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JAPAN / WORKING IT OUT
Feb 8, 2002

Calls mount for work-sharing as jobless ranks soar

KOBE -- Hatsue Okada, a 33-year-old nurse, works between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. three days a week at a day-care center for elderly people in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2002

Moody's cuts debt ratings for Toshiba, NEC amid IT slump

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Monday that it has cut the senior unsecured debt ratings of Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp., Japan's second- and third-largest electronics makers, citing decreased profitability and the ongoing slump in the information-technology industry.
JAPAN
Jan 27, 2002

Snow Brand's products taken off menus at schools

OSAKA -- Education boards in Osaka, Nara and Shimane prefectures as well as 10 cities across Japan have decided to remove Snow Brand group products from school meals in the wake of the beef labeling scandal at Snow Brand Food Co., according to a Kyodo News survey.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jan 24, 2002

A case for campaign finance reform

WASHINGTON -- Controversy is raging about the Enron collapse. Is it a political story? Is it a criminal story? Is it a business story? Is it a story about personalities? The Enron story is all three. The real question is which category is the most important. and that all depends on your perspective....
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2002

Nankai to slash staff, cut pay, close units

OSAKA -- Financially ailing Nankai Electric Railway Co. has unveiled a radical restructuring program, saying it will slash more than 20 percent of its workforce, reduce pay and close down unprofitable subsidiaries.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 17, 2002

Nintendo's Arakawa surprises with retirement announcement

Nobody really cared who the president of Nintendo of America was when Minoru Arakawa founded the company in 1980. With games like "Radarscope" and "Sheriff," it was just another Taito wannabe trying to break into the U.S. arcade market.
COMMUNITY
Jan 13, 2002

The real deal in Kansai's kitchen

OSAKA -- Osaka's Kuromon Market has never ceased to fire the Japanese public imagination in its 180 years of existence. Back in the 1940s, it was described in Sakunosuke Oda's novels, including his well-known "Meotozenzai." And these days, Kuromon is on television, in a popular NHK morning serial "Honmamon"...
COMMUNITY
Jan 13, 2002

Time catches up with old men and the sea

HAKODATE, Hokkaido --Kenji Fujita sits among his crabs, the wood fire in a tin bucket at his feet a thin defense against the predawn chill. It's minus 3 degrees at Hakodate's famed morning market, the pitch darkness of 4 a.m. adding layers to the cold.
COMMUNITY
Jan 13, 2002

Seafood central: Tokyo's Tsukiji market

"For Japanese, fish is the very best thing in the world," Sadao Ohashi declares with pride as he pushes his medieval-looking, two-wheeled wooden cart at jogging speed, maneuvering a load of mackerel, squid and sea bream through the moving maze of carts, people and battered one-man trucks that throng...
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Jan 1, 2002

Don't let 'star' staff dazzle your judgment

Assessing performance ought to be every manager's meat, the one area in which he or she strives to obtain as fair and equitable a result as possible. Yet as we at IMG work with Sports Illustrated to produce our annual "Sportsman of the Year" gala, I'm frequently reminded of the capricious and mysterious...
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Japan not head over heals for Cuba

Will Japan ever fall for Cuba?
BUSINESS
Dec 29, 2001

Sony in talks with Fujitsu over Nifty

Sony Corp. is negotiating with Fujitsu Ltd. to acquire Internet service provider Nifty Corp., a Fujitsu subsidiary, industry sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 18, 2001

Cabinet Office retains negative economic view

The government's dismal economic assessment was left intact in a monthly report issued Monday, although wording used to depict the overall trend has been toned down.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2001

Not all auto industry restructuring drives get same mileage

As Japanese companies in almost all sectors carry out large-scale restructuring, the auto industry can offer them a number of case studies that reflect varying measures of success.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2001

Steel firms look to cut costs with tieup

Nippon Steel Corp. and Kobe Steel Ltd. said Tuesday they will enter a comprehensive tieup in steel production and distribution in a bid to reduce costs and improve their competitiveness.
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2001

Major banks brace for loan writeoffs

All but two of the nation's 14 major banks fell into the red during the first six months of this business year, together setting aside a hefty 2.7 trillion yen in loan-loss reserves to cushion the potential impact from nonperforming loans.
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2001

Major banks brace for loan writeoffs

All but two of the nation's 14 major banks fell into the red during the first six months of this business year, together setting aside a hefty 2.7 trillion yen in loan-loss reserves to cushion the potential impact from nonperforming loans.
Japan Times
Events
Nov 13, 2001

Purse-snatching capital not image Osaka seeks

OSAKA -- Yoko Sumino (not her real name) was scared and angry. One evening last winter, the 34-year-old journalist was walking back to her apartment in the city's Joto Ward when the unexpected happened.
BUSINESS
Oct 31, 2001

Major electronics makers suffer first-half losses

Five electronics makers swung into losses in the first half of the 2001 business year, plagued by the global slump in the information technology industry, according to interim earnings reports released Tuesday.
COMMUNITY
Oct 30, 2001

Hosts with the most, ma'am, at your service

BANGKOK -- Bangkok may be the sex capital of the world for men, but what do Thai women do for kicks? It's Saturday night and I am in an underground parking garage in central Bangkok trying to find out. It is damp and somewhat desolate, but across the ill-lit tarmac I see a promising neon sign that reads...
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2001

Fence-mending over, friendship committee goes to work

Taking its cue from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's largely successful fence-mending trip to China, Japan will formally inaugurate a blue-ribbon troupe to prepare for an extravaganza commemorating the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties.
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2001

DaimlerChrysler to take advantage of present Asian alliances

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- After establishing a strong foothold in the European and North American markets, DaimlerChrysler AG is ready to increase its presence in Asia by taking advantage of its alliance with Japanese and South Korean partners, according to executives of the German-American auto giant....
JAPAN / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Oct 25, 2001

Foreign equity funds' ways changing face of Japan Inc.

When hunting for a company to buy out, Kenji Ueda doesn't wait to be introduced. The Ripplewood Holdings LLC executive director makes his phone calls cold.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2001

All sellers, no buyers equals no opportunities in Osaka

OSAKA -- The 16th Global Business Opportunities Convention wrapped up in Osaka on Wednesday evening in an atmosphere of disappointment on the part of organizers and participants.
BUSINESS / ON MANAGEMENT
Oct 23, 2001

Avoid sinking into the comfort zone

There's a common affliction suffered by baseball pitchers and corporate managers alike, a tendency that derails many careers, perversely, just when things couldn't be going any better. It's called "pitching too fine" in baseball, and if you're a fan, you know how heartbreaking it can be.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2001

EBC report urges Japan to promote more reforms

A report by European Business Community in Japan released Monday urges the government to promote further economic structural reforms in key areas such as the regulatory framework and legal system.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2001

Full text of APEC leaders' declaration in Shanghai

Following is the full text of the declaration adopted Sunday by leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum after their two-day summit in Shanghai.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Oct 17, 2001

Where dreams come true

Those who can, do; those who can't, teach. Right? That was certainly true of the various losers and sociopaths who "taught" me when I was in school. But this hoary old adage doesn't apply to a showbiz school recently launched by leading Japanese record label Avex.
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2001

Aeon notches new records in first-half sales and profits

Aeon Co., which runs the Jusco supermarket chain, logged record sales and pretax profits on a consolidated basis for the first half of this business year, company officials said Wednesday.

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