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BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 6, 2005

Income gap among Japanese expanding, but not by much

Traditionally, the income gap between the rich and the poor has been rather small in Japan, creating what has become known as the "all-Japanese-as-middle class" mentality.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Jun 5, 2005

Denial of existential needs

MOSCOW -- The blackout that hit Moscow late last month wasn't any better or worse than others that have struck big cities recently, say New York in August 2003. It is the same old thing over and over again -- people stuck in subways and elevators, hospitals canceling lifesaving surgeries, crowds grimly...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 5, 2005

Yo La Tengo: the band next door

Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley are a nice, mellow couple in their mid-40s from Hobokken, N.J. They like homemade peach pie, watching TV and going to the occasional baseball game. Oh, and they also founded one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the last decade, Yo La Tengo.
JAPAN
Jun 5, 2005

Startup seeks cell-phone capital

IP Mobile Inc., a data communications startup, has asked several firms for fresh capital to help it enter the cell-phone business, company officials said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 4, 2005

'Europe' on the ropes

To no one's surprise, the Netherlands this week rejected the proposed European Union constitution. Coming on the heels of the French "no" last weekend, the EU now faces a serious reckoning. European leaders insist that the ratification process should proceed on schedule, but the resounding verdicts by...
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2005

'Cool Biz' blitz expected to heat up clothing sales

The government's "Cool Biz" campaign to encourage casual office attire this summer is expected to give the economy a 100 billion yen boost, a private think tank said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2005

Softbank, eAccess to try cell phone market

Japan's telecommunication regulators said Friday they will allow two newcomers into the mobile phone market for the first time in 12 years to prompt more competition in a realm dominated by three top providers.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2005

Nihon Keizai hit for dodging income tax on 840 million yen

The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau has found that business newspaper publisher Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. failed to declare about 840 million yen in income for three years to December 2003, sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2005

Itochu plans major Iran investment

Trading giant Itochu Corp. announced Thursday that it will launch a partnership with two Thai firms in a bid to begin producing polyethylene in Iran in 2008 in a deal that would make it the first Japanese company to invest in Iran since 1989.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2005

Yahoo Japan joins brokers to offer Web stock trading

Yahoo Japan Corp. has agreed with Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. and E*Trade Securities Co. on a tieup to launch securities brokerage services as early as August, the two brokerages said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2005

Most efficient exit from extreme poverty

For years, the world has looked to Asia as a leader in many areas, particularly business and technology. Now Asia is serving as an important example to follow in the international race to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2005

Nippon Life loses top spot to AIG in premium revenues

Nippon Life Insurance Co. lost its No. 1 position in the domestic market to American International Group Inc. in terms of premium revenues from new contracts concluded with individuals in fiscal 2004, according to financial statements.
COMMENTARY
Jun 1, 2005

French lessons for the European Union

LONDON -- So the French have voted down the proposed EU Constitution decisively. What now? Will the European Union fall apart? Certainly not. Does it mean that the attempt to impose a single "top-down" constitution on all 25 member states is dead? Probably -- especially if the Netherlands also votes...
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2005

Kanebo posts net profit on cosmetics selloff, debt waiver

Kanebo Ltd. said Tuesday it logged 314.97 billion yen in net profit for the year ended in March, thanks mostly to gains from the selloff of its mainstay cosmetics business and a debt-waiver from lenders.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 28, 2005

Tokyo Families, Fun House maker gets fine start

Why does it come as such a surprise to find Carin Smolinsky with an Audi TT Roadster? Certainly it suits her driving personality -- the bubbling nature of her entrepreneurial spirit. For her own part, it's perfect for nipping ("sedately," she insists) through Tokyo traffic and slides into the smallest...
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHEN EAST MARRIES WEST
May 28, 2005

The books I will someday write

Books play a large part in the life of any foreign resident of Japan. For no matter how pervasive online linkage to the homeland becomes, books have always been, and always will be, a main conduit to the language and culture left behind, especially when socked into riding the trains for hours on end....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 27, 2005

A rock 'n' roll heart

Rock 'n' roll will never die. The sound may have mutated with each passing generation to create a variety of strains: alternative, progressive, metal, punk, noise, grunge. But it's the same 4:4 beat that drives them all and syncs our pulse to the rhythm.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2005

Banks must wait eight months to sell insurance

The Financial Services Agency will not let banks sell savings-based insurance products, including endowment insurance, for another eight months, it was announced Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

MMC suffers a 475 billion yen loss

Struggling Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Monday that its group net loss widened to a record 474.8 billion yen in fiscal 2004, from 215.4 billion yen posted a year earlier.
COMMENTARY / World
May 23, 2005

Chinese protests stiffen Japanese resolve

The Law of Unintended Consequences has been at work again, this time in the intense Japanese reaction to the Chinese demonstrations last month against Japan, some of them violent. In a word, the eruption in China has backfired in Japan.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2005

LDP draws up bill on card-crime redress

The Liberal Democratic Party has outlined a bill that would oblige financial institutions to compensate victims of cash card thefts and card forgery, party members said.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2005

U.S. official frets excessive corporate takeover defense

Visiting U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lawrence Greenwood expressed concern Friday about Japanese companies introducing measures to block hostile takeovers, saying they could block friendly merger attempts of foreign businesses.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2005

Daikyo sees red after following state-backed reconstruction

Struggling condominium builder Daikyo Inc. said Thursday it fell into the red in the business year that ended March 31, affected by its withdrawal from noncore businesses under a state-backed reconstruction plan.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2005

Economic assessment left intact

The government on Thursday left its overall assessment of the economy unchanged for a fifth straight month, stating that a slight improvement in exports was offset by weaker housing construction.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 19, 2005

Puppies for the digital age

Let me introduce Funky. He's a young, short-haired Chihuahua with a happy temperament and distaste for learning new tricks. With a job and family duties, it's hard to give Funky the attention he deserves. But I've surprised myself. Even though I'm more of a cat-lover than a dog-lover, I'm showing a great...
BUSINESS
May 19, 2005

New law impedes bankruptcy data

Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Wednesday it will substantially cut down its monthly data on corporate bankruptcies due to the new personal information protection law.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2005

M&A, antitakeover bills cleared by Lower House

The House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday to update the corporate legal system to facilitate mergers and acquisitions and strengthen measures to stop hostile takeovers.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
May 18, 2005

Roppongi's art gallery boom

Roppongi, which used to be chiefly known as a pick-up party pit for Tokyo's ex-pat population, has recently begun to emerge as a contemporary art center. Spurred by the Mori Art Museum's opening in 2003, the neighborhood now presents the possibility of a short walking tour of new and interesting art...

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat