Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2004

Report says Japan must be more open to outside world

Japan needs to carry out further structural reforms to take greater advantage of economic globalization, according to the government's annual white paper on the economy.
BUSINESS
Jul 16, 2004

MTFG exec sees mutual benefits from UFJ merger

The chairman of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said Thursday he sees a planned merger between Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. and UFJ Holdings Inc. as being mutually beneficial.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2004

Corporate bankruptcies down 19.3% in first half

The number of corporate bankruptcies during the January-June period of 2004 dropped 19.3 percent from a year earlier to 7,253, underlining a continued declining trend in the number of failures, a private-sector credit research agency said Wednesday.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 14, 2004

A 'Steamboy' timeline

1995 After enjoying international success with his debut feature "Akira" (1988), Katsuhiro Otomo comes up with the idea for his second feature, "Steamboy," from an animated short, "Cannon Fodder." One of three segments in his 1995 animation omnibus "Memories," "Cannon Fodder" tells an Orwellian tale,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2004

Ultraeasy monetary policy to stay despite steady growth

The nation's recent steady economic growth will not immediately lead to a tighter monetary grip by the Bank of Japan due to the inherent time lag between a recovery and a turnaround in deflation, BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2004

New PlayStation due this fiscal year

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Monday it will launch the next-generation PlayStation video game console by the end of the current fiscal year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 11, 2004

Yasuaki Shimizu

While most ambient music evokes a place or an ambience figuratively, (Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" was, after all, not composed for a departure lounge), Yasuaki Shimizu's latest musical challenge was to create music that worked on both a literal and metaphoric level. His current release, "Seventh...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 11, 2004

Bedroom poetry beckons

EROTIC HAIKU (bilingual), edited and translated by Hiroaki Sato, illustrated by Emi Suzuki. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2004, 114 pp., 1200 yen (paper). Since Eros was the god of love, in the sense of sexual desire, so "erotic," the dictionary explains, means "arousing or concerned with this." The cover of...
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2004

Herbal remedy approval system may change

The government is considering revising approval standards for nonprescription herbal medicines sold at drugstores for the first time in 30 years, officials said Monday.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 4, 2004

Utagawa Hiroshige: Around the provinces in 69 plates

HIROSHIGE'S JOURNEY in the Sixty-odd Provinces, by Marije Jansen. Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004, 160 pp., 70 full-page plates and other illustrations, $34.95 (paper). Here is a beautifully printed and edited reproduction of the complete "Famous Views of the [Sixty-odd] Provinces" (Rokujuyoshu meisho...
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2004

'Tankan' logs best reading in 13 years

Confidence at Japan's large manufacturers improved to its highest level in 13 years in the three months to June, underlining the most powerful economic recovery since the economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, according to the Bank of Japan's key business survey released Thursday.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Jul 1, 2004

Mystery writer Nishimura continues on winning run of great train stories

The recently released list of top taxpayers for fiscal 2003 has shown that, despite the overall slump in the book trade, the payoff can still be great for authors who strike a chord with the public.
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2004

Yoshinoya sees 1.9 billion yen loss, not beefy profit

Yoshinoya D&C Co. said Wednesday it expects to post a consolidated net loss of 1.88 billion yen in its 2004 business year, a reversal of its earlier forecast of 3.16 billion yen in net profit.
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2004

Fuso can't get fix on earnings outlook

Scandal-tainted Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. said Wednesday it is unable to make earnings projections for the current fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2004

Nissan to expand Egypt operations

Nissan Motor Co. said Monday it will invest about $100 million by 2010 to expand its operations in Egypt and make that country the automaker's industrial base for the Middle East and North African regions.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jun 29, 2004

Giants, Hawks dominate 2004 All-Star voting

Catcher Shinnosuke Abe was one of six Yomiuri Giants players picked by fans for the 11 available positions in the Central League team as the final count of the All-Star balloting returns was announced Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 29, 2004

Visa villains

With U.N. studies advising more immigration, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's worldwide campaign for more foreign visitors, Japan is not doing itself any favors with its new legislation on visa overstays.
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...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2004

Middle East policy banks on destruction

NEW YORK -- The decision by the Bush campaign to enlist thousands of religious congregations in the United States to distribute information and register voters for the November presidential election shows how close the connection has become between politics and religion, a situation not anticipated by...
COMMENTARY
Jun 27, 2004

Asian antiterror group finds its footing

HONG KONG -- Last week the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), an international antiterrorist group formed by China, Russia and four Central Asian countries only months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, inaugurated a new antiterrorism center in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan....
BUSINESS
Jun 25, 2004

Manufacturers foresee big capital spending rise

A strong business outlook has translated into a 19.8 percent year-on-year rise in fiscal 2004 spending forecasts for manufacturers, according to a government survey released Thursday.
OLYMPICS
Jun 24, 2004

Japan's Olympians to play Venezuela, Australia

Japan's Under-23s will tune up for this summer's Athens Olympics with home friendlies against Australia and Venezuela next month, the Japan Football Association said Wednesday.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Jun 23, 2004

Many questions remain over merger of Buffaloes, BlueWave

July 7 is the date for the big meeting in Japanese baseball. Owners of the 12 Central and Pacific League teams are to get together to decide what will happen with regard to the proposed merger of two PL clubs, the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes and the Orix BlueWave.

Longform

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