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LIFE / Digital
Dec 5, 2002

Amazon.co.jp offers e-shopping in English

Foreigners in Japan wanting to shop online have long had two unappealing options -- pay the outrageous shipping charges to order from e-shops abroad or muddle through Web sites in Japanese.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
Dec 1, 2002

Drop-dead cool bands percolating in Tokyo's underground

The things I first heard about Marble Sheep really sounded baaad, and I don't mean BAD in an irreverently cool Iggy Pop or Keith Richards kind of way.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Dec 1, 2002

A look at the trials of the uprooted

Though so-called international marriages continue to become more commonplace in Japan, the authorities still treat them as glaring exceptions that call for special treatment. If you're not a Japanese national and you want to make sure you can stay in Japan in the event you divorce your Japanese spouse,...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2002

Car-sharing gears up to find a foothold

SEIKA, Kyoto Pref. -- Sonoko Umemura, an official at the Kansai Economic Federation in Osaka, reserves a car by mobile phone when she travels to Kansai Science City so that she can drive to research centers scattered across an area not well served by the public transportation system.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 30, 2002

The CCP wears the pants in this marriage

CAMBRIDGE, England -- Now that the dust is settling after the Chinese Communist Party's 16th National Congress, we can begin to see the implications of the various decisions announced there.
BUSINESS
Nov 29, 2002

Konami turns in strong performance

Major game maker Konami Corp. said Thursday it posted strong earnings for the fiscal first half and more than doubled its midterm dividend.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2002

Hachiyo solicited funds during dividend default

A defunct Okinawa-based health-food firm that allegedly engaged in a Ponzi scheme collected about 1.7 billion yen from investors even on the day it failed to pay dividends, sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2002

Microsoft to reveal source code to Japan, which has eyed Linux

Microsoft Corp. will disclose the source code of the Windows operating system to the Japanese government in line with the government's e-Japan project, company officials said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2002

Staving off banking disaster

The latest financial reports from Japan's major commercial banks tell more of the same story: The huge overhang of nonperforming loans continues to block a return to health. To be sure, banks made a profit in their main lines of business in the first six months of fiscal 2002, as they did in previous...
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Nov 28, 2002

From oil-dependent past to hydrogen future

Making a global transition from fossil fuels to clean hydrogen-energy systems seems like pure science fiction -- until you meet Amory Lovins.
EDITORIALS
Nov 27, 2002

Not the time to celebrate profits

At first glance, corporate earnings reports for the first half of fiscal 2002 seem too good to be true, given the continuing economic slump. On average, pretax profit surged nearly 40 percent in April through September from the same period a year earlier -- a dramatic reversal from the 40 percent decline...
JAPAN
Nov 27, 2002

Ministry punishes bureaucrats who helped rig Hokkaido bids

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry took disciplinary action Tuesday against Hokkaido Development Bureau officials for arranging for certain construction firms to rig bids in 1997 and 1998, including one company that allegedly offered bribes to Lower House member Muneo Suzuki in 1998.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Nov 27, 2002

Wonderful Parade 2002

Every year, the pholks at Philter Records, Japan's phearless purveyors of phoreign indie pop, bring a phleet of artists to these shores for a special showcase called Wonderful Parade. Last year, the pheatured artist was Of Montreal, which has nothing to do with Canada and everything to do with the Elephant...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2002

Danger of inaction deepening: writers

If a frog is placed in a bucket of hot water, it will immediately sense the danger and jump out. If the same frog is placed in a bucket of cold water that is gradually heated, it will not realize the danger until it is too late. Today, a group of financial journalists from Britain agreed, Japan is that...
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2002

Seiyu to sell financing unit to Lone Star

Major supermarket chain Seiyu Ltd. said Monday it will sell Tokyo City Finance Co. to the U.S. investment fund Lone Star Group on Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2002

Cybird chief honored by Time magazine

Time magazine has picked Kazutomo Robert Hori, president and chief executive officer of Cybird Co., a mobile Internet-content provider in Tokyo, as one of the magazine's 15 "Global Influentials" for 2002.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2002

Kumagai Gumi, Hazama report plunges in profits

Midsize general contractors Kumagai Gumi Corp. and Hazama Corp. on Monday reported sharp declines in sales and profits for the first half to Sept. 30, blaming a shrinking construction market and mounting debts.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2002

Mizuho restructuring program to include 10% wage cut

The Mizuho Financial Group has worked out a restructuring program, which includes an average salary cut of more than 10 percent from fiscal 2003, sources close to the program said Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 25, 2002

Flawed civil service proposal

To carry out the first major reform of the national civil service system in 50 years, the government plans to introduce legislation in the Diet next year to revise the national public service law. Under present plans, the new law would be implemented beginning in fiscal 2006. A task force of the Cabinet...
Japan Times
JAPAN / WEEKEND WISDOM
Nov 24, 2002

Author tells how individuals sacrificed for the company

Although Japan achieved high economic growth by increasing its industrial productivity, the group-oriented work system that formed the basis of that development effectively sacrificed the rights of the individual, according to freelance journalist Satoshi Kamata.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 24, 2002

Faking it

Fakes and copies -- the words conjure up images of brand-name goods that aren't; trademarks purloined; forged money and passports; pirated CDs, software and videos . . . and even archaeological finds that weren't as historic as they were purported to be.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2002

Road official arrested in bid-rigging probe

OSAKA -- A senior official of Hanshin Expressway Public Corp. and two senior officials of a construction company in Osaka Prefecture were arrested Friday in connection with an alleged bid-rigging case in 2000, police said.
BUSINESS
Nov 23, 2002

Ad slump eats into TV Asahi profit

Asahi National Broadcasting Co., better known as TV Asahi, said Friday its group net profit for the first half of the 2002 business year dove 73.1 percent to 1.46 billion yen due to a decline in advertising revenues.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Nov 23, 2002

Marketing Cardiff as cultural capital of Europe

This is quite a month for Bet (Elizabeth) Davies. On Nov. 28, she will receive an award from the Japanese ambassador in London on behalf of the government for services rendered to to the Japanese community in Wales, and her work in bridging Japan and the U.K. in general.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2002

Ship in hijack bid now off Hokkaido

A Russian trawler that reportedly repelled a hijack attempt by a pirate ship off Vladivostok on Tuesday is located off Hokkaido in the Sea of Japan, the Japan Coast Guard confirmed Thursday.
JAPAN
Nov 22, 2002

Beaujolais Nouveau imports likely to establish new record

Imports of Beaujolais Nouveau are climbing toward a record high this year thanks to aggressive marketing campaigns by importers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2002

Automakers launch price war

Automakers are waging a price war in an attempt to lift sales amid the prolonged recession.

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