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BUSINESS
May 3, 2001

Vodafone cements local foothold

Britain's Vodafone Group PLC announced Wednesday that it will purchase rival British Telecommunications PLC's shares in Japan Telecom Co., making it the top shareholder of the Japan's third largest telecommunications operator.
JAPAN
May 3, 2001

Murakami gets bonus despite arrest

Former House of Councilors member Masakuni Murakami, accused of taking bribes from mutual-aid foundation KSD, received a spring bonus of around 870,000 yen for work he completed before quitting the Diet over the scandal in late February, Diet sources said Wednesday. Murakami, 68, who has been charged...
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2001

Arafat remains unbowed as his 'long march' continues

Veteran Middle East correspondent David Hirst was recently the first journalist to be granted an interview with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat since the intifada began.
JAPAN
May 3, 2001

Japan's Major league idols cash in at home clubs' expense

With the sensational debut of Japanese outfielders Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Tsuyoshi Shinjo of the New York Mets, Major League Baseball is stealing the hearts of many Japanese.
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
May 3, 2001

Finance chief Shiokawa supports fiscal tightening

In line with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's fiscal reform policies, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa has acknowledged the need to make substantial cuts to general expenditures for fiscal 2002.
JAPAN
May 2, 2001

NPO tackles cybercrime as government drags its feet

A group of lawyers, scholars and housewives has launched a nonprofit organization to help victims of libel, fraud and other problems that have seen a sharp increase on the Internet.
BUSINESS
May 2, 2001

IY Bank aims to change banking Monday

The battleground for retail banking will shift to convenience stores Monday when Ito-Yokado Co.'s IY Bank opens on a vast network of ATMs at Seven-Eleven stores nationwide.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2001

Katayama against privatizing posts, favors stronger NTT

Junichiro Koizumi's inauguration as prime minister might have lifted the hopes of those who seek the privatization of the nation's postal services.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2001

Postal savings center fails to tax

OSAKA -- A postal savings center in Kyoto has been ordered to pay about 1.1 billion yen in penalties and back taxes for failing to properly tax about 4.3 billion yen in interest on the savings it handles, sources close to the case said Sunday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 29, 2001

Armchair travel to Italy and beyond

Tatsuo Umemiya used to be one of the hardest-working yakuza actors in Japan. Nowadays, he is mainly known as the father of model/talent Anna Umemiya and as "the cooking king" of Japanese show business. He even owns a popular chain of stores that sell all sorts of Japanese foods. The stores are easy to...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Apr 29, 2001

How Tiger got his game back in five easy sips

Recently Tiger Woods secured his place in golfing history by winning this past Masters tournament. But there's a secret to Woods' recent success that few know about: sake.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 29, 2001

Oral history exposes Japan's wartime enslavement of POWs

UNJUST ENRICHMENT: How Japan's Companies Built Postwar Fortunes Using American POWs, by Linda Goetz Holmes. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001, 202 pp., $24.95. During World War II, nearly 50,000 U.S. soldiers and civilians became prisoners of the Japanese. Approximately half of this total "were...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2001

Ordinance to preserve strait-separated cityscapes

The municipalities of Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture and neighboring Kitakyushu are set to enact identical ordinances aimed at preserving the landscape of the Kammon Strait separating them.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2001

Foreigners remain buyers for fifth consecutive week

Foreign investors were net buyers of Japanese stocks for the fifth consecutive week last week, while domestic business firms continued to unload their equity holdings.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2001

Companies predict 1.3% economic growth: survey

Major Japanese companies have predicted 1.3 percent real growth for the economy in fiscal 2001, topping 1 percent for the first time in four years, the government said Friday in releasing results of an annual survey.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2001

Profits, group sales up for major firms

The five major electronics companies in Japan enjoyed increases in both group sales and consolidated operating profits in fiscal 2000, according to their earnings reports released Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2001

Hiranuma reiterates themes toward economic revitalization

Reappointed Economy Minister Takeo Hiranuma said a comprehensive approach of combining the disposal of problem loans and assets, creating new businesses and implementing regulatory reforms is needed to revitalize the economy.
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2001

People want social support, hope, economic stability from the Cabinet

Support for the victims of a volcanic eruption and economic stability are just two of the many things the public wants from the Cabinet of new Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2001

NEC to sell laser printer unit

NEC Corp. said Thursday it will sell its entire laser printer operations, including production and maintenance services, to Fuji Xerox Co., a subsidiary of Fuji Photo Film Co.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2001

DoCoMo to commence 3G service in October

NTT DoCoMo Inc. officially delayed the launch of its next-generation cellular service from May 30 to Oct. 1 but refused to call it a postponement.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2001

Profits soar at NEC, Fujitsu

NEC Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. enjoyed soaring group pretax profits in fiscal 2000, thanks to brisk global sales of electronic devices and telecommunications equipment, according to their earnings reports released Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2001

Koizumi dons many hats, fancies a good hairdo, too

Junichiro Koizumi, the Liberal Democratic Party's new president, has been dubbed by fellow lawmakers a maverick, an eccentric, a heretic and "the Don Quixote of the political world."
EDITORIALS
Apr 26, 2001

A bold new start for the LDP

Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, who has long been regarded as an eccentric but reform-minded politician, has been elected president of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. When the four-way race started, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was the front-runner and odds-on favorite. Yet Mr. Koizumi caught...
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2001

G7 finance meeting to test caliber of Koizumi's reforms

New Liberal Democratic Party President Junichiro Koizumi, set to become prime minister today, will see his resolve toward fiscal and economic structural reforms tested this weekend in Washington by the world's major economic powers.
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2001

Three nonlife insurers to merge in fiscal '02

Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. and two other nonlife insurers due to merge April 1, 2002, inked a deal Wednesday to merge into a single entity on April 1, 2002.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2001

Ill economy, July election may dilute new leader's reform goals

Junichiro Koizumi, the newly elected Liberal Democratic Party president who is set to become prime minister, faces a rough road in trying to deliver the economic reforms he promised in his campaign.
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2001

Hidden Gems

'Straight-to-video" is a term that carries a stigma, and deservedly so. So much of what emerges without theatrical release is either slasher, sleaze or sly made-for-TV imitations of a bigger-budgeted film (e.g., "Asteroid," released just prior to "Armageddon"). But here in Japan there is a surprisingly...

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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