Search - 2004

 
 
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2006

Kansai business leaders get political

KYOTO -- A key annual gathering of senior business leaders in the Kansai region ended Friday with calls to improve relations with China and South Korea and to create an East Asian economic bloc.
EDITORIALS
Feb 11, 2006

A pension for their thoughts

The Diet last week passed a bill, effective in April, to abolish the controversial pension system for members of the national legislature. Proposed by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, it is a halfhearted measure because it preserves, although in a reduced form, special...
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2006

Management buyouts break record in 2005

The number of management buyouts in 2005 hit a record 67, surpassing the previous high of 43 in 2004, merger and acquisitions concern Recof Corp. said Friday.
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2006

JBIC at cross-purposes?

The head of the state-funded Japan Bank for International Cooperation told the government recently that it can finance countries that are denied state loans for political reasons, naming Iran and China as examples, Kyodo News learned Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2006

Taisho mulls purchase of OTC unit

Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. is in talks with Astellas Pharma Inc. to buy its over-the-counter drug unit Zepharma Inc., sources said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 8, 2006

More teenage girls citing date violence

An increasing number of teenage girls are experiencing physical violence in dating relationships, prompting experts to hold seminars on violence prevention, according to officials of a citizens' group.
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Forex reserves soar to record $851.7 billion

Japan's foreign-exchange reserves rose $4.80 billion in January to a record high $851.67 billion, helped in large part by a stronger euro, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 8, 2006

Toyota records 34% jump in third-quarter net profit

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit for the fiscal third quarter jumped 34.1 percent from the previous year to a record 397.5 billion yen thanks to thriving overseas sales and the yen's depreciation against the dollar.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2006

Suspect builders linked to six U.S. base projects

At least six construction projects at U.S. military bases in Japan were awarded in fiscal 2004 to contractors that have been searched by prosecutors investigating alleged bid-rigging at the Defense Facilities Administration Agency, investigative sources and documents indicated Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2006

JAL reports 23 billion yen group net loss

Japan Airlines Corp. reported Monday a group net loss of 23 billion yen for the first three quarters of fiscal 2005, slumping from a net profit of 79.2 billion yen it logged in the same period the previous year.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 7, 2006

How Japan became No. 1

Who has the global bragging rights to slimness? First there was Mireille Guiliano's book, "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure," published in 2004. Hot on the heels of this best-seller, Naomi Moriyama threw down the gauntlet less than a year later with "Japanese Women Don't...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 5, 2006

Souness doomed to fail with Magpies

DETROIT -- There are some things in football that seem so obviously destined to go wrong you wonder why they happen in the first place.
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2006

Livedoor tied to faked transactions

Former Livedoor Co. executives are now suspected of booking fictitious transactions and revenues in 2005 as well as those earlier reported for the year to September 2004, investigative sources said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2006

New games bring more people to video consoles

There may be no monsters to slay or racing cars to spin, but new video games that claim to stimulate the brain or translate languages are being snapped up by a new crowd of gamers.
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2006

Nissan operating profit sets record

Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday its group operating profit for the first nine months of the year through March 31 rose 3.1 percent from a year before to a record 631.16 billion yen, chiefly due to brisk demand in Japan, North America and Europe.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2006

Iwakuni joins base bid-rigging snafu

The bid-rigging scandal involving the Defense Facilities Administration Agency widened Thursday after investigators said bids for a runway relocation project at the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture were also rigged.
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2006

Livedoor stock keeps falling, hits 85 yen

Livedoor Co.'s stock price skidded to 85 yen Thursday as individual investors stepped up selling of the Internet services firm, which was raided by prosecutors last month on suspicion of securities law violations.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Feb 3, 2006

Kabuki duo turn Bard into a mythical folktale

Ryutopia Company shot to prominence in December 2003 with its Noh staging of "Macbeth." Since then, Ryutopia's 48-year-old director Yoshihiro Kurita has twice more pulled off the feat of breaking the Tokyo-Osaka stranglehold on Japanese theater by luring the nation's critics north through the snows for...
CULTURE / Music
Feb 3, 2006

Robert Pollard "From A Compound Eye"

During two decades with Guided By Voices, Robert Pollard became one of the strongest songwriters on the American underground rock scene. With his uncanny knack of turning out pieces of pop perfection, Pollard and his roving cast of backing musicians were lauded by critics and fans who remain baffled...

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?