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Events
Jun 12, 2001

Osaka still investment 'black hole'

OSAKA — With Osaka's economy still in the doldrums, city and prefectural officials are renewing efforts to bring more foreign direct investment to the region.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 3, 2001

Old-books trade turns over a new leaf

In case you haven't noticed, the little used bookshop around the corner has some serious competition. The new kids on the block are so spacious, brightly lit and spotlessly clean that they could easily be mistaken for convenience stores.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2001

MHI posts group net loss for second year in a row

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. reported Friday a consolidated net loss of 20.35 billion yen for the 2000 business year, falling into the red for the second consecutive year.
Events
May 15, 2001

Japan's ancient capital looks for new-tech entrepreneurs

KYOTO -- Size doesn't matter -- it's how good you are.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2001

China halts visits over Lee's trip to Japan

China has decided to suspend visits to Japan by its senior officials for the time being to protest former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui's visit to Japan that began Sunday, a Beijing-based Japanese source familiar with bilateral relations said Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2001

State downgrades economy

The economy is weakening, the government said Friday, downgrading its assessment for the third consecutive month mainly due to reduced production and worsening business sentiment.
COMMUNITY
Mar 18, 2001

For top U.K. ceramics, no need to see Cornwall

Koichiro Isaka was traveling with his wife in the south of England when he first became aware of a ceramic tradition. Like many Japanese, he knew the name Bernard Leach, who studied with Shoji Hamada in the early 1900s as part of Japan's folkloric revivalist movement and helped establish Mashiko as a...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2001

Core machinery orders dipped 12% in January

Core machinery orders from Japanese businesses shriveled a seasonally adjusted 11.8 percent in January from the previous month to 966.9 billion yen after a 3.8 percent rise in December, the government said Thursday.
COMMUNITY
Mar 6, 2001

Foreign manager discovers strength in the face of adverse circumstances

SHIBUKAWA, Gunma Pref. -- There are probably few foreign nationals in the country who have found themselves charged with running a traditional Japanese company.
COMMENTARY
Feb 9, 2001

Which 'global standard'?

At the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland last month, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara reportedly attracted more attention than Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2001

Tokyo, New Delhi eager to put synergy back in relations

Last week's massive earthquake in western India has thrown in doubt Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's planned official visit to Japan this month -- the first by a premier of the world's most populous democracy in nearly 13 years.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2001

Female entrepreneurs seeking fulfillment

Kyodo News Rie Karasawa is the latest addition to a growing number of Japanese female entrepreneurs moving into a business world long dominated by men.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2001

Colleges brace as fewer apply

Tadataka Koide, president of Aichi Gakuin University in Nagoya, is awaiting this month's entrance exams with anticipation and anxiety.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2001

Mycal to unload health club stake

OSAKA -- Mycal Corp. supermarket chain and game software developer Konami Co. said Monday they have agreed on the sale of a majority stake in People Co., a major health club chain belonging to the Mycal group, by late February.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2001

Police announce date club crackdown

In an effort to crack down on telephone dating clubs that enable users to engage in sex with minors and child prostitution, the National Police Agency is planning to submit a bill to revise a law controlling the adult entertainment business, NPA officials said.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2001

Limits on trust banking to be relaxed

The Financial Services Agency said Friday that it will authorize all major city banks, regional banks and some other lenders to engage in fiduciary operations, a field of banking so far mainly limited to Japan's six major trust banks and Daiwa Bank, one of Japan's nine city banks.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2001

Marubeni-Daiei deal nearly sealed

The ailing supermarket chain Daiei Inc. is in the final stage of talks with Marubeni Corp. over the latter's purchase of a 5 percent stake in Daiei and an additional 10 percent stake in its affiliate supermarket chain Maruetsu Inc., a Daiei official said Thursday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Jan 7, 2001

Yoshitami Arai

As a precocious 15-year-old in 1946, Yoshitami Arai looked around at a Japan that was, he said, "totally destroyed." Then at school in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, he was already beginning to understand the need of the nation to produce businessmen who would rebuild the economy. From that time on, he...
COMMUNITY
Jan 7, 2001

Good manners make comfortable relations

In Japan, there has been much discussion of late of both morals and manners. Indeed, one national newspaper on Jan. 1, in a section devoted to scrutinizing how Japanese have changed in recent years, devoted a whole page to the question: Are good manners a thing of the past?
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Dec 31, 2000

Minoru Akimoto

"For a college kid in a provincial town in the early 50s, there were not many options for learning English. My teachers were Hollywood movies. I memorized a script and then sat in a movie theater all day, watching and listening to the same movie time and again."
LIFE / Travel
Dec 24, 2000

Do they know it's Christmas in Xian?

In the cradle of Chinese civilization, Christmas -- in all its commercial fury -- has taken Xi'an city by storm. Today, in this one-time imperial seat now famed for its terra-cotta warriors, storefronts blink Christmas red and green, Santa Claus poses for photos in supermarkets, employees don festive...
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2000

Muroto taps nearby depths to get competitive edge

MUROTO, Kochi Pref. -- At first glance, it is hard to see what the following products have in common: bottled water, miso paste, bread, snacks and skin lotion.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Japan reform said key to Asian prosperity

Now that the United States has started showing signs of economic slowdown, business leaders in the Asia-Pacific region expect Japan to expedite full economic recovery and become an engine to ensure continued prosperity in the region, according to an American international business expert.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2000

Tieup to create largest chemical firm in nation

Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Mitsui Chemicals Inc., Japan's second- and third-largest chemical firms, said Friday they will integrate their management by October 2003 in a bid to survive intensified global competition.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2000

Strong links crucial to Asia stability: Zhu

Visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji said Saturday that ties between China and Japan are crucial to peace and security in northeast Asia, according to Japanese government officials.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2000

Chile pushes free-trade deal

The new Chilean ambassador to Japan, Demetrio Infante, said Tuesday he is hopeful that a free-trade agreement will be concluded to help further expand bilateral trade, which is expected to top $3.5 billion this year.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2000

Young people play key role in IT ventures

Young people are increasingly playing a key role in Internet-related ventures amid the information-technology revolution in Japan.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2000

NEC reorganizes group companies

NEC Corp. will transfer its business of office telephones and point-of-sale devices to affiliated Nitsuko Corp. next April as part of efforts to reorganize NEC group companies, top officials of the two firms announced on 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