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BUSINESS
May 31, 2003

Shiokawa seeking 3% cut in public works spending

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Friday he hopes to cut public works spending by about 3 percent in the fiscal 2004 budget as part of efforts to reduce the size of the overall budget.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2003

Shiokawa claims yen overvalued

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa on Friday tried to talk down the value of the yen, saying he believes it is slightly overvalued.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 31, 2003

Resona applies for 1.96 trillion yen

Resona Holdings Inc. formally applied Friday for an injection of 1.96 trillion yen in public funds and presented a restructuring program to the government that featured cuts in personnel and expenses as a condition for the bailout.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2003

Rokkasho blunder leads to failures

Oye Kogyo Co., a manufacturer of nuclear power equipment, and its subsidiary Oye Engineering Co. have filed for protection from creditors under the corporate rehabilitation law.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 31, 2003

Improve your English via e-mail correspondence

Studying French from age 11, it was exciting when my school in England teamed up with another in France for correspondence exchange. Francoise and I wrote to one another for five years before fading from one another's lives. But I have never forgotten her, or her impact on my life: opening up the world...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 30, 2003

Is Resona the tip of the iceberg?

The whistle-blowing erupted a few days before May 17, the day Resona, the nation's fifth-largest banking group, announced its capital had tumbled below regulation levels.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 29, 2003

Bush tax package passes but will it buoy the economy?

WASHINGTON -- You cannot say he did not work for it. U.S. President George W. Bush saw his beloved tax package pass Congress last Friday, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote in the Senate. The president had been working coast to coast the last few weeks to drum up support for his...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 29, 2003

Bitfone offers remote program to fix software

Bitfone Corp. of the United States is negotiating with several major Japanese phone makers to sell them its wireless software-repair program, Bitfone Chairman Gene Wang said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2003

Slander poses a greater danger than SARS itself

EDMONTON, Canada -- Outside of Asia, Toronto has been the city hardest hit by severe acute respiratory syndrome. Canadian Chinese living there, as well as Canadians of Japanese and Korean ethnic origin, have felt the chill of blame.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 27, 2003

Banks remain in the red for second straight year

Japan's seven major banking groups stayed mired squarely in the red for the second year in a row, spending more than 5 trillion yen to dispose of bad loans and shouldering over 3 trillion yen in stock-related losses for the 12 months ended March, business results confirmed Monday.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2003

Auguries in a coffee cup

Eight years ago, there was no such thing as a Starbucks coffee shop in Japan. Now they are part of the landscape; in the big cities, you can often find two or three of the ubiquitous stores with the round green logo within a couple of blocks of each other. That might sound like the ultimate definition...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2003

Legislation to cut yields paid by insurers submitted to Diet

The government submitted an amended bill Friday to the Diet to allow life insurance companies to cut the guaranteed yields they promised to policyholders, government officials said.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2003

Disinflation to accelerate in major economies: Fukui

The world's major economies are on the verge of accelerated disinflation as deflationary pressure grows on a global scale, Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2003

Nintendo's record profit run ends

Nintendo Co. said Thursday its consolidated net profit fell 36.8 percent to 67.27 billion yen in fiscal 2002, largely due to lower-than-expected sales of game consoles.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / JET STREAM
May 22, 2003

Political scientist gained key perspective in Japan

On March 19, just hours before U.S. forces began their raids on Baghdad, more than 50 U.S. government intelligence experts as well as scholars and embassy staff from several South Asian countries assembled in a top-floor room at John Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies for a...
BUSINESS
May 21, 2003

Kawaguchi hits WTO draft report

Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi expressed dissatisfaction Tuesday with a World Trade Organization draft report on the liberalization of nonfarm trade, saying calls for the elimination of tariffs on certain products are unacceptable.
COMMENTARY
May 21, 2003

Narrowing the U.S.-South Korean gap

WASHINGTON -- The summit meeting between U.S. President George W. Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun was, by almost all accounts, a success. The main reason, according to the skeptics, was that expectations were very low. No major breakthroughs were achieved, they argue; "success" merely meant...
BUSINESS
May 21, 2003

BOJ decides to pump more cash into system

The Bank of Japan decided Tuesday to pump still more money into the economy amid falling stock prices, a rising yen and the bailout of Resona Bank.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2003

Shiokawa ponders extra budget

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday he would consider compiling an extra budget to fight deflation should the ruling coalition submit specific proposals to this end.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2003

Ailing contractors to delay merger

Troubled contractors Kumagai Gumi Co. and Tobishima Corp. said Monday they will delay the deadline for their planned merger for a year until April 2005 so they can prepare more carefully.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2003

43-year-old to become president at Sega Corp.

Sega Corp., which saw two potential merger deals slide down the drain earlier this month, announced Monday that a 43-year-old senior officer will replace Hideki Sato as president.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 19, 2003

Tigers gnaw Giants to take series 2-1

Makoto Imaoka hit a go-ahead RBI double in Hanshin's three-run seventh and added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth as the CL-leading Tigers downed the Yomiuri Giants 6-3 at Koshien Stadium on Sunday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 17, 2003

Lawmakers question validity of GDP data

Heavyweights in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday accused the government of misleading the public by giving primary importance to real-term figures in its release of gross domestic product data.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 17, 2003

APEC calls for urgent SARS action

Business leaders from member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum wrapped up on Friday a four-day meeting in Tokyo, urging their governments to take decisive action to combat the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia.
SUMO
May 16, 2003

Asashoryu leads on his own

Mongolian grand champion Asashoryu shoved out Takanonami on Thursday to move into sole possession of the lead at the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Kobe Steel plans environmental move

Kobe Steel Ltd. and its subsidiary, Shinko Pantec Co., said Wednesday they have agreed to combine Kobe Steel's environmental business into Shinko Pantec on Oct. 1.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
May 15, 2003

Big-mouth bulbuls time it just right

Second of two parts Imagine, if you can, an opinion poll of Japanese forest plants. Question: which bird is most important to you? The brown-eared bulbul, or hiyodori, would have to take a bow.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2003

Japan to probe China dumping claim

Japan will scrutinize China's claim that polyvinyl chloride products from Japan are being sold on the Chinese market at unfairly low prices, trade minister Takeo Hiranuma said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2003

Yield cut proposal goes to LDP

The Financial Services Agency presented a draft bill Tuesday to the Liberal Democratic Party that would enable troubled life insurers to lower promised yields on insurance contracts.

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