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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.

BUSINESS

Nov 20, 2007

Sumitomo Mitsui logs 30% profit drop

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Japan's third-biggest banking group by assets, said Monday its group net profit dropped 30 percent to ¥170.6 billion in the six months to September partly due to losses resulting from the U.S. subprime loan crisis.

BUSINESS

Nov 15, 2007

Subprime mess dents Mizuho pretax profit

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Japan's No. 2 banking group by assets, said Wednesday its group pretax profit fell 24.7 percent to ¥399.2 billion in the six months to September, battered by the subprime mortgage crisis in the U.S.

BUSINESS

Nov 14, 2007

BOJ leaves key rate unchanged amid U.S. subprime loan crisis

The Bank of Japan Policy Board kept its benchmark short-term interest rate at 0.5 percent Tuesday as the U.S. subprime mortgage loan crisis continues to impact the global markets.

BUSINESS

Nov 13, 2007

U.S. recession fears lift yen, slam Nikkei

The yen surged to an 18-month high against the dollar Monday while the benchmark Nikkei index briefly dipped below 15,000 as fears mounted that ballooning subprime loan losses will trigger a recession in the U.S.

BUSINESS

Nov 9, 2007

Consumer lenders back to black after gray-zone ills

Major consumer lenders returned to the black in the six months to September after bleeding billions of yen in business 2006 due to a legal revision requiring them to eliminate so-called gray-zone interest rates.

BUSINESS

Nov 8, 2007

G.communication has grown quickly on M&As

Nagoya-based G.communication grp., the firm taking over part of the failed language school chain Nova Corp., has grown rapidly in the past few years via aggressive mergers and acquisitions.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Nov 6, 2007

Nova fall just simple math: it bled red

A 330-sq.-meter office with a double bed, sauna and tea room was where Nozomu Sahashi, ousted president of Nova Corp., worked as the language school chain steadily teetered near bankruptcy over the past few years.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Nov 6, 2007

Citigroup off to strong start on return to TSE

Shares of Citigroup Inc. rose by as much as ¥250, to ¥4,580, on its first day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, even as the U.S. financial giant was rocked by the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Charles Prince over widening losses stemming from housing loan debts.

BUSINESS

Nov 3, 2007

Gaba takes on students in lurch; EF woos staff

Gaba Corp., a Tokyo-based English-language school chain, said Friday it has begun accepting Nova lesson tickets from students left in the lurch by the sudden closure of their schools.

BUSINESS

Nov 1, 2007

First half a mixed bag for electronics makers

Digital products pushed up sales and profits of major electronics makers in the first half of business 2007, but the industry also suffered from tougher competition in the core flat-panel TV business in the U.S. as cheaper off-brand TVs won the hearts of consumers there.

BUSINESS

Oct 31, 2007

Battery recall charge stings Matsushita's bottom line

Saddled with losses stemming from a recall of lithium-ion batteries in Nokia mobile phones, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Tuesday its group net profit for the April-September period dropped 8.7 percent from a year ago to ¥105.1 billion.

BUSINESS

Oct 30, 2007

Toshiba profit rises on PC, chip sales

Toshiba Corp. said Monday its group net profit rose 17.6 percent to ¥45.7 billion in the fiscal first half thanks to brisk sales of computers in Europe and the United States and its core semiconductor business.

JAPAN

Oct 27, 2007

Nova seeks court protection from creditors

6649-9790 or by regular mail to: Midosuji Minami Building 4F, 2-3-2 Nishi-Shinsaibashi, Chuo Ward, Osaka Prefecture. Meanwhile, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said it has begun accepting calls from Nova teachers concerned about their salaries and job insurance at (03) 3204-8609 in Tokyo and (06)...

BUSINESS

Oct 26, 2007

Sony profit up fourfold despite PS3 woes

Despite continuing to sustain heavy losses in its game business, Sony Corp.'s group net profit increased fourfold to ¥140.2 billion in the six months through September compared with the same period last year, thanks to vigorous sales of digital cameras and computers.

Japan Times

BUSINESS

Oct 25, 2007

Tokyo Motor Show offers peek at future

CHIBA — With oil prices hitting new highs, producing eco-friendly and fuel-efficient cars has become the norm for most carmakers.

BUSINESS

Oct 24, 2007

Motor show glitz belies car market glut

The Tokyo Motor Show, which opens to the public Saturday, is one of the world's biggest auto exhibitions and a place to show off global carmakers' research and development efforts and state-of-the-art technologies.

Japan Times

JAPAN / EXPLAINER

Oct 16, 2007

No-tell love hotels cash in catering to the carnal

In any town bigger than a hamlet, you are sure to find a patch of gaudy hotels styled after rococo palaces, Grecian temples, even rocket ships. Some sport a miniature Statue of Liberty on the roof, others lurid neon signs.

BUSINESS

Oct 12, 2007

No change as BOJ keeps rate at 0.5%

The Bank of Japan Policy Board agreed Thursday to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent for the eighth straight month as prospects for the global economy remain uncertain in the wake of the U.S. subprime mortgage loan crisis.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Q&A

Sep 29, 2007

All eyes on Japan Post as privatization begins

Japan Post will be reorganized Monday, paving the way for it to become a private company for the first time in its more than 130-year history. The following are questions and answers on how the privatization will affect Japan's postal services.

Japan Times

Reference / Special Presentations / WITNESS TO WAR

Sep 22, 2007

Nemuro raid survivor longs for homeland

Shohei Yamamoto still has to choke back tears when he talks about the day he was expelled from his village of Shibetoro on Etorofu Island off northern Hokkaido, two years after Japan was defeated in World War II.

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.

The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'

By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Exploring Japanese culturevia Tohoku’s festivals

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