Search - 2002

 
 
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Asahi Mutual freezes dividend payouts

Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. will suspend dividend payments on group insurance policies for corporate clients due to declines in capital from large unrealized losses on stockholdings, company officials said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 5, 2003

Victim of prison guards angry at being ignored

After witnessing guards at Nagoya Prison frequently bullying inmates -- particularly the elderly or physically disabled -- a male prisoner sent a written complaint in October 2000 to then Justice Minister Okiharu Yasuoka.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2003

Nationalization guidelines said lacking teeth, conviction

The Financial Services Agency on Friday published an elaborate set of criteria outlining when and how the government can nationalize a bank, but some analysts called the guidelines useless, pointing out that banks will find legal ways to make ends meet and that the FSA is clearly reluctant to follow...
BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2003

Mark-to-market suspension sought

The mark-to-market accounting method for corporate securities holdings should be suspended amid the plunging stock market, the head of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 4, 2003

Diet turbulence likely in second half

As the Diet moves into the second half of its 150-day regular session, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's administration appears headed for more difficult times, politically and economically. The first half ended without a major hitch. The fiscal 2003 government budget -- the most important legislative...
BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2003

Shipments of printers drop 9.4%

Domestic shipments of printers came to 6.99 million in 2002, down 9.4 percent from the previous year for the second consecutive year of decline, according to research firm Gartner Japan Ltd.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2003

Ministry eyes foreign labor post

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will create a new position responsible for coordinating labor policy governing foreign workers, ministry officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2003

FTC fines firms over cartel formation

The Fair Trade Commission has ordered three petrochemical firms to pay a total of 2.04 billion yen in fines for forming a polypropylene price cartel in 2000, FTC officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2003

Mizuho to speed up branch mergers

Mizuho Bank will accelerate the consolidation of its branches this fiscal year, bank sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2003

Fraying business sentiment augurs poorly for recovery

Dented by falling stock prices and fears that the war in Iraq will hurt any nascent economic recovery, business sentiment remained weak in March, according to a key Bank of Japan survey released Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Apr 2, 2003

A timely resignation

It's deja vu all over again. Yet another lawmaker has fallen into disgrace over money scandals. On Monday Mr. Tadamori Oshima, the minister of agriculture, fisheries and forestry, resigned his post in order to take responsibility for the alleged graft and misuse of campaign funds by his former secretaries....
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2003

Fujitsu, AMD to meld flash-memory divisions

Fujitsu Ltd. and U.S. chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. have agreed to integrate their flash-memory operations under a joint venture to create the world's second-largest manufacturer of such devices.
JAPAN
Apr 2, 2003

Koizumi, Yeltsin discuss importance of bilateral trust

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and visiting former Russian President Boris Yeltsin discussed on Tuesday the need to boost bilateral trust in dealing with political issues as well as energy projects.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2003

Industrial production sees 1.7% decline

Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent in February from the previous month after posting a 1.5 percent rise in January, prompting the government to say it remains on a weakening trend.
BUSINESS
Apr 1, 2003

Official refuses to use postal savings to aid market

A key postal ministry official on Monday brushed aside calls by a senior ruling party lawmaker that the government use postal savings and insurance funds to prop up the slumping stock market.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2003

Prison time sought for player in Teikyo University scandal

The younger brother of Teikyo University's former chief executive officer could face an 18-month prison term and 42 million yen fine in connection with a money-for-admissions scandal.
JAPAN
Apr 1, 2003

'Structural' woes behind prison deaths

The Justice Ministry on Monday said that "organizational and structural problems" at the nation's correctional facilities are behind recent cases of fatal abuse at Nagoya Prison.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2003

Warning issued over cigarette fires

The Tokyo Fire Department on Saturday warned residents of the capital to watch out for cigarette fires, which officials say have already killed 17 people in 200 fires in the first two months of this year.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 30, 2003

The young, the beautiful, the talented

COLLECTION OF BEAUTIES AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR POPULARITY: A Novel, by Whitney Otto. New York: Random House, 2002, 283 pages, $23.95 (hardcover) When we think of Japonisme, it is primarily in the decorative arts -- a painting of a European woman holding a Japanese fan or wearing a kimono, some oriental...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 30, 2003

Behind the silver screen

THE FLASH OF CAPITAL: Film and Geopolitics in Japan, by Eric Cazdyn. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2002, 316 pp., $21.95 (paper) Those who dislike that branch of criticism and cultural studies that has come to be known as "theory" will probably not care for Eric Cazdyn's "The Flash of Capital:...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 30, 2003

Was WWF3 a washout for citizens' rights?

While the outbreak of war in Iraq may have disrupted proceedings at the Third World Water Forum being held in Kansai, it also lent them deeper significance.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Mar 30, 2003

Space Shower TV bangs a gong in style

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Space Shower TV, the Japanese homegrown equivalent of MTV. With its unpretentious presenters, high quotient of decidedly unslick, locally made music videos and low-key artist interviews, Space Shower has a strong "street" feel.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2003

McDonald's Holdings flips top manager posts

said Friday that managers from its U.S. parent now hold two of the top three positions on its board, signaling a shift in the power dynamics at the country's largest fast food chain. The shakeup, approved at a general shareholders' meeting, comes in the wake of the announcement this month that founder...
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2003

China urged to deal with piracy

Japan urged China on Friday to crack down on piracy of video games, CDs and movies.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2003

Firms told to return state subsidies

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday it has ordered three companies to return fraudulently obtained government subsidies.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 28, 2003

Musical is well-suited to the times

"Can we sing a song of peace in a world that's full of fear?"
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2003

Japan patents fail to set world alight

Japan had a 119.5 billion yen deficit in the external balance of revenues and expenditures in licensing regarding intellectual property rights such as patents and trademarks in 2002, according to a survey released Thursday by the Japan Patent Office.

Longform

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