Search - 2003

 
 
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2004

Firms hold shareholders' meetings

About 1,720 companies held shareholders' meetings across Japan on Tuesday to explain their results for the 2003 business year to March 31 and to get approval for dividends and future policies.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2004

MMC apologizes to shareholders, seeks tax breaks

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. chief executive Yoichiro Okazaki said Tuesday that the company plans to start negotiations with the government in July to receive favorable tax treatment for its revival plan under the Industrial Revitalization Law.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2004

Stay-at-home sales agents cash in on Internet revolution

Housewife Tomoko Kobayashi puts on her Web businesswoman's hat at 9 a.m., after all her morning chores are out of the way.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2004

People of Myanmar need Asia's help

Myanmar's stubborn military regime has decided to carry on with its controversial constitutional convention even as National League of Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her lieutenant, U Tin U, remain under house arrest. The last time a free and fair election was held -- in 1990 -- the NLD won a...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 28, 2004

Deflate tension with dialogue

HONOLULU -- Recent events confirm that maritime territorial disputes in the South China Sea remain an issue for East Asian governments. Ownership of the Spratly Islands is claimed, in whole or in part, by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 27, 2004

North Korea's likely arsenal

NORTH KOREA'S WEAPONS PROGRAMMES: A Net Assessment, by International Institute for Strategic Studies staff. Palgrave Macmillan, 80pp., 2004, $90 (paper). To America's hard men of the right, North Korea harbors a full and fearsome array of weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, and the willingness to sell...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 27, 2004

A feast of culture on Hokkaido menu

Modernization and industrialization have ensured that the traditional lifestyle of the Ainu has been destroyed as thoroughly as the traditional customs of their Japanese neighbours.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2004

Investors vent spleen on execs at UFJ Holdings

Investors lashed out at executives of UFJ Holdings Inc. on Friday over the firm's dismal performance and its alleged misconduct ahead of government inspections.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2004

State-backed IRCJ to bail out Skynet Asia

State-backed Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan said Friday it will bail out struggling discount airline Skynet Asia Airways Co., anticipating business to pick up with a route expansion.
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2004

Postal services effort to get more staff

The government will boost the number of people working for the office in charge of privatizing Japan's postal services to around 80 by late July, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Friday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jun 23, 2004

Japan crowd overwhelms Jiga + Jinno; New releases spark summer's fire

Weeks of wonder culminated in a long moment of uncertainty when Jiga + Jinno of Analog Pussy took the stage back on April 9 at Cube326.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jun 23, 2004

Putting it in motion

When the British choreographer Matthew Bourne first staged his "Swan Lake" in 1995 at the off-West End Sadler's Wells Theatre, most critics and members of the dance establishment simply didn't know what to make of it. That, however, didn't stop the production becoming an instant hit in the West End...
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2004

Aioi asks MMC to reimburse 30 million yen payout

Aioi Insurance Co. has asked Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to reimburse the 30 million yen in insurance money it paid out to a person injured in an accident deemed to have been caused by a defect in an MMC truck, Aioi officials said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 20, 2004

Esoteric ways of the samurai

THE PERFUMED SLEEVE, by Laura Joh Rowland. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 326 pp., 2004, $24.95 (cloth). SENSEI, by John Donohue. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 258 pp., 2004, $23.95 (cloth). For the ninth time since his 1994 debut in "Shinju," Sano Ichiro ("the shogun's most honorable investigator...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 20, 2004

Bangkok: Resilience in decay

FRAGILE DAYS: Tales from Bangkok, by Tew Bunnag. Singapore: SNP International 2003. 136 pp., 395 baht (paper). The Bunnag family is one of Thailand's most eminent. Siriwong Bunnag was the formidable and omnipotent Regent of Siam during the minority of King Chulalongkorn in the 19th century. The family...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 20, 2004

Popular return of a dynasty

It is generally accepted in India and abroad that, in the changed political landscape of India, Sonia Gandhi is the power behind the scenes. She is the convener of the ruling multiparty alliance. Her son Rahul Gandhi, a new member of Parliament from the "family" seat of Amethi in northern India (which...
Japan Times
Features
Jun 20, 2004

Vast budget fuels huge arms industry

Deep in the heart of Aichi Prefecture is the headquarters of an engineering company founded 100 years ago to make textile looms. Having borne the name Howa Machinery, Ltd. since 1945, today its products range from window frames to road-sweepers -- but it also derives around 12 percent of its business...
COMMENTARY
Jun 19, 2004

Where has America gone?

LONDON -- The 60th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day landings focused attention on the nature of the relationship between Europe and America. The liberation of France and the overthrow of the Nazis in 1944-45 could not have been achieved without American forces. Britain had stood alone against Adolf...
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2004

Shareholders' meetings to begin in earnest

Shareholders' meetings will get into full swing next week, with giants Sony Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. meeting investors during the annual events.
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2004

Nonresidents buoyed market in '03

Japanese stocks staged a sharp rally in fiscal 2003 on aggressive buying by nonresident investors, according to survey data compiled by the Tokyo Stock Exchange and other stock exchanges that was released recently.
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2004

Reconciliation under house arrest

Defying international opinion, Myanmar's military government continues to rule the country with an iron hand. It is hard to understand why the ruling generals, despite their increasing isolation at home and abroad, maintain such a hardline stance. They should know that genuine democratic reform is the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 16, 2004

A sea monkey and a gentleman

Umizaru Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5) Director: Eiichiro Hazumi Running time: 120 minutes Language: Japanese Currently showing [See Japan Times movie listings] Japanese studios used to grind out contemporary action movies by the dozen, with one company, Nikkatsu, specializing in them from...
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2004

Key tax panel seeks consolidated system

The government's key tax panel on Tuesday proposed revising taxes levied on financial investments to ease risks for individual investors and boost the nation's economy.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2004

Kao to sell its cooking oil in U.S.

Toiletry giant Kao Corp. said Tuesday it will launch sales of its Econa cooking oil across the U.S. in January, hoping it will become popular with health-conscious consumers there.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 15, 2004

Matsui's homer sparks Yankees comeback win

Hideki Matsui hit a solo shot to highlight a two-run ninth inning as the New York Yankees rallied for four runs in the 12th en route to a 6-5 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 13, 2004

Things as they are, not how they seem

HAIKU ACTIVITIES: Asian Arts and Crafts for Creative Kids, by Patricia Donegan, illustrations by Masturzh Jeffrey. Boston, Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 64 pp., 2003, $9.95 (cloth). Though intended for young readers, this is a clear explication from which those of any age may learn. Indeed, the mature reader...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 13, 2004

Tokyo festival puts down roots

More than 20 years ago, pianist Kyoko Edo, composer Maki Ishii and musicologist Takashi Funayama put their heads together in a bar in Tokyo. While sipping their drinks, the three agreed that Tokyo needed a music festival along the lines of those held in Paris and Berlin each year. That was the beginning...

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go