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Shinichi Terada
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2007
'Profile ads' riding back of SNS boom
If in recent days you happened to visit the Mobile Game Town community, a social networking site for cell phone users, you may well have bumped into a character named Fanta.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2007
Japan, China firms sign energy accords
Japanese and Chinese firms from the energy sector signed cooperation agreements Thursday, a sign that they may develop more oil and gas projects together in the near future.
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2007
Machinery orders fall 5.2% for February
Core private-sector machinery orders, a key gauge of corporate capital spending, fell 5.2 percent to 1.04 trillion yen in February, the Cabinet Office said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2007
Current account surplus up
Japan's current account surplus expanded 4.9 percent in February to 2.417 trillion yen, logging a second straight monthly rise as a weaker yen boosted exports and the income surplus expanded, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2007
At 6.6 trillion yen, gay, lesbian market no small niche
Japan has an estimated 2.74 million people who are either lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, and in terms of targeting a niche market, they have a combined purchasing power of 6.64 trillion yen -- the equivalent of the nation's liquor consumption.
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2007
Business sentiment dropping: 'tankan'
Big manufacturers grew less optimistic about business conditions as global stock markets fell and concern about the future of the U.S. economy grew, according to the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" corporate sentiment survey released Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2007
CPI down 0.1% on fall in fuel prices
Affected by a drop in fuel prices, Japan's nationwide core consumer price index fell 0.1 percent in February, marking the first decline in 10 months, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2007
Whalers threaten to sue activists over sea clash
Japanese whalers threatened Tuesday to sue the environmental groups Sea Shepherd and even Greenpeace for physically attempting to thwart the fleet's government-backed research hunt earlier this year in the Southern Ocean.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2007
Ailing Nissan to halve domestic sales force
Continuing efforts to improve efficiency, struggling Nissan Motor Co. said Tuesday that it will reorganize its dealer network into 10 regional groups and halve its domestic sales workforce by the end of 2011.
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2007
February trade surplus up 7.7% on auto, steel exports
Japan's merchandise trade surplus in February expanded 7.7 percent to 979.6 billion yen from the same month a year ago, thanks to increased exports of automobiles and steel and a decline in crude oil prices, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2007
IRCJ disbands, lauds role in fostering rehab leaders
The government-sponsored Industrial Revitalization of Corp. of Japan disbanded Thursday after overseeing 41 distressed companies with more than 30 billion yen in combined retained earnings.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2007
IRCJ chief satisfied as bailout body prepares to wind down
Atsushi Saito, president of the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, is confident the government-backed bailout agency has done more than revive ailing companies.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2007
Current account surplus up near 50%
Japan's current account surplus in January expanded a preliminary 49.8 percent from a year earlier to 1.19 trillion yen as the income surplus expanded and the deficit in goods and services trade narrowed, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2007
Ex-Daiei president named COO of Microsoft in Japan
Yasuyuki Higuchi, former president of Daiei Inc., on Monday took the newly created post of chief operating officer at the Japanese unit of Microsoft Corp., joining hands with its President and CEO Darren Huston.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2007
Nonfinancial investment surges quarterly 16.8%
Capital investment by Japanese companies excluding the financial and insurance sectors rose a record 16.8 percent in the October-December quarter from the same period a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said Monday, signaling the corporate-led economic expansion remains strong.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2007
CPI remains level with last year
Japan's core consumer price index was unchanged in January from a year earlier due to cheaper crude oil prices, the government said Friday, fueling speculation that the Bank of Japan may hold off on raising interest rates in the near future.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2007
Honda tries to reverse sales decline with Crossroad SUV
Hoping it has found the answer to declining domestic sales, Honda Motor Co. on Thursday unveiled its new Crossroad sport utility vehicle.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2007
Autos, electronics yield January trade surplus
Japan posted a 4.4 billion yen trade surplus in January, against a deficit of 353.5 billion yen a year ago, thanks to increased exports of automobiles to the United States and electronics components to China, the Finance Ministry said Thursday.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 20, 2007
Assessing IRCJ, the government's bailout body
The government-backed bailout agency Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan will finish its work and close its doors as early as next month, a year earlier than planned. Since it was established in April 2003, the bailout body has helped debt-ridden companies, including major supermarket chain Daiei...
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2007
GDP grows at annualized 4.8%
Japan's economy expanded at an annualized 4.8 percent in real terms during the October-December period of last year, beating economists' average forecast of 3.8 percent, a government preliminary report showed Thursday.

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