Search - 2004

 
 
EDITORIALS
Apr 18, 2005

Put surplus funds to better use

Japan's corporate sector is said to be awash in money. Many companies, having improved their balance sheets dramatically in recent years, now hold a large amount of surplus funds. For many of them, the crushing debt burden that was once a heavy drag on business development is said to be a thing of the...
EDITORIALS
Apr 16, 2005

Mr. Wen courts India

Ties between China and India continue to strengthen. While some worry about a "new axis" between Beijing and Delhi, it is only natural that two of the world's largest countries -- neighbors, no less -- have strong and cooperative relations. Asia needs them to have a positive, forward-looking partnership....
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Apr 15, 2005

Labor icon Miller: NHL players didn't get message out

Well, I never thought it would come to this.
BUSINESS
Apr 15, 2005

Bankruptcies below 14,000 for first time in 13 years

The number of corporate bankruptcies in Japan in fiscal 2004 fell to 13,276, slipping below 14,000 for the first time in 13 years, private credit research firm Teikoku Databank said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Apr 15, 2005

JVC expects 2 billion yen net loss on weak European sales

Victor Co. of Japan is expected to report a net loss of 2 billion yen for fiscal 2004 after being battered by weak sales in Europe, company officials said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2005

Kin sue to have woman recognized as abductee

The family of a Chiba Prefecture woman who has been missing for more than 30 years filed a lawsuit against the state Wednesday, demanding that she be officially recognized as having been abducted to North Korea.
BUSINESS
Apr 13, 2005

Bank lending kept falling in '04

The average daily lending balance of Japanese banks in fiscal 2004 fell 3.5 percent from the previous year to 386.05 trillion yen, extending the downtrend to eight consecutive years, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 11, 2005

You can lead a market to bonds, but you can't make it drink

The government budget for fiscal 2005 has been enacted, but the amount dependent on government bonds, although slightly lower than in fiscal 2004, is still above 40 percent.
JAPAN
Apr 11, 2005

Airlines report 159 cases of falling parts

Japanese airlines reported 159 incidents of parts falling off aircraft during the year to March 31, up from 96 reported the previous year, a transport ministry survey made available Sunday showed.
EDITORIALS
Apr 11, 2005

Intellectual property disputes

Japan's efforts to bolster the legal system for protecting intellectual property (IP) rights reached a major milestone with the recent establishment of the Intellectual Property High Court. The new court, which is housed in the same building as the Tokyo High Court, will handle a broad range of disputes...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Apr 10, 2005

Impermissible surrender and its consequences

THE ANGUISH OF SURRENDER: Japanese POWs of WWII, By Ulrich Strauss. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2004, 282 pp., $27.50 (cloth) It is well known that in World War II Japanese soldiers rarely surrendered, and fought to the death rather than bring dishonor to their families. Their having been...
JAPAN
Apr 10, 2005

Nearly half think public safety crumbling: poll

Nearly half of the respondents to a survey on social consciousness think public safety is getting worse, the government said Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 9, 2005

Ex-Yankee Irabu hangs up his glove

Former New York Yankees and Hanshin Tigers pitcher Hideki Irabu has decided to retire, Hanshin officials said Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2005

Yoshinoya forecasts profit for current year

Yoshinoya D&C Co. on Friday forecast a profit for the current fiscal year, despite the loss of its signature dish of "gyudon" beef on rice.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2005

747,000 households refuse to pay NHK subscription fees

About 747,000 households had refused to pay subscription fees to the embezzlement scandal-tainted public broadcaster NHK as of the end of March, up from 560,000 the previous month, its president said.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2005

Asylum-seeker sues state for damages

A Myanmarese asylum-seeker who recently received a special residence permit filed a damages suit against the government Friday, demanding 11 million yen for being detained despite his status as a refugee, his lawyers said.
MORE SPORTS
Apr 8, 2005

Whiting honored by FSAJ

Best-selling writer Robert Whiting, author of such sporting classics as "You Gotta Have Wa," "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" and "The Meaning of Ichiro," was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Foreign Sportswriters Association of Japan Media Awards dinner on Tuesday night in...
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2005

Peeping Tom to pay fine, lose mirror

The conviction of economist Kazuhide Uekusa, once a regular guest on television programs, for trying to look up a girl's skirt was finalized Thursday because he did not file an appeal.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 8, 2005

Aum killer's death sentence finalized

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence for a former senior Aum Shinrikyo figure for his role in the 1989 murders of a Yokohama lawyer, the attorney's wife and infant son, and a cultist trying to defect.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Apr 8, 2005

Honest, Doc, I can still dance

I missed everything in the doctor's explanation of my condition after she used the "A" word.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2005

Ito-Yokado profit dives at its mainstay stores

Ito-Yokado Co. said Thursday its operating profit plunged 64 percent to 8.8 billion yen on a parent-only basis for the year that ended on Feb. 28, dragged down by dismal apparel sales.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Apr 8, 2005

A new cellarful of tipples

The dot-com era saw an unfortunate number of foreign wine promoters descend on Japan. They were armed with snappy Powerpoint presentations and talk of quick riches, but their only apparent success was in relieving investors of their excess cash before moving on.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2005

BOJ maintains monetary policy; member objects

The Bank of Japan said Wednesday its policy-setting panel decided to leave its ultraloose monetary policy unchanged.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2005

Pony Canyon eyes share ploy

Major music label Pony Canyon Inc., a key Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. subsidiary, may allot new shares to an investment fund set up by a group that includes the radio company, sources said Wednesday.

Longform

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