Search - 2003

 
 
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2004

Daiei exceeded earnings target for 2003

Struggling retailer Daiei Inc. said Friday it beat its earnings target for the year that ended Feb. 29, helped by sales campaigns cashing in on its professional baseball team's national championship.
JAPAN
Apr 17, 2004

Pension scheme 8.13 trillion yen in arrears

National pension premiums were in arrears to the tune of a total 8.13 trillion yen for fiscal 1986 through fiscal 2002, the government said during a Cabinet meeting Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2004

Mitsubishi Fuso chief steps down in disgrace

Takashi Usami, chairman of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp., resigned Friday to take the blame for wheel hub problems that caused numerous accidents, including one fatality, and led to a mass vehicle recall.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Apr 16, 2004

Return of Keane to Irish team stirs mixed emotions

LONDON -- Roy Keane's comeback with the Republic of Ireland was as messy as the confirmation of his international football retirement 14 months ago.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2004

Roots of quake wizardry explored

The Japanese construction industry is known for developing the world's most advanced and sophisticated quake-resistant technology for high-rise buildings.
JAPAN
Apr 16, 2004

Dental lobby chief, six others held over bribery allegation

Prosecutors have arrested Sadao Usuda, chairman of the Japan Dental Association, and Takeshi Shimomura, a member of a government advisory body, in connection with bribes the former allegedly paid to the latter for lobbying efforts aimed at boosting dental-service fees.
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 2004

Making nuclear energy safer

With the Japanese public remaining skeptical of the safety of nuclear power plants, the government's latest white paper on nuclear safety focuses on an appropriate subject: risk assessment. The message, simply put, is that the safety of nuclear facilities and equipment can be assured more reliably through...
BUSINESS
Apr 15, 2004

Foreign worker infrastructure urged

Establish an agency for foreigners, appoint a minister of foreigners' affairs and take steps in the next three years to create a society more receptive to foreign workers, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) said in a report released Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 14, 2004

Japan wants to host 2007 World Cup

The American Football Association of Japan said Tuesday it has been moving forward in a bidding process that will make Japan a candidate to host the 2007 American Football World Cup.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2004

Kondo OK'd to head highway body

The Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Tuesday endorsed the reappointment of Takeshi Kondo as president of the state-run Japan Highway Public Corp.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2004

Takashimaya and Credit Saison agree on partnership, capital tieup

Major department store chain Takashimaya Co. and Credit Saison Co., a leading credit card company, said Tuesday they have reached a basic agreement to establish a partnership, including a capital tieup.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 14, 2004

Tale of two trips: 1955 Yankees here weeks, 2004 team days

It has been two weeks since the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays cleared out of Japan following that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Japanese fans to see the Bronx Bombers play official games right here in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2004

Japan Post sees international business as cornerstone

Japan Post aims to beef up its international business to survive intensifying global competition ahead of its planned privatization beginning in 2007, according to Masaharu Ikuta, president of the government-owned entity.
JAPAN
Apr 13, 2004

Foreign Ministry official sees need for banning travel to risky areas

The government should consider legislation that would allow it to ban Japanese nationals from traveling to countries it deems dangerous, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / POLITICS IN FOCUS
Apr 13, 2004

Lawmakers' groups act behind the scenes

A nonpartisan group of lawmakers lobbying to get Japanese abducted to North Korea back and working on behalf of relatives of the missing has been a big help to Shigeru Yokota.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 13, 2004

No room for 'outsiders'

In "The Japanese," Japanologist and former U.S. ambassador to Japan Edwin O. Reischauer wrote that "no people have committed themselves more enthusiastically to internationalism than the Japanese or have so specifically repudiated nationalism."
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2004

Sales of used vehicles down again

Sales of used motor vehicles in Japan totaled 5,353,520 units in fiscal 2003, down 0.1 percent from the previous year, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

Religion of the East through the eyes of the West

THE BUDDHA AND THE SAHIBS: The Men Who Discovered India's Lost Religion, by Charles Allen. John Murray, 2003, 322 pp., £8.99 (paper). The story begins with a botanist. At the end of the 18th century, a Scottish doctor named Francis Buchanan was employed to carry out surveys of Burma and Nepal, neither...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 11, 2004

Keeping ghosts in the family

STRANGERS, by Taichi Yamada, translated by Wayne Lammers. New York: Vertical, Inc., 2003, 204 pp., $19.95 (cloth). Orphaned as a child, a middle-aged TV script writer wanders back to Asakusa where he was born. "A forlorn air hung about the area . . . streets empty even at midday . . . the atmosphere...
BUSINESS
Apr 10, 2004

Research group foresees better year for market

The current fiscal year is expected to see the stock market in Japan supported not only by improving economic activity but also by dwindling pressure from the two main culprits behind stock weakness the previous year, according to a recent estimate by a private-sector think tank.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2004

Local governments crack down on pilferers of recyclable paper

Vexed by rampant thefts of used paper, many local governments have tightened patrols of trash-collection sites and have issued new regulations claiming ownership of discarded newspapers, magazines and other printed matter.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2004

Seibu Railway president steps down

Seibu Railway Co. said Thursday that senior managing director Terumasa Koyanagi has been promoted to president, succeeding Hiroyuki Toda, who became a board member to take responsibility for a payoff scandal that erupted last month.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2004

Banpresto to buy Tokyo fun park

Banpresto Co. said Thursday it plans to purchase the Asakusa Hanayashiki amusement park in downtown Tokyo from roller-coaster maker Togo Japan Inc.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2004

Federation booklet details prison rights of foreigners

The Japan Federation of Bar Associations has compiled a free English information booklet to help foreigners in Japan understand their rights and legal procedures in prisons.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2004

Low pollen count nothing to sneeze at

Pollen levels from cedar and cypress trees this year are expected to drop sharply from 2003, a pollen information association said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2004

Shin Mitsui Sugar, Mitsui units to merge

Japan's biggest sugar producer, Shin Mitsui Sugar Co., and two other sugar refiners affiliated with Mitsui & Co. said Thursday they have signed a contract to merge next April 1.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2004

KDDI logs No. 1 subscription rise

KDDI Corp. replaced NTT DoCoMo Inc. as Japan's No. 1 mobile phone service provider in terms of net subscription increases for the first time in fiscal 2003, according to industry data released Wednesday.

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