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COMMENTARY / World / GUEST FORUM
May 23, 2002

Marines on Okinawa are worth keeping

Thirty years after reversion to Japan, the U.S. Marine bases on Okinawa remain a contentious issue. Periodic calls for their reduction or elimination may be good politics, and offer academics and other commentators the satisfaction that they are taking a "progressive" stance on the issue.
JAPAN
May 23, 2002

Police search firms linked to dumpling manufacturer

OSAKA -- Osaka Prefectural Police conducted a series of searches Wednesday after the discovery that the Mister Donut chain in Japan had been using an unauthorized antioxidant in its dumplings.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2002

Tokyo government inspects Mizuho over ATM fiasco

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government started on-site emergency inspections Tuesday at Mizuho Bank's headquarters in Chiyoda Ward, four key branches and the bank's civil service business center to look into the computer fiasco that occurred with their April 1 launch under Mizuho Holdings Inc.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2002

Oji Paper reports group net loss

Oji Paper Co. said Tuesday it incurred a group net loss of 17.7 billion yen for the business year to March 31, its first loss in three years, due mainly to valuation losses on stockholdings.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2002

Nissan, Toyota gear up to win lion's share of minivan market

Nissan Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. are gearing up for keener competition in the minivan market, auto industry officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 21, 2002

Titanium dioxide plus sunlight spells clean

The exterior walls of the Toto Research Institute in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, look like patchwork; some square areas are dark with stains while others are spotless.
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
May 21, 2002

Stock rebound brings hope of stability

The recent rebound on Wall Street could presage a more stable market in the near term.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Outlook stressful for steelmakers: S&P

The credit quality of Japanese steelmakers will remain pressured by poor business conditions in the industry, with few prospects for sustained improvement in domestic demand, Standard & Poor's Corp. said Monday.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2002

Mitsui buys into Gene Networks

Mitsui & Co. and subsidiary Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co. have separately taken a 4.23 percent stake in U.S. biotechnology venture Gene Networks Inc. for $250,000 each, the parent firm said Monday.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
May 20, 2002

Parochialism produces few world leaders

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Following the appearance of one of the recent articles in this series on Japan in the global era, a colleague of mine, Dominique Turpin, who has been doing research on Japanese industry for some 20 years, came into my office and said, "Jean-Pierre, when are you going to start...
COMMENTARY
May 20, 2002

Dispel the end-of-era mood

An interesting new book by Edo Period literary expert Takehiko Noguchi, "Bakumatsu Kibun" (The Mood in the Last Days of the Tokugawa Shogunate), details how shogunate officials and citizens of Edo indulged themselves in lavish consumption and entertainment as they faced the demise of the government....
BUSINESS
May 20, 2002

Share buybacks in vogue among top Japanese firms

Major Japanese companies are buying back more of their own shares to prop up their sagging stock prices as the equity market continues to slump.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
May 19, 2002

Whaling: A live issue over death

Whales dolphins and porpoises, the aquatic mammals collectively called cetaceans, number less than 80 species, or fewer than 2 percent of all mammals. They are, however, probably the most talked about and written about of all wild animals -- despite being some of the most poorly understood creatures...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
May 19, 2002

The inns and outs in the life of okami

O ne of the subsections of TV Tokyo's large selection of food-travel programs is the "Bijin Okami" special. Bijin okami, which translates as "beautiful mistress of the house," are women who run inns and hotels in resort and hot-spring areas. They are usually married to the owners of the establishments...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 19, 2002

Credit companies target the debt-ridden poor

Stop me if you've heard this one before. A bored young man answers his telephone and his face lights up. "Diving?!" he says. "I'll be there." In the next scene we see his friends on a pier, happily putting on scuba gear. Then, from the end of another pier, the young man comes running, with only a snorkel....
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
May 19, 2002

A marriage guaranteed to last

Designer dining: It's a minefield in this city. In the past few months, we've sat ourselves down in too many places where the surroundings are flashy but the food is at best ordinary, too often misguided fusion dabblings, and at worst close to inedible. We haven't seen such a major outbreak of style...
BUSINESS
May 18, 2002

Yamaha group net balance in red

Yamaha Corp. said Friday its group net balance fell into the red in fiscal 2001 due chiefly to appraisal losses on its securities holdings.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 18, 2002

Work sharing solves Netherlands' economic woes

THE HAGUE -- As Japan remains mired in an economic slump, the idea of work sharing is increasingly attracting the attention of the government, labor unions and business organizations as a way to handle the record level of more than 5 percent unemployment.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2002

Yasuda in final talks on tieup with Saison

Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co., the nation's third-largest nonlife insurer in terms of assets, is in final talks to turn Saison Automobile & Fire Insurance Co. into an affiliate, Yasuda Marine said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2002

Nissin logs 21.5% fall in net profits

Nissin Food Products Co. said Thursday it posted a group net profit of 11.94 billion yen in fiscal 2001, down 21.5 percent from a year earlier due to appraisal losses on its securities holdings and growing sales costs.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2002

JR Tokai says revenues up 2.5%

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) said Thursday its consolidated operating revenues grew 2.5 percent to 1.37 trillion yen in fiscal 2001, due to increased traffic on its Tokaido Shinkansen Line bullet train services.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 17, 2002

Skepticism abounds over market direction

Despite signs of economic recovery, doubts remain over the Tokyo stock market's prospects.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2002

Minebea to liquidate overseas units

Minebea Co., a maker of miniature ball bearings, at the end of September will liquidate two subsidiaries in the United States and Singapore as part of operational restructuring.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 16, 2002

U.S. pickup fuels hope for Japan recovery

There is little dispute that a solid pickup in U.S. consumer spending has bolstered evidence that the economic recovery is gaining momentum.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2002

Yamaha Motor posts record profits for '01

Yamaha Motor Co. said Wednesday it posted record group pretax profits of 32.7 billion yen in fiscal 2001, up 30.3 percent from a year earlier.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2002

Trading house Mitsubishi logs 34.6% profit drop

Trading house Mitsubishi Corp. said Wednesday its group net profits in fiscal 2001 plunged 34.6 percent, primarily due to a 51.5 billion yen fall in securities sales.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2002

Nikon, six others tie up on chip-making gear

Nikon Corp. and six other firms in the semiconductor sector plan to collaborate on the development of next-generation steppers, Nikon officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 16, 2002

Narita passengers lose no-fuss check-in service

Passport-control services at Tokyo City Air Terminal will soon be discontinued for passengers departing from Narita airport because of reduced traffic and more stringent security measures in the wake of Sept. 11, immigration officials have warned.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
May 16, 2002

Put your Spidey skills to the test

This summer, Spider-Man is the luckiest superhero alive. Not only does he have a hit movie that has left critics and audiences impressed, he's also in a very good new game for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and especially Xbox.

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