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November 22, 2024
 

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Kanako Takahara

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Kanako Takahara
Kanako Takahara is a staff writer who has covered national politics, diplomacy, business and the economy at The Japan Times. A graduate of Sophia University, she is currently a national news editor.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008
Fukuda, Medvedev favor isle row solution
TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed Tuesday they should resolve the territorial row over the four Russia-held islands off Hokkaido, saying the dispute hinders bilateral ties.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 8, 2008
Boom time for Hokkaido ski resort area
NISEKO, Hokkaido — Playing golf on a clear summer day in the shadow of Mount Yotei, otherwise known as Ezofuji, or Hokkaido Fuji, may be an ideal way to spend a vacation. But simply walking around the premises of Hilton Niseko Village, which opened July 1 in Hokkaido's resort area of Niseko, seems...
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 7, 2008
Leaders get ready for business
TOYAKO, Hokkaido Eight years ago when Japan last hosted the leaders of the eight leading industrialized nations, the general atmosphere was that they were getting together on a nice resort island to enjoy a vacation called the G8 summit.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2008
FSA slaps 10 insurers over 'nonpayments'
The Financial Services Agency slapped 10 life insurers, including two foreign ones, with business improvement orders Thursday saying their internal controls are insufficient to prevent them from failing to pay benefits to policyholders.
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2008
Sentiment tanks in latest 'tankan'
Business sentiment among large manufacturers plummeted in June for the third straight quarter, with rising oil and raw material prices gouging into profits, according to the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey released Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2008
Regaining trust key: insurance group chief
Nonlife insurers must do everything they can to regain the trust squandered by such industrywide missteps as failing to honor legitimate claims and overcharging on premiums, according to the new chairman of a nonlife insurers' industry group.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2008
Nipponkoa chief survives top investors' attack
Nipponkoa Insurance President Makoto Hyodo breathed a sigh of relief Thursday as shareholders agreed to let him retain his post despite opposition from top shareholder Southeastern Asset Management Inc. of the United States.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2008
Goodwill to liquidate temp agency
Goodwill Group said Wednesday it will close its scandal-tainted temp staff unit Goodwill Inc. by the end of July because the health ministry is preparing to revoke its business license.
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2008
JT execs face shareholders' ire over food poisonings, tax talk
Shareholders of Japan Tobacco Inc. peppered management with questions Tuesday over the food-poisoning scandal involving pesticide-tainted frozen "gyoza" dumplings made in China.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jun 10, 2008
Pawing in enough to be a fat cat
The world's most coveted kitty wears just a bow, doesn't have a mouth to feed and has never been in trouble.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2008
Industry still not sold on cap-and-trade
While Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Monday presented his plan to introduce emissions trading on a trial basis as early as autumn, Japanese businesses remain skeptical about whether the cap-and-trade system is the best way to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2008
Securitized losses top ¥2 trillion
The combined losses incurred by Japan's 673 financial institutions on their holdings of securitized products, including those linked to U.S. subprime loans, amounted to ¥2.44 trillion at the end of March, the Financial Services Agency said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2008
Premium revenues drop at six big life insurers
Premium revenues at six of Japan's nine major life insurers dropped in the business year to March, according to earnings results released Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / G8 COUNTDOWN
May 30, 2008
Japan finding itself in hot water
SADO, Niigata Pref. — Kyuichi Sakano, head of Niigata's fixed shore net fishing association, sighed in dismay one day last December as his fishing boats came back yet again without any yellowtail.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 24, 2008
BOJ chief willing to cut rates as economy slows
Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa said Friday he will not rule out lowering the BOJ's benchmark interest rate from the current 0.5 percent amid the slowing economy.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2008
Hilton to open hotel at Niseko resort area
Hilton Hotels Corp. said Thursday it will open a refurbished hotel July 1 in the Hokkaido resort area of Niseko, a location recently popular with skiers from abroad, to make it a year-round resort for families, golfers and skiers.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2008
Nonlife insurers lashed by steep profit hits
Four of Japan's six major nonlife insurance companies saw their group net profits plunge in business 2007 as the U.S. subprime loan crisis and the subsequent fall in global stock prices pushed down profits from their investments, the firms said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2008
Subprime crisis slammed banks in 2007
The U.S. subprime loan crisis and subsequent turbulence in stock markets worldwide pushed down profits at Japan's major banking groups in the business year that ended in March.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2008
Lifenet to offer 30% cheaper insurance online
Lifenet Insurance Co., a newly established online life insurer, said Friday it will start selling polices Sunday via the Internet at rates up to 30 percent cheaper than those offered by major life insurers.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2008
SMBC logs 77.2% plunge in profit to ¥83 billion
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Banking Inc. said Friday that net profit at its banking unit, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., plunged 77.2 percent to ¥83 billion in the business year that ended in March as the U.S. subprime-loan upheaval eroded its profits.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
Shohei Ohtani wins National League MVP award
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run against the Padres during the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles last month.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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