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CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 31, 2002

These are a few of our favorite things

THINGS JAPANESE, by Nicholas Bornoff, with photos by Michael Freeman. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions, Ltd. 2002. 144 pp., profusely illustrated with full-color plates, $24.95 (paper) In 1890, Tokyo University professor Basil Hall Chamberlain codified an entire generation's view of Japan in his "Things...
COMMUNITY
Mar 30, 2002

Making music less than a job, more than a hobby

Donna Burke and Bill Benfield deserve to be sitting pretty. Just married (Dec. 28, in Australia), they live in a large apartment in Tokyo's Azabu-juban with three cats, and a flock of sparrows lined up on the balcony waiting to be fed every morning.
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2002

Japan urges China to cut tariffs

A government report released Friday calls on China to slash tariffs and root out piracy of Japanese products.
SOCCER / J. League
Mar 30, 2002

Fans to decide All-Star members

Soccer fans get ready to pick your favorite players for this summer's J. League JOMO All-Star match.
EDITORIALS
Mar 28, 2002

A fairer tax system needed

Two years ago the Tokyo Metropolitan Government imposed a controversial tax on large banks doing business in the capital, with business size, not income, as the standard. Twenty-one banks (now 18 due to reorganization) filed a lawsuit seeking repeal of the tax. On Tuesday the Tokyo District Court ruled...
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2002

Mitsubishi, Nissho Iwai to combine steel operations

Trading houses Mitsubishi Corp. and Nissho Iwai Corp. said Wednesday they will set up a joint venture Oct. 1 to integrate their steel businesses.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2002

DaimlerChrysler's Eckrodt to take over at MMC

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced Wednesday that its executive vice president, Rolf Eckrodt, who came from DaimlerChrysler AG, will become the automaker's president and chief executive officer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 27, 2002

Humans' distance laid bare in two close-ups on 'intimacy'

Theater Project Tokyo's current, compelling double bill, "TPT Futures 2002," grapples head-on with how, as time and circumstances change, people deal with the eternally fraught business of maintaining or severing their intimate ties with others.
COMMENTARY
Mar 26, 2002

Getting tough on bid rigging

Japanese newspapers are awash with scandals over bidding for public works projects. Japan's construction industry, which accounts for more than 10 percent of the nation's employed workers, is the world's largest. It is unconscionable that this important industry has become a hotbed of collusion among...
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
Mar 26, 2002

For Tokyo shares, the worst may be over

Tokyo share purchases are expected to increase on the back of an improved supply and demand balance and rapidly growing expectations of a recovery in Japan's economic fundamentals.
BUSINESS
Mar 25, 2002

Panel to consider tax relief as means of revving economy

OSAKA -- Heizo Takenaka, state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy, said Sunday a key government panel will discuss cuts in income and corporate taxes as part of tax reforms.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Mar 24, 2002

The past made perfect

THE POLITICS OF RUINS AND THE BUSINESS OF NOSTALGIA, by Maurizio Peleggi. Studies in Contemporary Thailand, No. 10, forward by Craig J. Reynolds. Bangkok: White Lotus Press., 2002, 100 pp., 450 baht (paper) Now that Kyoto is to all intents "Kyotoland," it might be instructive to turn to other countries...
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2002

Asian economies looking stronger

Asian economies -- other than Japan -- are expected to stage a strong rebound this year thanks to a faster-than-expected recovery in demand for information technology products resulting from the U.S. economic recovery, Nomura Research Institute said.
BUSINESS
Mar 23, 2002

Mitsubishi Materials plans to sell Osaka's OAP Towers

Mitsubishi Materials Corp. plans to sell its 50 percent stake in OAP Towers, a building in Osaka, to a company outside its group, the company said Friday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
Mar 22, 2002

Students give seniors a rousing send-off

My first-grader sighed at the dinner table the other night. "Sakamoto-kun is graduating soon," he said sadly. Who? I had never heard of anyone by this name. "He's one of the sixth-graders," my son explained. "He showed me a magic trick and helps me at school."
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Mar 21, 2002

Xbox ball: 'Inside Drive'

Strip away the marketing hype. If you want to know what kinds of people video game console makers are targeting, take a look at the kinds of games they play.
COMMENTARY
Mar 20, 2002

Uncertain future for Koizumi

In politics, as the saying goes, all is darkness just a step down the road. How right they are. When the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was inaugurated at the end of April 2001, it enjoyed a stellar Cabinet support rating of 80 percent, and the prime minister himself was hugely popular....
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2002

Shiokawa wants BOJ to maintain current policy

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa said Tuesday he would not be calling on the Bank of Japan to further ease its monetary grip during the latest meetings of the BOJ Policy Board.
BUSINESS / TAKING STOCK
Mar 19, 2002

Rally not just down to technical factors

Having slumped to 9,420.85 on Feb. 6, the 225-issue Nikkei average has been hovering around 12,000 in recent days.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

UFJ hastens branch closures by six months

OSAKA -- UFJ Bank will accelerate the consolidation of 108 of its domestic branches by six months and complete the process by the end of next March 2003, President Masashi Teranishi said Monday.
SOCCER / World cup / EXCERPTS FROM PHILIPPE TROUSSIER'S BOOK
Mar 18, 2002

Leading my troops into battle

"Passion" is the story of Japan soccer team coach Philippe Troussier, his struggle to make it as a player and manager and his travels around France, Africa and Japan. In the book, Troussier also details his philosophy and thinking as he prepares for the World Cup in June.The book has been published...
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

Yokohoma vs. Kobe: bright lights, big beacons

Yokohama and Kobe have much in common. Busy ports, both have swanky shopping streets named Motomachi, Chinatowns, Western-style houses on the hill and monument-dotted former foreign settlements. Tweedledum and Tweedledee? Some think so.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 16, 2002

49ers, Redskins set for Osaka Dome

OSAKA -- The five-time Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers will take on the Washington Redskins on Aug. 4 at the Osaka Dome in NFL Osaka 2002, the National Football League announced Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2002

Matsushita, NEC seek to postpone wage increases

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and NEC Corp. are negotiating with their labor unions to postpone regular pay raises for their rank-and-file employees for six months beginning April 1, industry sources said Friday.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Mar 15, 2002

Bull run may wane if stock-propping fails

A buying frenzy sent Tokyo share prices forging ahead in recent weeks, lifting the key Nikkei average back above the 11,000 level.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2002

Hitachi proposes one-year wage reduction of 5%

Hitachi Ltd. has proposed to its labor union that workers take a 5 percent wage cut for one year beginning April 1, company sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2002

Panel hopes to spur reform with deregulation zones

A government advisory panel on deregulation has proposed creating special deregulation zones and compiling an interim report as early as June.
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
Mar 14, 2002

Rally has put 12,000 in Nikkei's cross hairs

During the recent rally on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the 225-issue Nikkei average broke the 11,000 resistance line.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2002

Firms stand hard against pay-scale hikes

Most companies in the nation's four major industrial sectors on Wednesday offered no pay-scale increases beyond standard yearly hikes in spring wage talks with their labor unions, highlighting the severity of the economic slump.

Longform

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