Search - 2002

 
 
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2003

Skymark aims to profit from shuffle

Skymark Airlines Co. said Tuesday that President Takashi Ide has been replaced by Masayuki Inoue, formerly of British Airways, as part of a shakeup at the executive level.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2003

Ling Ling jets off to Mexico to mate with three pandas

Ling Ling, the only giant panda at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, departed Monday for Mexico for a third attempt at breeding with female pandas there, following two previous failures.
BUSINESS
Jan 28, 2003

Brewers bank on heady days for nonalcoholic beer

Some of the nation's major breweries have started producing nonalcoholic beer in the hope of boosting a fledgling market helped by heightened health consciousness and steeper penalties for drunken driving.
COMMENTARY
Jan 27, 2003

The war dead deserve better

I was stunned by news reports that Junichiro Koizumi recently made his third visit as prime minister to Yasukuni Shrine. After his two previous visits drew strong protests from China and South Korea, and after he struggled to justify the visits, officials in both countries must be amazed and angered....
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM NEW YORK
Jan 27, 2003

Corporations cast a shadow on education

NEW YORK -- Did you know that Stanford University has a Yahoo! Chair of Information Management Systems?
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2003

Drug benefits vs. risks

New drugs often loom as a last hope for terminal-cancer patients who have exhausted without success all forms of conventional treatment available. Sometimes, though, drugs cause serious side effects and completely betray patients' expectations. Two such incidents have occurred recently, giving us reason...
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2003

Trend of rising interest rates no cause for optimism in U.S.

Long-term interest rates are on an upward trend in the United States. The yield on 10-year U.S. government bonds, which stood around 3.8 percent in December, has climbed to around 4 percent. But has the U.S. economy been strong enough to trigger a rise in interest rates?
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2003

Gangster held over 'loan shark' operation

Police arrested a gangster and an accomplice Saturday for allegedly lending money at exorbitant interest rates.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 26, 2003

Rambo rides again on the mean streets of Tokyo

RAIN FALL, by Barry Eisler. G.P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 2002, 306 pp., $24.95 (cloth) What's it like to open a book and read an account of yourself being gunned down on the streets of Akasaka?
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2003

Coast guard criminal cases up in '02

The number of criminal cases handled by the Japan Coast Guard in 2002, including ship collisions and injuries to ferry passengers, totaled 1,364, the highest figure in five years, according to a coast guard report released Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 25, 2003

Only Mitzna offers real hope for peace

NEW YORK -- The Jan. 28 elections in Israel offer voters a clear choice: either they choose to continue with policies that have only brought increased violence and misery to their country, or they can take the bold step of choosing a candidate with risky but novel ideas on how to deal with the ongoing...
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2003

Sapporo lowers projections for group earnings

Sapporo Breweries Ltd. said Friday it has lowered its consolidated earnings projections for its 2002 business year, which ended Dec. 31, due to falling sales of beer and "happoshu," as well as appraisal losses on its stockholdings.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2003

Daihatsu, FAW Huali tie up on compact SUV production

OSAKA -- Daihatsu Motor Co. said Friday it has agreed to provide technology to China's FAW Huali (Tianjin) Motor Co. to manufacture Daihatsu's Terios compact sport utility vehicle.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2003

Former Coca-Cola exec arrested on suspicion of insider trading

OSAKA -- A former senior official of Mikasa Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and one of his acquaintances were arrested Friday on suspicion of making 4.2 million yen through insider trading.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2003

Subsidies in 2003 budget hit new high

Government subsidies for policy programs in the proposed fiscal 2003 budget come to a record 22.32 trillion yen, up 1.1 percent from the previous year's initial budget, reflecting the nation's growing social welfare costs, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2003

Kansai casinos a dicey proposition

OSAKA -- It's way past dinner time in the back streets of Osaka's Shinsaibashi district. But one establishment advertising itself as an all-you-can-eat Italian restaurant is doing a booming business.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2003

The colonel hit hard by downturn

Hit by tighter consumer purse strings, Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan Ltd. announced Thursday that its consolidated net profit dropped 15.2 percent to 1.38 billion yen in the business year that ended in November.
JAPAN
Jan 24, 2003

Noncapsule stimulant seizures fall, Ecstasy hauls rise: ministry report

Japanese customs last year seized a smaller amount of stimulants and other illegal drugs that were smuggled into Japan but impounded a record amount of banned substances packaged in capsules, the Finance Ministry said in a report Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2003

Inflation-targeting: facts behind the hyperbole

Academics, central bankers and politicians are divided over the issue currently occupying the center stage of public debate: a monetary policy tool known as inflation-targeting.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2003

Yahoo takes on fraudulent auctioneers

Yahoo Japan Corp. started posting on its Web site Wednesday the family names and bank account numbers of people who have repeatedly engaged in fraudulent and other illicit transactions on its auction sites.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2003

Resona to issue new shares if adequacy ratio falls

OSAKA -- Resona Holdings Inc., which includes Daiwa Bank and Asahi Bank, will boost its capital by issuing new shares if its capital adequacy ratio falls as a result of increased loan-loss charges, President Yasuhisa Katsuta said in a recent interview.
EDITORIALS
Jan 23, 2003

Forge national consensus on taxes

One year ago the government published a five-year budget projection showing how it expected to make ends meet in fiscal 2002-06. Now, the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy, chaired by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, has revised the plan -- downward. The basic picture is that the budget deficit...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2003

Landmark ruling in day-care case

The former president of a nationwide chain of day-care centers was sentenced Wednesday to a suspended one-year prison term for professional negligence resulting in the death of a 4-month-old boy.
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Jan 23, 2003

Nintendo lights up Game Boy Advance

There is no mistaking it anymore, Nintendo does better in the United States than in Japan. Nintendo sold more than twice as many Nintendo 64 game console in the United States than in Japan.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 23, 2003

Move over MP3; purists demand 'lossless'

There's a whole industry built around the MP3 data-compression format, but did you know that by using MP3s to burn music CDs, you lose part of the original recording as the data compressor does its work?

Longform

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