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BUSINESS
May 30, 2000

Palmtops to be fourth pillar of Sony's electronics lineup

Sony Corp. said Monday that it will make palmtop mobile personal computer terminals a major part of its electronics product lineup.
JAPAN
May 27, 2000

Dai-ichi Hotel files for 125.5 billion yen bankruptcy

Dai-ichi Hotel Ltd. effectively failed Friday morning when the Tokyo-based hotel chain and its four group firms filed with the Tokyo District Court for protection from creditors under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2000

NTT group's robust earnings belie deregulation rhetoric

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. on Friday released its first consolidated financial statement since its group reorganization in July, posting pretax profits of 825 billion yen on the group sales of 10.4 trillion yen for fiscal 1999.
JAPAN
May 23, 2000

Taxi firm owner to take 1,000 used cabs to North Korea

OSAKA -- In his recent meeting with North Korean Vice Premier Kwak Pom Gi, the 71-year-old owner of Kyoto-based taxi company MK Corp. was told of three areas in which the Stalinist country is seeking assistance.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2000

Electronics firms emerging from the red

Helped by restructuring efforts and the recovering semiconductor sector, Japan's major electronic appliance and computer chip manufacturers have reported earnings improvements for the past business year.
JAPAN
May 9, 2000

NTT to buy U.S. Net firm

NTT Communications Corp. announced Monday that it will acquire Verio Inc. of the United States, a major Internet service provider, in order to become a "full-service player" in Asia, Europe and the U.S.
JAPAN
May 2, 2000

Asian Wall Street Journal goes bilingual

Competition in the newspaper industry is intensifying, and The Asian Wall Street Journal, as part of efforts to woo more readers in Japan, is addressing the challenge with a new look that started with its April 3 editions.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Apr 19, 2000

E-nough already

Ahh, a blast of sanity from Scandinavia. The Swedish government recently announced that the Patent and Registration Office would no longer allow companies to register with the suffix .com in their names. And no se., www. or @ marks either.
EDITORIALS
Apr 1, 2000

Tokyo's new tax raises big questions

The tax debate sparked by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara has reached a milestone now that the metropolitan assembly has almost unanimously approved his plan to impose a new asset-based tax on large banks operating in the capital. The bank tax, which is good for five years and replaces the current business...
EDITORIALS
Mar 29, 2000

The man in the mirror

To no one's surprise, Mr. Vladimir Putin won Russia's presidential election Sunday. Although the acting president did top the 50 percent level, which allowed him to escape a runoff ballot, the narrowness of his margin was an eye-opener. The much-anticipated landslide never materialized, the Communist...
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2000

Sumitomo, Mitsui tieup advanced by six months

Sumitomo Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance Co. announced Monday they will merge in October 2001, moving up an earlier schedule by six months.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2000

Toyota Tsusho to take on 10% of Tomen

Toyota Tsusho Corp., a trading house affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp., will accept a request to take a stake of more than 10 percent in the embattled trading house Tomen Corp., sources close to Toyota Tsusho said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2000

IT sector leads way for huge gains in corporate pretax profits

A triple-digit surge in the pretax profits of personal computer makers and telecommunication companies more than offset a steep decline in other sectors as the combined figure jumped 41.8 percent in the October-December quarter.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 9, 2000

Adventures in global dining with Tokyo's restaurant king

From stand-and-slurp ramen shops to authentic French cuisine, Tokyo is a diner's paradise. Certainly, finding places that appeal to your palate isn't a problem; hoping they'll be there the next time around is. Tokyo restaurants go out of business faster than Shibuya girls change their nail colors.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2000

JR East joins Lawson in e-commerce

East Japan Railway Co. announced Tuesday that it will launch a full-scale Web site to sell and deliver more than 10,000 items in cooperation with major convenience store chain operator Lawson Inc.
JAPAN
Mar 7, 2000

Former defense official served with fresh bribery warrant

OSAKA -- A former Defense Facilities Administration Agency official under arrest for fraud was served a fresh warrant Monday on suspicion he accepted 2 million yen in bribes from an oil sales company to help the firm start business with the Defense Agency, prosecution officials said.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2000

Taisho Life ordered to recapitalize

The Financial Supervisory Agency has ordered Taisho Life Insurance Co. to recapitalize and improve its management after an agency inspection found the small life insurer to be financially weak, industry sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2000

State panel eyes new corporate tax based on Tokyo's

An advisory panel to the prime minister will consider whether the new method of taxation planned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government could be applied as an across-the-board corporate tax in all prefectures, a senior panel member said Friday. Hiromitsu Ishi, head of the Tax Commission's subpanel on...
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2000

Berlin panel looks at Japan economy, management

This was the general consensus of panelists at a symposium held Feb. 17 at the Japanese-German Center Berlin. The symposium was called The Japanese Economy and the Renewal of Japanese Management, and it was sponsored by the center and the Keizai Koho Center (Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs)....
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2000

Taxing times for Tokyo banks

Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's plan to levy a new tax on large banks in the metropolis has created a stir. The banks are dead set against it, but Tokyo citizens -- and the public at large -- are applauding the idea. No Japanese politician, national or local, has made such a widely acclaimed decision...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2000

More Japanese urged to join international student forum

The International Students' Committee, organizers of the annual International Management Symposium in St. Gallen, Switzerland, is urging more Japanese business leaders and students to take part in the gathering. Organizers say the symposium has become one of the prime occasions for leaders and top students...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2000

International student forum needs more Japanese

The International Students' Committee, organizers of the annual International Management Symposium in St. Gallen, Switzerland, is urging more Japanese business leaders and students to take part in the gathering. Organizers say the symposium has become one of the prime occasions for leaders and top students...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 9, 2000

English food -- beyond shepherd's pie

People did some funny things during the bubble economy. An insurance firm paid $80 million for an incredibly ugly painting by van Gogh; other companies paid equally stupid sums for New York's Rockefeller Center and California's Pebble Beach golf course; Louis Vuitton's vastly overpriced handbags became...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 13, 2000

Things that make you go PING

If I asked my mother how I could get more out of my golf clubs, she would probably reply: "Buy bigger ones so you can hit the ball easier" or "Ooh! Those orange ones look nice."
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2000

Allstate withdraws Japanese operations

Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Japan Co., a Japanese subsidiary of a major U.S. insurance group, said Tuesday it will withdraw from operations here -- only nine months after its launch. The move follows the group's review of its business strategy late last year, officials said, adding that...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2000

Economics and the human perspective

Economics, it is sometimes useful to point out, can hardly be analyzed at all if divorced from some basic cultural parameters. A recent academic gathering in Japan reminded us of just that.
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2000

ACCJ chief aims to fortify bilateral bridge

While major elections are likely to consume Tokyo and Washington in 2000, trade disputes are simmering beneath the relatively calm surface of Japan-U.S. economic relations.
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2000

Domestic banks embrace information technology

Domestic banks, lagging behind their American counterparts in the use of information technology, are stepping up their Internet banking operations and expanding services available to retail customers via the Net.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2000

Wake-up call for the private sector

As the New Year begins, many corporate leaders and economic experts will be holding their breath to see what the Japanese economy will do -- work its way to a self-sustained recovery, or be pulled along by the steamroller of government spending.
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 1999

The computer giant stumbles

In the era of globalization, the management mantra seems to be "bigger is better." From automakers to securities traders, every business aspires to the size and weight that would allow it to influence -- if not dictate -- developments in its particular industry. In the fast-moving world of high-technology,...

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