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BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2000

Secondhand comic book firm tapping into American interest in 'manga'

Savoring his success dealing in secondhand comic books and character items in Japan, Masuzo Furukawa, president of Mandarake Inc., is now eyeing an overseas market he believes is thirsting for Japanese "manga" culture.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2000

Sleaze market festers with rip-off artists

The promise is too good to be true -- all you can drink and "excellent service" provided by "companions" for 6,000 yen in Tokyo's adult entertainment central.
JAPAN
Aug 12, 2000

BOJ votes to abandon ultraeasy money policy

The Bank of Japan on Friday defied acute political pressure and decided to abandon its "zero-interest-rate" policy.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2000

Keidanren, Nikkeiren verging on merger

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) and the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren) will soon start drawing up detailed plans to merge the two groups, Keidanren Chairman Takashi Imai said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Execs put priority on increasing profile

KARUIZAWA, Nagano Pref. -- As moves continue to consolidate major business organizations, members of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) discussed ways to make their organization more prominent during a two-day annual seminar that ended Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2000

Japan, EU execs urge IT promotion

In a joint recommendation at the end of their two-day meeting, business leaders from Japan and Europe on Tuesday called on officials of both sides to examine their local network-access policies in a bid to promote information technology.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2000

IT obstacles targeted by government panel

The government will start reviewing outmoded regulations hindering the development of information technology before establishing dedicated legislation aimed at developing the new technology, government officials said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 16, 2000

Okinawans must look beyond crossroad for future success

Staff writer CHATAN, Okinawa Pref. -- The music meandering from Rinken Teruya's sea-front live house is a catchy, vibrant blend of sing-along pop and Okinawan folk song.
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2000

Japan looks to cleaner sources of energy

Tokai disaster prompts nation to take a new look at alternative power Staff writer
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Good management heeds environment, not culture: scholars

The economic performances of Japan and the United States have contrasted sharply over the past two decades, with Japan's boom in the 1980s and the strong U.S. recovery in the 1990s exposing differences in management styles and the changing nature of models of success.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 21, 2000

Seeing red

Red has long been the color of choice for companies venturing into the digital domain; that's red as in ink, and that choice has been by necessity.
COMMUNITY
Jun 11, 2000

Cybird flies big plans for mobile Net future

Kazutomo Robert Hori It came as a very pleasant surprise when an old friend rang from Osaka to tell me that her son's business had taken off like a rocket. The last time I saw Robert was at his wedding seven years ago -- a spectacular if crazy event held on top of a mountain in Hiroshima Prefecture....
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Capital investment at firms rises 3.3%

Corporate investment in plants and equipment rose 3.3 percent in the January-March quarter from a year earlier, marking the first year-on-year increase in more than two years.
EDITORIALS
May 31, 2000

Bright prospects for corporate Japan

Corporate-earnings reports for fiscal 1999, which ended March 31, provide further evidence of a budding recovery in the corporate sector. Most of the companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange posted their first net profit increase in three years. On a consolidated basis, pretax profits surged an estimated...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2000

Commission favors tax based on size

The Tax Commission on Tuesday effectively selected a size-based local business tax system to be introduced nationwide. The commission is an advisory panel to the prime minister.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2000

Sanwa, Tokai, Asahi megabank taking shape

The organizational structure of the financial group to be formed in April through the integration of Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank and Asahi Bank will be finalized by September, Sanwa Bank President Kaneo Muromachi said in a recent interview.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2000

Banks return to winning circle

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Sanwa Bank both returned to profitability in fiscal 1999, due largely to fewer bad-loan writeoffs than in fiscal 1998, according to the two major banks' earnings reports, released Friday.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2000

Rival steel companies agree to leave sectors of the market to each other

Nippon Steel Corp. and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. will cease production of certain steel products that are unprofitable for each while increasing production of the other's discontinued item, company officials said Thursday.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 12, 2000

Fingleton deflates the New Economy

IN PRAISE OF HARD INDUSTRIES: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Technology, Is the Key to Future Prosperity, by Eamonn Fingleton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999, 273 pp., $26 (cloth). A 24-year-old Englishman with a ponytail waltzed into the offices of a London venture-capital company...
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2000

Toyota Tsusho to bail out Tomen

Toyota Tsusho Corp., a Nagoya-based trading firm, will inject 7.5 billion yen into troubled rival Tomen Corp. and form a business tieup, top executives of the two firms announced on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 15, 2000

Three-bank tieup terms settled

Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank and Asahi Bank formally announced Tuesday that they have reached a basic agreement to come under a joint holding company in April 2001, creating the world's third-largest banking group.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2000

New LTCB boss details his vision for the future

The chief executive officer of the newly privatized Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan has vowed that he will strive to transform the institution into a highly profitable commercial bank, utilizing high-level expertise from western financial institutions.
JAPAN
Feb 1, 2000

Sumitomo insurance units agree to cooperate in nonlife insurance

Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. announced Tuesday they have agreed to cooperate in the nonlife insurance business. The agreement calls for mutual marketing of both life and nonlife products through their respective sales channels. It also includes cooperation in...
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2000

Fukushima exits chamber on bright note

To the eyes of the former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, the Japanese business environment has changed over the last several years, thanks in part to an influx of foreign companies and capital.
JAPAN
Dec 31, 1999

Hotels, stores cashing in on Y2K scare

Staff writers Y2K wise men say, only fools rush out on New Year's Eve. Yet, as many stayed home for the definitive moment, tens of thousands of private company officials left their homes Friday to stand guard at their offices for possible Y2K problems, unwittingly providing a millennium windfall to...
JAPAN
Dec 3, 1999

Hino, Isuzu to unite ailing bus operations

Hino Motors Ltd. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Friday they will integrate their unprofitable bus businesses into an equally owned joint venture to be established next year. Hino Motors President Hiroshi Yuasa and Isuzu President Takeshi Inoh told a news conference in Tokyo that joint production will begin...
JAPAN
Oct 28, 1999

Government plans shot in arm for small companies

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1999

Regional Special: KYUSHU

Reclamation project splits locals, power elite> Staff writer
EDITORIALS
Oct 10, 1999

Dishonored by the honors system

Twice a year, the government confers orders and honors on eminent citizens in recognition of their service to the nation or their local communities. This decoration system, which has been in place since the Meiji Era, has been drawing flak from part of the business world. Some business leaders are calling...

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