Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Takara learns how to spin big profits

Takara Co. on Wednesday reported better-than-expected results for fiscal 2002, thanks to strong overseas sales of its modern-day gizmos, like turbocharged tops.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Kobe Steel plans environmental move

Kobe Steel Ltd. and its subsidiary, Shinko Pantec Co., said Wednesday they have agreed to combine Kobe Steel's environmental business into Shinko Pantec on Oct. 1.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
May 14, 2003

Get your tickets for Diamondbacks Day

The Pacific League Nippon Ham Fighters will hold their second annual Arizona Diamondbacks Day promotion on Sunday, June 15, at Tokyo Dome.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 12, 2003

Flush with victory in Iraq, Bush sets his sights on defending the White House in 2004

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush last week became the first American president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to declare victory in a foreign war. FDR named May 8, 1945, V-E Day for victory in Europe, and Aug. 14, 1945, V-J Day for victory over Japan. Bush proclaimed May 1, 2003, V-I Day, in grand...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 11, 2003

Changes in consumer concerns

CONSUMER POLITICS IN POSTWAR JAPAN: The Institutional Boundaries of Citizen Activism, by Patricia Maclachlan. Columbia University Press, New York, 2002, 270 pp., $18.50 (cloth) This excellent study richly evokes the struggle and frustrations of Japanese consumer organizations in the post-World War II...
BUSINESS
May 9, 2003

JT net profit more than doubles

Japan Tobacco Inc. said Thursday its group net profit for the fiscal year that ended March 31 leaped 104.3 percent from the previous year to 75.3 billion yen due to improved profitability on the back of cost cuts and higher sales of its flagship brands.
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2003

Positioning for the next crisis

In my last column in late April, I treated critically the transformation of America's foreign policy between the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the war against Iraq, focusing on the unilateralist policy of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. At the end of that column, I gave...
ENVIRONMENT
May 8, 2003

Emerging specialty puts focus on the 'green' way cities could be

Cities appeared relatively late in human history, and have gradually evolved over five millennia to support complex economic, political, religious, academic and military organizations and hierarchies. However, their concentration of wealth, talent and creativity that breeds cultural and scientific innovation...
COMMENTARY
May 5, 2003

Rudderless world economy

From 1993 to 2001, the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton based its policies on the Democratic Party's platform of compassion toward the underprivileged and tolerance toward dissent. In the past, this ideology had prompted Democratic administrations to try to legislate an end to racial discrimination....
EDITORIALS
May 3, 2003

Now that the fighting is over

U.S. President George W. Bush announced on Thursday the end of fighting in Iraq. Welcome though it is, Mr. Bush's pronouncement marks only the close of the first phase of the Iraqi conflict. Many would say the real work begins now. Winning the war in Iraq will be easy compared with winning the peace....
SOCCER / World cup
May 3, 2003

Japan cruises home

The Associated Press Host Japan defeated Myanmar 3-0 on Thursday in the first leg of an 2004 Olympics second-round qualifier at National Stadium.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2003

Reform is key to keeping Asia on top

MANILA -- Asia's future is bright, but it is not preordained. Policy reforms that augment investment, lead to the adoption of new technologies and enhance productivity must be pursued to increase the growth potential of developing economies in Asia. The urgency of these reforms is accentuated by the...
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2003

Diet may be taken out of attack-response equation

The Defense Agency may simplify the procedures under which the prime minister can order countermeasures in the event of a ballistic missile attack on Japan, it was learned Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2003

Collegian job offers highest since '99

The hiring outlook has brightened for students who will graduate from college or finish graduate school next spring, with the number of job offers for such students rising 4.2 percent from last year to 583,600, the highest since 1999, according to Recruit Co.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

Tokyo Station a mecca for outlying colleges

Hoping to ensure their survival, better meet students' needs and enhance ties with the business community, universities are increasingly opening offices and satellite campuses around Tokyo Station.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2003

Unease over Sony, banks drags Nikkei to fresh low

The benchmark Nikkei index ended Monday trading at another 20-year low as investors dumped technology shares amid earnings concerns triggered by Sony Corp.'s dismal estimate last week and falls in bank shares.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

Women, independents make progress

Female and independent candidates made major advances amid record-low voter turnout this weekend in mayoral and municipal assembly elections around the nation, with almost all of the victors having been declared by Monday.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2003

State-paid pensions short on funds, faith

Mariko Horiuchi, a 30-year-old part-time English-language teacher living in Tokyo, wonders if she should trust what the government promises for her future: a sound retirement covered by state pension benefits.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Apr 29, 2003

Latecomer Sharp leads the pack in LCD TV sales

It took a while for the average engineer at Sharp Corp. to tune into the idea of the company dumping cathode-ray tube televisions by 2005.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Apr 28, 2003

Lakers getting a little help from their friends

LOS ANGELES -- If I was David J. Stern, commissioner of the NBA beat, I would give serious thought to calling one Mr. Glen Taylor, owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and pledge to return all draft choices and fine money from the Joe Smith affair several years ago. In fact, I would even throw in bonus...
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2003

Support waning for hikes in pension premiums: poll

The number of people expressing understanding of a rise in public pension premiums has dropped compared with 10 years ago, according to recent government survey.
COMMENTARY
Apr 28, 2003

Asian politicians slowly embrace the Net

MANILA -- Irrespective of ideological leanings, all politicians are keen on receiving media coverage. As one U.S. political campaign publication noted, "If you don't exist in the media, you don't exist."
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2003

Science minister to visit Europe

The state minister of science and technology policy said Friday he will visit four European countries next week to ask them to participate in a global science and technology convention to be held in Japan in September 2004.
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2003

Electoral vows Koizumi has kept -- and the rest

Following is a summary of the campaign promises that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has kept -- and those he has not:
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2003

Fujitsu slashes group net loss but remains in red

Fujitsu Ltd. remained in the red in fiscal 2002, posting a consolidated net loss for the second consecutive year after booking a restructuring cost of 151.49 billion yen, the firm reported Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2003

Tokyo under pressure to do more to upgrade ASEAN state economies

The success of Japan's proposal for a comprehensive economic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations depends greatly on Tokyo's "strong interest and capacity to assist ASEAN's industrial upgrading and competitiveness," said Hank Lim, director for research with the Singapore Institute...
COMMENTARY
Apr 23, 2003

A bigger Europe may not be any better

LONDON -- A few days ago in Athens, the birthplace of democracy, EU leaders approved a major expansion of the European Union that will embrace 10 new members and 73 million more European citizens.
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2003

NCP to ban Matsunami from holding party posts

Despite mounting public pressure for Kenshiro Matsunami to resign from the House of Representatives, the New Conservative Party decided Monday it would only prevent him from holding any party posts.

Longform

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