author

 
Menu
Search
 
April 21, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Kanako Takahara

Meta

Twitter

@jt_takahara

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 Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Sep 7, 2007
Ramen shop boss inherits, sheds recipe for disaster
Monday, May 26, 1997, is a day forever etched in the memory of Naoki Kusano.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2007
J:COM poised to show HBO hits on TV, for fee
Starting Oct. 1, viewers in Japan will be able to tune in to such popular Home Box Office programs as "The Sopranos" and "Band of Brothers" via Jupiter Telecommunications Co.'s cable TV service.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2007
Toyota announces goal of 10 million units in '09
Toyota Motor Corp. announced Friday that it plans to become the first carmaker worldwide to sell more than 10 million vehicles in 2009 thanks to vigorous sales in emerging economies, including China.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2007
New minister looks to close the rural economic gap, aid LDP
post to be a bridge between the central and local governments," Masuda said in a recent interview. The 55-year-old former Construction Ministry bureaucrat is also state minister in charge of decentralization.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2007
McCafe aims for slice of coffee shop pie
McDonald's fans thronged Wednesday to be the first to taste cappuccinos, croissants and vegetable soups at McCafe, the fast-food giant's new chain of cafe-style eateries.
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2007
Nova sees sales plunge for quarter
Nova Corp., the nation's largest language school chain, said Friday its sales for the April-June period plunged 31.9 percent to ¥9.3 billion, reflecting the difficulty the troubled firm is experiencing in luring new students.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2007
Wary BOJ leaves interest rate untouched
The Bank of Japan Policy Board agreed Thursday to keep its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent as the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis earlier this month added to uncertainties over the Japanese economy.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2007
Baby boomers' pension demands met with new bonds issues
With nest eggs that hold the promise of fresh demand, the many baby boomers starting to retire this year may be a boon for manufacturers, travel agencies and banks, but it is another story for the financially troubled local governments on the hook for paying retirement allowances to their employees....
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2007
Seiyu undercuts forecast, logs loss of ¥6.9 billion
Seiyu Ltd., a subsidiary of U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart, said Tuesday it posted a group net loss of ¥6.9 billion in the January-June period due to weak clothing sales and sluggish growth in tenant sales.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2007
'Izakaya' morale-boosting ritual catches on
Twenty-five minutes before the 5 p.m. opening, staff at Teppen, a Japanese-style bar in Tokyo's Shibuya district, and employees of other businesses gather around the counter for a daily meeting.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2007
Toyota April-June sales top GM's for first time
Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday that it generated a record ¥6.5 trillion in group sales for the April-June quarter, up 15.7 percent from the previous year and topping General Motors Corp. for the first time ever in the period.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2007
Victor, Kenwood ready for merger
Victor Co. of Japan, a struggling subsidiary of electronics giant Matsushita, said Tuesday it will officially start negotiations as early as next month to merge with Kenwood Corp. in 2008, possibly in the form of creating a joint holding company that will hold all shares of the two firms.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jul 24, 2007
Japan baseball stars first shine bright at Koshien
When Japanese baseball stars like Hideki Matsui and Daisuke Matsuzaka joined Major League Baseball teams in the United States, fans could easily trace their trajectory backward to their roots in the sport.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2007
Murakami: investor activist turned greenmailer?
Convicted of insider trading Thursday and more than a year after he stepped down as a high-profile fund manager, it still isn't clear how to define Yoshiaki Murakami.
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2007
BOJ keeps interest rate same, but with one dissenting vote
The Bank of Japan's Policy Board decided Thursday to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent despite a dissenting vote by one member to raise the rate to 0.75 percent.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2007
Publisher gets writers to open up, bets on element of surprise
It was an amazing scoop, surprising even the tabloids.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007
Citibank Japan opens with eye on retirees
Citibank Japan Ltd., a new subsidiary formed Sunday by U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc., has kicked off operations targeting wealthy retail banking customers, the company said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007
'Tankan' shows big makers still optimistic
Business sentiment for big manufacturers remained optimistic in the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" survey released Monday, fueling market speculation the central bank will raise the interest rate as early as next month.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2007
TBS wins proxy fight to get takeover-defense measures
Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. scored a victory in a proxy fight Thursday with Rakuten Inc. as its shareholders approved the broadcaster's plan to introduce takeover-defense measures that could foil the Internet mall operator's attempt to increase its stake in TBS to more than 20 percent.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2007
Skeptical shareholders get apology from Fujiya
Fujiya Co. President Yasufumi Sakurai apologized Wednesday to shareholders for the confectioner's food sanitation problems that forced the suspension of operations at nearly 900 retail outlets and restaurants.
Japan tariff negotiator rules out quick U.S. deal despite push by Trump
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top tariff negotiator with the U.S., speaks to reporters upon his arrival at Tokyo's Haneda Airport on Friday, a day after talks in Washington.
Magnitude 5.0 earthquake jolts Nagano
A map showing the location of an earthquake that hit Nagano Prefecture on Friday evening, with the numbers indicating the seismic intensity on the shindo scale to 7.
Japan mulls reviewing car safety rules to strike deal with Trump
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's Economic Revitalization Minister and top tariff negotiator with the U.S., speaks to the press upon his arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani announces birth of daughter
Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka attend a Lakers game in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, 2024.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.
Tokyo stock picker advises Trump-proofing portfolios with Godzilla creator Toho
The head of Godzilla, a Japanese monster movie character, is seen on a building of Toho Cinema in Tokyo. Toho is one tariff-defensive stock being recommended by brokers.
LDP and CDP lawmaker groups propose 0% consumption tax on food
A vegetable stand displays prices at a supermarket in Tokyo in 2023. Some lawmakers are proposing lowering the consumption tax on food to 0%, which is expected to result in a loss of up to ¥5 trillion in tax revenue annually.
Tokyo hotel operators face possible warnings over suspected price cartel
Foreign tourists gather on a platform at Kyoto Station on Wednesday.
Kyotographie 2025 opts for laughter and levity in the face of global strife
Palestinian American photographer Adam Rouhana’s exhibition at this year’s Kyotographie festival shows Palestinian life, not death and rubble.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER