Search - sales

 
 
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2003

Insurance policyholders warned to wise up, do their homework

In a bid to prevent frailty in the life insurance sector from potentially exploding into the political and banking scenes, the House of Councilors on Friday enacted legislation allowing troubled life insurers to lower their promised payouts to policyholders.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Jun 17, 2003

Kao cashes in on the golden elixir of weight loss

How can a soap-and-cosmetics maker succeed in selling a cooking oil at twice the price of its competitors in this time of economic belt-tightening?
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
May 22, 2003

Book Off chief rolls with the blows as status quo publishers complain

The Japanese may love a hardworking and unassuming company man who out of nowhere wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, but they are still wary of the true entrepreneur who is willing to take risks and shake up long-established ways of doing things.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2003

JAL expects revenue to fall by 162 billion yen

Japan Airlines System Corp. revealed Friday that it could lose revenue of 162 billion yen during the current fiscal year due to a drastic fall in passengers on international flights.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2003

Isuzu expects loss to more than triple

Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Thursday its estimated group net loss more than tripled in fiscal 2002 from a year earlier to 144.3 billion yen due to restructuring costs. The truck maker posted a 42.99 billion yen loss the previous year.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Takara learns how to spin big profits

Takara Co. on Wednesday reported better-than-expected results for fiscal 2002, thanks to strong overseas sales of its modern-day gizmos, like turbocharged tops.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2003

Olympus posts record earnings

Olympus Optical Co. reported Monday record-high sales and profits on a consolidated basis for fiscal 2002, driven by its popular digital cameras and steady growth in medical equipment sales.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2003

Nippon Life hit for ads that misled

The Fair Trade Commission on Friday directed Nippon Life Insurance Co. to inform policyholders that it may have misled them through its sales practices for cancer insurance policies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 9, 2003

Camera-phones help DoCoMo to post solid profit

NTT DoCoMo Inc., the nation's top mobile phone firm, said Thursday it posted a group net profit of 212.49 billion yen for the year through March, thanks to strong growth stimulated by camera-equipped handsets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / INDUSTRY TRENDS
May 2, 2003

Firms itching to cash in on athlete's foot sufferers

The phrase "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes" threatens to take on a whole new meaning as summer kicks in, with an estimated one in five Japanese suffering from athlete's foot.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2003

Canon first-quarter profit up 126%

Canon Inc. announced Wednesday that its consolidated net profit for the first quarter of 2003 jumped 126.2 percent from a year before to a quarterly record of 71.6 billion yen, due to brisk sales of digital cameras and cost-cutting measures.
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2003

Toshiba returns to profitability

Toshiba Corp. said Friday it returned to profitability in fiscal 2002, buoyed by a strong recovery in its semiconductor business and by cost-cutting measures.
BUSINESS
Apr 19, 2003

Fast Retailing sees profit decline 44.8%

Fast Retailing Co. said Friday it chalked up a consolidated net profit of 11.89 billion yen in the first half of its current business year, down 44.8 percent from a year earlier.
BUSINESS
Apr 18, 2003

Toyota to launch Prius hybrid version this year

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it will launch a remodeled version of the eco-friendly Prius compact -- featuring a cutting-edge gasoline-electric hybrid system -- in Japan, the U.S. and Europe by the end of the year.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2003

Daiei to decentralize as part of reconstruction program

Ailing retail giant Daiei Inc. is likely to undertake more decentralized merchandising and store operations as part of its restructuring efforts, a key manager in its group said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2003

Lawson's profit plunges 45% on outlet closures

Lawson Inc., Japan's No. 2 convenience store chain, said Tuesday its group net profit for the year through February plunged 45 percent to 8.86 billion yen due to closures of unprofitable stores.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2003

Nintendo lowers earnings estimates

Game console and software maker Nintendo Co. said Monday it has revised its earnings estimates downward for fiscal 2002 due to lower-than-expected sales of game consoles.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Honda Fit takes Corolla's crown

The Honda Fit compact took over the title of the nation's best-selling car in fiscal 2002, muscling aside the Toyota Corolla, which held the position for two straight years, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2003

Matsushita to close Argentina unit

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Tuesday it will shut down its Argentine sales subsidiary, Panasonic Argentina S.A. (PARSA), effective Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2003

Olympus utilizes camera prowess to corner endoscope market

First in a series of occasional articles about Japanese firms that retain a global competitive edge
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 23, 2003

Comic culture is serious business

Can anyone be in this country a week and not notice manga -- Japan's unique contribution to comics?
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2003

Toys 'R' Us-Japan logs 1.2% decline in profit

Toys "R" Us-Japan Ltd. said Wednesday its net profit for the year through Jan. 31 dropped 1.2 percent to 4.09 billion yen on weak same-store sales.
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2003

Japanese unit of McDonald's logs huge loss

Ltd. said Friday it posted a group net loss of 2.34 billion yen for the business year through December, sinking into the red for the first time in nearly three decades under the heavy cost of store closures. The firm also said outlet openings will be reduced to 75 from 117 in 2002, leading to the first-ever...
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2003

Ricoh group logs 19.5% profit rise

Ricoh Co. said Wednesday its group net profit in the October-December term rose 19.5 percent over the previous year to 17.8 billion yen on strong sales of network basic input/output system (NetBIOS) devices.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2003

Hitachi dropping losers to enhance profits

Hitachi will drop money-losing businesses that now bring in 1.6 trillion yen in annual sales for the Japanese electronics maker in an effort to return to profitability.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2003

Cost cuts shrink Fujitsu group losses

Fujitsu Ltd. said Tuesday its group losses shrank considerably in the October-December quarter on a year-on-year basis, primarily due to cost-cutting and restructuring efforts.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2003

Oracle Japan sees net profit decline 36% in first half

Oracle Corp. Japan, the Japan unit of U.S. software giant Oracle Corp., said Wednesday its unconsolidated net profit for the half year through Nov. 30 fell 36 percent from a year earlier to 6.08 billion yen, as corporate capital investment and consumer spending remained sluggish.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2002

What 'McDonaldization'?

I t wasn't all that long ago that American journalist Thomas Friedman was making headlines with his so-called Golden Arches Theory of conflict prevention: No two countries that both had McDonald's, he wrote in 1996, had ever fought a war against each other. Around the same time, McDonald's was drawing...

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