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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 Times
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2008
Kids get a chance to play banker for a day
Tokyo Star Bank Ltd. staff looked on in amusement as Noritake Toshi, 6, tried to run off with ¥100 million of the bank's money — all part of the bank's Kids' Day event Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2008
Top 12 banks struggling to profit from core operations: BOJ review
The fiscal 2007 earnings reports for Japan's 12 major banks show they are having little success at boosting their core businesses, according to a Bank of Japan review released Wednesday.
BUSINESS / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 10, 2008
Nuke plant makers cast eye abroad
The voice of Atsutoshi Nishida, president of Toshiba Corp., rose an octave as he talked about the electronic giant's quest to build atomic power plants.
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2008
Power utilities under pressure to clean up their act
In March, a report compiled by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on greenhouse gas emissions of about 9,000 companies rocked the electric power industry.
JAPAN / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 9, 2008
Developing nations skewer G8 proposal
TOYAKO, Hokkaido — Five of the top developing nations on Tuesday denounced the Group of Eight's qualified proposal to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, saying the industrialized powers should slash their own emissions by up to 95 percent below 1990 levels.
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.
Takayasu’s latest heartbreak makes sumo history
Takayasu during the one-day Annual Sumo Tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Feb 9, 2020
How police are cracking down on 'scout' sex broker groups
The skyline during sunset in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Japan's new underground criminal groups operate under a highly organized and brutal system.
The man who sent Japan's cherry blossoms out to the world
Masatoshi Asari is one of Japan’s foremost living authorities on cherry trees and their blossoms.
Tokyo cheers Trump’s tariff U-turn with second-biggest market gain ever
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday in Washington.
Berkshire sells $628 million in yen bonds in smallest Japan deal
Berkshire Hathaway concluded a ¥90 billion ($628 million) bond deal on Friday, the smallest yen deal by investor Warren Buffett’s firm since it started tapping the Japanese market in 2019.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
After two years in top job, BOJ's Ueda faces his biggest challenge yet 
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda at a news conference in January. He has been in the top position for two years.
How police are cracking down on 'scout' sex broker groups
The skyline during sunset in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Japan's new underground criminal groups operate under a highly organized and brutal system.
Tokyo cheers Trump’s tariff U-turn with second-biggest market gain ever
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Wednesday in Washington.
Takayasu’s latest heartbreak makes sumo history
Takayasu during the one-day Annual Sumo Tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Feb 9, 2020

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

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