Search - business

 
 
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Dollar probably stuck in 105-110 yen range

Given that Japanese monetary authorities have indicated their commitment to keeping the dollar from falling below 105 yen, the dollar-yen rate appears unlikely to snap out of its current 105-110 yen range anytime soon.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Regulating body recommended for NTT

To liberalize telecommunications and encourage competition through foreign direct investment here, Japan needs to develop an effective framework for regulating dominant carrier NTT Corp., according to Erkki Liikanen, European commissioner for enterprise and the information society.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2000

Lawyer nabbed for loan ties

The Metropolitan Police Department on Wednesday arrested an ex-prosecutor of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office for allegedly starting an illegal partnership with a loan broker.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Prodi praises NTT deal as positive sign of reform

European Commission President Romano Prodi on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of a 20 percent reduction over two years in interconnection fees charged by NTT Corp.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

Summit holds key to vision for Okinawa in the 21st century

Okinawa was placed under U.S. rule for 27 years after the end of World War II. During this time, the Japanese mainland succeeded in rebuilding its economy, in particular securing high economic growth through the development of heavy industries, and thus joined the ranks of industrialized countries.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

Okinawans behind Japan-U.S. alliance

Following the tragic rape of a 12-year old Okinawa school girl by three U.S. servicemen in 1995, Secretary of Defense William Perry, perhaps the most respected member of President Bill Clinton's Cabinet, invited former Ambassadors Mike Mansfield and Richard L. Armitage to have lunch with him and the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 20, 2000

Balancing act for G8 leaders in a land apart

Four years ago, in July 1996, I suggested in an opinion piece for the Sankei Shimbun that the Group of Eight summit in 2000 be held in Okinawa.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2000

The Tax Commission falls short

In light of the crushing public-debt burden and the rapid aging of the population, there is no question that Japan's tax system badly needs an overhaul. The government's Tax Commission, however, has failed to send a strong message that taxes will have to be raised. The impression is that it is unwilling,...
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2000

Seiyo goes bankrupt with 550 billion yen debt

Real estate developer Seiyo Corp. filed for liquidation Tuesday with the Tokyo District Court, collapsing under group debts estimated at 550 billion yen.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2000

Emigrants to Caribbean sue government over deception

A lawsuit was filed Tuesday by 126 Japanese who emigrated to the Dominican Republic under a government program more than 40 years ago, demanding state compensation for the hardships they suffered in the Caribbean country caused by false information provided prior to their emigration.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2000

Heo denies swindling petrol company

Heo Young Joong, a real estate developer suspected of causing financial damage to defunct trading house Itoman Corp., pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he swindled a petroleum goods seller out of 18 billion yen in promissory notes.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2000

Wildcat threatened as projects encroach on last wilderness

Staff writer
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Jul 19, 2000

Nabatean nights of the living dead

"It was truly a strange spectacle -- a city filled with tombs. One would be inclined to think that the former population had no employment which was not connected with death, and that they had all been surprised by death during the performance of some funeral amenities."
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2000

Beat swords into plowshares

Given the tragic history of Okinawa, when the eight wise men of the world meet there it would be particularly appropriate if they turned their minds, in this International Year of the Culture of Peace, to the subject of ridding the world of war and genocide.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 19, 2000

New Thai museum puts opium in perspective

BANGKOK -- How can drugs be explained in a way that informs but does not preach? Is it possible for educators to get beyond the knee-jerk response that stigmatizes drugs and drug consumers and presents the bare facts? What are the facts?
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2000

Sogo could be sold to U.S. equity fund

The Cerberus Group, a private U.S. equity fund that has already made an offer to buy the collapsed retail chain Nagasakiya, may also be interested in the failed department store chain Sogo Co.
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2000

BOJ decision said to be ambiguous

The Bank of Japan's decision Monday to leave the "zero-interest-rate" policy unchanged did not surprise many, given the shock financial markets received from the virtual bankruptcy last week of department store operator Sogo Co.
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2000

Japan-U.S. steel dispute to be resolved by WTO

Opening a new chapter in the simmering trade dispute over hot-rolled steel products, senior Japanese and American officials will face each other in front of international trade judges to discuss the matter for the first time next month.
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2000

IT support urged to facilitate Japan's industrial 'rebirth'

Business leaders urged the government Monday to act promptly to ease regulations and concentrate its resources on information technology and other key growth industries to achieve a "reborn Japan."
CULTURE / Books
Jul 18, 2000

Get in the game with 'Ultra Nippon'

ULTRA NIPPON: How Japan Reinvented Football, by Jonathan Birchall. Headline, 2000, 256 pp., 16.99 pounds (cloth). Hundreds of books have been written about the J. League since its launch in 1993, and now one has been written in English.
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2000

Japan sets up advisory panel to review assistance to China

The Foreign Ministry has set up an advisory panel to make recommendations on reviewing Japan's official development assistance to China, with its inaugural meeting scheduled for Wednesday, the ministry said Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jul 17, 2000

Dioxin found deadly for sure -- and they're pumping it out

First, the good news.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2000

G8 must act to save forests

There are few losses more profound than a forest laid waste and vanished.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2000

Private sector CCP's double-edged sword

BEIJING -- It is not often appreciated that accession to the World Trade Organization is a one-sided process: The applicant country has to make a series of concessions to existing members in return for gaining access to the trade concessions that existing members have extended to each other over a period...
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2000

Row blazes over merits of parking garage

Near the north end of chic Shibuya shopping street Koen Dori, roughly 50 local residents and construction workers have held a standoff every night for nearly a month.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jul 16, 2000

Setsuko Arima

For the greater part of her life, Setsuko Arima has lived in the same district of Kanazawa-ku in Yokohama. She is devoted to the neighborhood, which is highlighted by the 13th century Shomyoji Temple, its garden with red bridges over a wide pond, and its background of an open field and wooded hills....
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2000

Whalers come out on top in IWC meeting

SYDNEY -- Once again Japanese whale-meat eaters have outwitted the world's whale lovers. Though those diners need not raise too many self-congratulatory cups of sake. Within a year or two the Tokyo whale restaurant tables could be overturned.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2000

Financial system not healthy yet: BOJ head

The nation's financial system has stabilized somewhat over the past year or so, but it still has a long way to go before regaining full confidence, as seen in the recent collapse of Sogo Co., Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 15, 2000

Hokkaido, Shimane warm to reactors

The governors of Hokkaido and Shimane indicated their approval Friday of plans by utilities to build new nuclear reactors in their prefectures.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2000

Bankrupt firms owe 6.95 trillion yen

The combined debts of companies that went bust in the first half of 2000 came to 6.95 trillion yen, down 24.2 percent from a year earlier but the second-largest figure for a first-half period in postwar Japan, a major credit research agency said Friday.

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