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COMMENTARY
Sep 11, 2008

China's Africa policy changing for the better

China refused to allow Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, to take part in the opening session of the Olympic Games, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The paper said Mugabe had traveled to Hong Kong but was then persuaded by China to go home.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2008

LDP rivals offer more reform or regression

OSAKA — In the short term, the next prime minister will either continue internationally sought fiscal and economic reforms or return to the traditional pork-barrel projects and failed economic policies of the past, forge closer military ties with the United States or maintain the status quo.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2008

Sony Financial aims to boost policy sales to ¥36 trillion

Sony Financial Holdings Inc. aims to boost policy sales 15 percent to ¥36 trillion by March 2011 as Japan's insurers struggle to counter declining demand.
Japan Times
LIFE
Aug 24, 2008

Biomimicry: Natural by design

I magine being able to maintain a perfect temperature and humidity in your home year round, without spending a single yen in electricity or gas bills. That's exactly what Professor Emile Ishida of Tohoku University in northern Japan is striving to achieve — and he got the idea from termites.
JAPAN / MIXED MATCHES
Aug 23, 2008

Long-distance becomes longtime romance

Felix Moesner met Makiko Aikawa in 1991 when he was doing a one-year robotics internship at Toshiba Corp. and a home-stay at her grandmother's house in Yokohama. Then a university student, she often visited after cooking classes at a restaurant nearby.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2008

Heading for global recession

The probability is growing that the global economy — not just the United States — will experience a serious recession. Recent developments suggest that all Group of Seven economies are already in recession or are close to tipping into one. Other advanced economies or emerging markets (the rest of...
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Aug 17, 2008

1908 Olympics, Tokyo drunks and a hot summer

100 YEARS AGO
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2008

Japan's insurers look abroad as profits fall

Slowing premium growth may force Japan's insurance companies to seek more takeovers abroad to counter declining profits in the world's most rapidly aging country.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2008

ANA set to suspend or reduce 11 routes

All Nippon Airways Co. said Wednesday it will suspend or reduce 11 international and domestic routes beginning this fall as it struggles with surging jet fuel costs.
BUSINESS
Aug 1, 2008

Downturn doesn't spell 'R' word: Mitarai

Although the economy is suffering a downturn because of the slowdown in the U.S., Japan is unlikely to experience a recession in the foreseeable future, Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the nation's biggest business lobby, said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2008

Sony profit fell 47.4% in quarter; forecast pared

Sony Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit plunged 47.4 percent to ¥35 billion in the April-June quarter from a year ago amid fierce competition in the consumer electronics sector, including compact digital cameras and computers.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2008

Nomura posts unexpected first-quarter loss

Nomura Holdings Inc., the nation's largest brokerage, posted on Tuesday an unexpected first-quarter loss as trading profit slumped and it recorded additional provisions for bond insurers.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jul 29, 2008

Navigating the 'keigo' minefield

You've probably heard of blunders by Japanese businessmen in English, such as translating "hitotsu yoroshiku" as "one, please" instead of "I look forward to working with you." Less known, but no less common, are the slip-ups foreigners make in Japanese, especially when using that dreaded form of honorifics...
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2008

Record quarterly profit can't dispel Honda's pessimism

Honda Motor Co. said Friday its group net profit rose 8.1 percent in the first quarter of business 2008 — but only because a technical factor pushed up profits that were eroded by the yen's appreciation and soaring raw materials costs.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2008

Horie's 30-month prison term upheld

The Tokyo High Court rejected Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie's appeal Friday and upheld his 2 1/2-year prison term for falsifying financial statements and violating the Securities and Exchange Law, describing the defendant as "lacking dignity."
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2008

Top 12 banks struggling to profit from core operations: BOJ review

The fiscal 2007 earnings reports for Japan's 12 major banks show they are having little success at boosting their core businesses, according to a Bank of Japan review released Wednesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 20, 2008

All this fuss over just a little drink at a . . . love hotel

The big tabloid scoop last week was snagged by the woman's weekly Josei Seven, which caught celebrity/announcer Mona Yamamoto and Yomiuri Giants shortstop Tomohiro Nioka in a love-hotel tryst. The reason the incident hit such a big nerve in the media is that the night the tryst took place was also the...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2008

The rising middle classes want their wheels

BEIJING — W hat becomes immediately apparent on entering the 10th annual Beijing car show is the emotional intensity with which China has thrown itself into its greatest consumerist passion to date: the first throes of an affair with the car. The entire nation, it turns out, is in love with them, is...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / G8 SUMMIT 2008
Jul 10, 2008

Nuke plant makers cast eye abroad

The voice of Atsutoshi Nishida, president of Toshiba Corp., rose an octave as he talked about the electronic giant's quest to build atomic power plants.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 10, 2008

Skymark to hike prices due to jet fuel costs

Skymark Airlines Inc. plans to raise ticket prices for at least the second time in three months as it tries to cover fuel costs that have jumped 40 percent this business year.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 8, 2008

Cardboard coffins boast eco-merit

As more consumers pursue environmentally friendly lives, businesses are introducing products and services catering to those quests.

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