Search - 2000

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2002

Japan may give up on towel curbs

Japan may not impose emergency curbs on towel products from China and Vietnam, due to a slowdown in imports, government officials said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 9, 2002

Finding stories behind the headlines for translation

As the founding managing editors of Kotan Publishing, Gavin Allwright and Atsushi Kanamaru are a match made in the heaven and hell of small independent book making. Certainly they could not be more physically different, one so tall, well-meaning and -- dare I say -- well padded; the other small, neat...
BUSINESS
Mar 9, 2002

Panel urges NTT units to cut access charges

A telecom ministry panel on Friday finalized a report that calls on NTT's regional carriers to cut access charges by more than 10 percent.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2002

Myanmar aid stalled but not finished

Although nearly a year has passed since Japan announced its controversial multibillion-yen aid plan for Myanmar, not a single penny has been disbursed to the cash-strapped, military-ruled Southeast Asian country.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2002

UFJ Bank puts together bailout package for Aplus

UFJ Bank is putting the final touches on a 120 billion yen to 130 billion yen bailout package for debt-saddled consumer finance company Aplus Co., according to sources familiar with the case.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Mar 7, 2002

Yen's rebound may be short-lived affair

The yen has regained some of its recent losses against the dollar, but the upturn could soon run out of steam.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2002

Aoki identifies rehab sponsors

Bankrupt second-tier general contractor Aoki Corp. said Wednesday it has persuaded midsize general contractors Takamatsu Corp. and Komatsu Construction Co. to sponsor its court-led rehabilitation plan.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Mar 7, 2002

Xbox grapples for Japan footing

Imagine a Sumo tournament with a young Konishiki battling Akebono, the winner of which must then challenge Godzilla. Such a battle is going on right now in the video game arena.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2002

Isetan to help out ailing Iwataya by buying new shares

Department store chain Isetan Co. said Tuesday it will provide financial and operational support to struggling Iwataya Department Store Co. to help the Fukuoka-based retailer rehabilitate under its wing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 6, 2002

A syllable becomes a word -- and a world

"When you say the word 'dog,' " the Swiss founder of modern linguistics Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) once remarked, "everyone imagines something different." But as Hasse Mitsuko's new one-woman show, "Voice," triumphantly demonstrates, even the simplest sounds, too, can be full of meaning.
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2002

Cutting workers some slack

You have to give Britain credit. It may be a tired shadow of its former muscular imperial self, but it still has the energy to invent a way to put that very tiredness on the map. Last week, Britons observed their second annual National Slacker Day. (That is, they were urged to observe it; figures on...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2002

Apologies to Seoul and Beijing

SAN DIEGO -- When it comes to the histories and cultures of the countries of the Pacific, the U.S. president either received a lousy education at Andover and Yale or else failed to study.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2002

Trans-Atlantic rift widening

PARIS -- U.S. President George W. Bush's recent State of the Union speech referring to an " 'axis of evil' arming to threaten the peace of the world" appears to have polarized the feelings of doubt and reluctance many Europeans now harbor toward the sole superpower.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2002

Toshiba and Mitsubishi to set up power venture

Toshiba Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Friday that they have agreed to set up a joint venture in April to integrate their electric power transmission and distribution businesses.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 2, 2002

Bush fails to show Korean peace map

SEOUL -- The stage was set for a summit showdown when U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Seoul last week, and it did not disappoint. At stake was not only the future of Kim Dae Jung's "sunshine policy" of engagement with North Korea -- which is highly dependent on the resumption of talks between...
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2002

Matsushita and union haggle over bonuses

OSAKA -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and its labor union are at an impasse regarding next year's bonuses, with the company hoping to slash payouts below a threshold equal to four months' pay due to a sharp decline in earnings.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 2, 2002

Diplomat-poet shares center stage with Parker 51

If the Indian ambassador to Japan, Aftab Seth, ever loses his pen, the world may come to an end. His world, that is.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2002

Industrial output drops 1%

Japan's industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 1 percent in January from December in reaction to a pickup in the preceding month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2002

Nasdaq Japan and Jasdaq hold integration discussions

Operators of the Jasdaq over-the-counter market and the Nasdaq Japan Market on the Osaka Securities Exchange are discussing integration, market sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2002

Seibu to log 80 billion yen special loss

Seibu Department Stores Ltd. plans to post extraordinary losses of some 80 billion yen for its business year to Feb. 28 after liquidating a subsidiary and incurring capital losses, company sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2002

Snow Brand will spin off drugs division in March

Snow Brand Milk Products Co. will spin off its prescription pharmaceutical division into a joint venture to be launched with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. by the end of March to make nutritional supplements for clinical use.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2002

Boy reformatory sees two suicides

Two boys at a Tokyo juvenile medical reformatory have committed suicide, one in September and the other this month, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2002

Poll eyes wages of people forced to seek new jobs

People who have taken between one and six months to secure employment after being laid off have generally managed to maintain their pay levels in their new jobs, according to the results of a Cabinet Office poll.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2002

Soil pollution cases on the increase

Soil contamination incidents rose in fiscal 2000, marking the third straight yearly increase, the Environment Ministry said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 26, 2002

Constitutional reform debate low-key

The parliamentary debate on constitutional reform is making little headway two years after it formally began in both Houses of the Diet. The Constitutional Research Committee, created in both Houses in 2000 to make a comprehensive review of the national charter, is expected to submit a report in 2005....
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2002

Chinese outfox police at Fujian

More than 98 percent of the illegal Chinese immigrants from Fujian Province, which accounted for most of the Chinese who tried to enter Japan by sea last year, used ports other than those in the province, the National Police Agency said.
BUSINESS
Feb 26, 2002

Trade data show first improvement since 2000

Japan posted a customs-cleared trade surplus of 188.1 billion yen in January, turning around from a deficit of 95.7 billion yen a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said in a preliminary report released Monday.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2002

Bureaucrat frowns on Snow Brand

A top farm ministry bureaucrat expressed displeasure Monday over the revelation that scandal-tainted Snow Brand Milk Products Co. has used expired butter in its dairy products.
COMMENTARY
Feb 26, 2002

Bush's policies give allies reason to worry

U.S. President George W. Bush's "axis of evil" statement in his State of the Union message has worried not only the European Union but also America's Asian allies, particularly Japan and South Korea. South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's "sunshine policy" toward North Korea is now in danger of collapsing,...

Longform

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