraki, Osaka Prefecture, local nongovernmental organizations will form an immigration watchdog group later this month.
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2002

West's terror goes unpunished

Call me old-fashioned, but was not the deliberate use of force by one nation against another nation once labeled as aggression? And was not aggression once seen as a war crime? Certainly a large number of Japanese and German leaders once were hanged for just that kind of behavior. Yet today's U.S. and...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Apr 18, 2002

The invasion and colonization of Europe

Cooperation is the key to the evolution of life, even though natural selection favors genetic selfishness. Since all complex life, whether it's a tree or a whale, reproduces through sex, genes have only a 50 percent chance of getting into an egg or a sperm. This means that even genes have to cooperate,...
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2002

BOJ voted 8-1 in favor of liquidity drive

The Bank of Japan Policy Board in February voted 8-1 to boost liquidity in the banking system by increasing the central bank's outright purchases of government bonds, according to minutes released Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 17, 2002

All we know of heaven and need of hell

There may indeed be "more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of" in human philosophy, as Hamlet told faithful Horatio, but when it comes to hell, the human imagination needs little prompting. From Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy" to the Bible itself, hell and its tempting concomitant, sin, have...
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2002

Forum to tackle product piracy

A group of companies and industry associations set up Tuesday a forum to tackle what they see as increasing overseas infringement of intellectual property rights, especially in Asia.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2002

Japan faces tough sell at G7

Japan is expected to re-emphasize its resolve to achieve structural reforms aimed at revitalizing its economy when finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven major economic powers gather this week in Washington.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2002

Japan will fight U.S. curbs with EU: Hiranuma

Trade minister Takeo Hiranuma has reconfirmed that he will make joint efforts with the European Union to fight U.S. import curbs on steel products, a ministry official said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2002

Ex-Daiwa Toshi president denies 2.9 billion yen scam

OSAKA -- Former Daiwa Toshi Kanzai President Hiroshi Toyonaga pleaded not guilty Monday to defrauding clients out of 2.9 billion yen through sales of securities by the failed mortgage-backed securities broker that were later found to be worthless.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat