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LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Nov 8, 2000

Nihongo dekiru?

Nihongo dekiru? Since Amazon.com opened for business, its biggest foreign market has been Japan. The company has about 193,000 customers here and they ring up about $34 million worth of sales. Mind you, the domestic Japanese market for online book sales is only $46 million. (In the name of full disclosure,...
EDITORIALS
Oct 17, 2000

Economy inspires cautious optimism

The Bank of Japan's latest quarterly "tankan" survey of business sentiments, conducted in September, provides further evidence that the Japanese economy is slowly recovering from its worst postwar recession. Leading the recovery are large corporations riding the crest of the information-technology revolution....
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Firms continue to be optimistic: 'tankan'

The outlook of the nation's corporations -- particularly large manufacturers -- continued to improve over the past three months, according to the latest quarterly "tankan" business sentiment survey, released Tuesday by the Bank of Japan.
JAPAN
Sep 18, 2000

Quick economic steps said crucial

The need for Japan and other Asian countries to make quick decisions on economic policies is growing in step with the pace of economic globalization, according to Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2000

Copyright law for a new age

The rapid spread of computer networks is creating a flood of digitalized information in a broad range of fields, including publishing, music, broadcast, movies and plays. This is leading to the rampant piracy of writers' copyrights and musicians' performing rights. Legal action is urgently needed to...
JAPAN
Sep 5, 2000

Intended mob target unfazed by wiretap law

KOBE -- When the controversial wiretapping legislation was passed in the Diet last year, supporters claimed society as a whole would benefit because police would be able to track organized crime more efficiently.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2000

Bandai to spin off its network division

Bandai Co., a major toy maker, will spin off its network division and turn it into a subsidiary later this week to raise the efficiency of its network entertainment business, the firm announced Monday.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2000

Hayami defends interest rate

OSAKA -- Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami said Thursday that the BOJ's decision Aug. 11 to abandon its "zero-interest-rate" policy was made after fully taking into account local economic conditions across the country.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2000

Osaka chamber to open B2B market

OSAKA -- The Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday announced that it will set up an electronic commerce market on the Internet for small businesses in October, in cooperation with other regional chambers of commerce and industry.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2000

FSA approves cross-sales at life, nonlife insurers

The Financial Services Agency has decided to allow life and nonlife insurance firms to sell each other's products for commission fees, industry sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2000

DDI, KDD, IDO may spin off, merge cell units

DDI Corp., KDD Corp. and IDO Corp., which are to merge to form KDDI in October, are considering spinning off their respective cellular phone businesses and integrating them under a cellphone subsidiary to be established in November, sources close to the firm said Monday.
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2000

Trade framework for Asia requires neighborhood effort

On July 19 the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) held the fifth Asian Neighbors' Forum, with participants freely ex- changing opinions over two main themes -- "Searching for a new model of Asian regional cooperation" and "The progress of globalization and cooperation among Asian...
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2000

Yoshimoto Kogyo branches into entertainment catering

OSAKA -- Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., a major, Osaka-based entertainment firm, has found yet another business area to cash in on -- entertainment catering. The move, according to Yoshimoto officials, is part of its business diversification plan as it goes into the 21st century.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2000

Confidence among firms improving

A quarterly business and investment survey released Wednesday by the Economic Planning Agency shows confidence among Japanese companies about the domestic economy improved considerably in the April-June period.
COMMUNITY
Jul 30, 2000

Getting the measure of a master suitsmith

Vijay Wadhwani is an international tailor. A very super-duper master craftsman, who runs a miniempire of cutters, machinists and hand stitchers in Hong Kong under the name "NobleHouse." His job is to travel the world to court customers, discuss clients' needs and take the full complement of 30 required...
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2000

Stimulus policy should continue: Imai

While acknowledging that the much-anticipated economic recovery has become more evident, Takashi Imai, chairman of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), is emphasizing that the government should continue its current stimulus-oriented fiscal and monetary policies for the foreseeable...
BUSINESS
Jul 20, 2000

Enron plans power-ful inroad

As business opportunities loom with the deregulation of Japan's mammoth electricity market, Enron Corp. of the United States is preparing to launch comprehensive energy services in the world's second-largest economy.
JAPAN
Jul 18, 2000

Sales agents for Snow Brand go bankrupt

Approximately 30 of the 500 sales agents for Snow Brand Milk Products Co. in six prefectures in western Japan have effectively been put out of business by the June 29 outbreak of food poisoning linked to milk made at the company's Osaka plant, government officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2000

Nissan might reconsider plant investment: Ghosn

Nissan Motor Co. President Carlos Ghosn said Friday that the firm may reconsider a plan to put new investment in its Sunderland plant in northeastern England, which he says is suffering from the high value of the pound.
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2000

Sogo closes three branch stores

Major department store chain Sogo Co. on Thursday shut down three of its 27 retail outlets in Japan and let two of the three launch bankruptcy proceedings with local courts, the company said.
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2000

Sogo files for rehabilitation with Tokyo District Court

Amid mounting public criticism, ailing department chain operator Sogo Co. and its group companies have filed for court-mandated rehabilitation with the Tokyo District Court, top officials of the firm announced Wednesday evening.
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2000

Cabinet's focus must be economy, Nikkeiren says

Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren), said Wednesday that he hopes Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's new Cabinet will work toward the full recovery of Japan's economy.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2000

Hankyu to support Dai-Ichi Hotel rehabilitation

The Tokyo District Court decided Tuesday to launch rehabilitation proceedings for the failed Dai-Ichi Hotel Ltd. and four affiliated companies under the auspices of Hankyu Corp., an Osaka-based railway operator.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2000

'Tankan' results dismissed

Many business leaders Tuesday dismissed the seemingly encouraging results of the Bank of Japan's quarterly survey of business confidence as insufficient for ending the central bank's "zero-interest-rate" policy.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2000

Japan Telecom may go local

Japan Telecom Co. is considering entering the local telephone business as early as next year in major cities such as Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, with rates lower than those offered by its rivals, it was learned Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2000

Marubeni and Tokyo Gas plan optical-fiber alliance

Trading firm Marubeni Corp. and Tokyo Gas Co. announced Thursday that they will form a business alliance to build next-generation broadband, fiber-optic networks using Tokyo Gas's underground pipes in urban business areas.
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2000

Japan, U.S. to resume NTT discussions July 10

Japan and the United States plan to resume bilateral deregulation talks in Tokyo on July 10 in a last-ditch effort to resolve their telecommunications row before July's Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2000

EBC chair urges politicians to work for deregulation

Foreign businesses in Japan expect political leaders to facilitate fair competition by promoting further deregulation and harmonizing Japanese standards with global rules, said Isabelle Hupperts, chairwoman of the European Business Community.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2000

Life insurers log dismal results

The nation's seven biggest life insurers reported dismal business results Friday with all of them logging a fall in outstanding contracts for individuals in fiscal 1999.

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