Search - 2004

 
 
MORE SPORTS
Mar 22, 2002

Takeda to take up keirin cycling

Japanese speedskater Toyoki Takeda is set to play a double act on the ice and cycling track, after passing an entrance examination for a keirin cycling school Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2002

Drain the swamp that breeds terrorism

This week U.S. President George W. Bush meets in Monterrey, Mexico with 50 other heads of state to discuss financing for Third World development. Last week, the president announced that he would ask Congress to set aside $5 billion for a special development-aid fund. This aid will be on top of the 10...
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

Shimadzu to create DNA mapper with nanotechnology

OSAKA -- Precision-equipment maker Shimadzu Corp. said Monday it will begin developing a next-generation DNA-mapping device by using nanotechnology.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2002

JAL-JAS merger may mean slot loss

Japan Airlines and Japan Air System may have to give up some of their arrival and departure slots at Haneda and other domestic airports to get their merger plan cleared under the Antimonopoly Law, a senior transport ministry official said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Mar 17, 2002

Osaka's spirit in the sky

In survey after survey, Tsutenkaku Tower in Osaka's Shinsekai district comes in second among the structures that most strongly symbolize the spirit of Osaka, the first being Osaka Castle.
BUSINESS
Mar 16, 2002

KDDI revises downward earnings projection for '01

KDDI Corp., the nation's second-largest telecommunications carrier, on Friday downwardly revised its earnings projection for the year that ends March 31.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2002

Tapping of methane hydrate gas raises energy hopes

An intergovernmental research team has succeeded in tapping methane hydrate in an economically viable gas form for the first time, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.
COMMENTARY
Mar 4, 2002

Research needs cutting edge

Since Japan has already decided to reorganize national universities into public corporations in fiscal 2004, it would be useless now to discuss the pros and cons of the plan. I happen to feel the plan will do neither harm nor good.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2002

Giant steelmaking duo announce broad tieup

Nippon Steel Corp. and Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. said Wednesday they will negotiate a broad tieup that might include the integration of their stainless steel operations.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2002

Seibu to log 80 billion yen special loss

Seibu Department Stores Ltd. plans to post extraordinary losses of some 80 billion yen for its business year to Feb. 28 after liquidating a subsidiary and incurring capital losses, company sources said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Feb 28, 2002

Salt Lake City Games spark Gold War

MOSCOW -- Moscow is furious, Russia indignant. President Vladimir Putin frowns, the Russian Parliament wails. The people would be burning American flags in the streets if they could get some. The hotheads are already talking about boycotting McDonald's and "The Lord of the Rings." The nation feels humiliated...
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2002

Honda chairman to head car industry association

Yoshihide Munekuni, chairman of Honda Motor Co., is expected to become the head of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Inc. in May, industry sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2002

Nissan, DoCoMo to jointly work on 'telematics' project

Nissan Motor Co. and NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Tuesday they will jointly study and develop a "telematics" service based on the cellular phone giant's third-generation mobile communications technologies.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2002

Banks skeptical of share-purchasing body

Banks are reluctant to use a government share purchasing body set up to help them unwind their massive cross-held shares, the chairman of the Japan Bankers Association said Tuesday.
Japan Times
Events
Feb 19, 2002

Swim meet to spotlight river filth

OSAKA -- Anyone for a dip? The Dotonbori River has been running through the center of Osaka's bustling Namba district since it was diverted as a waterway in the early 16th century. But the filth in the river makes the idea of holding a swimming tournament in it sound like a joke.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2002

Kyoto pact legislation being prepared for Diet

A new piece of legislation drafted to revise the global warming law calls on the government to set targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and to give households advice on combating global warming, government sources said Sunday.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2002

Open food-supply system needed

Five months have passed since the first case of mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) was confirmed in Japan. The use of meat and bone meal, which is suspected to have transmitted the disease, has been banned, and testing for all cows has been introduced. But Japanese livestock farmers,...
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2002

Asahi Mutual to cut stock losses

Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. said Friday it will raise 150 billion yen and cut its shareholding losses by 400 billion yen by March 31 in a bid to regain customer trust and stop policy cancellations.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Feb 10, 2002

Battle begins for security, 'other stuff'

WASHINGTON -- In his first formal State of the Union address, President George W. Bush portrayed the terrorism threat in stark detail, disclosing that American forces in Afghanistan have found diagrams of U.S. nuclear power plants and suggested that "tens of thousands of trained terrorists are still...
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2002

Nidec to set up subsidiary in China

Precision motor manufacturer Nidec Corp. said Wednesday it will set up a wholly owned subsidiary in China to make and sell spindle motors for hard disk drives.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Feb 6, 2002

This could be Year of the Homer in PL

At first glance, you might think the new Japanese strike zone will benefit pitchers and be a hindrance to batters this coming season. The zone has been raised more than the diameter of one baseball, but I believe it will be the hitters -- not the hurlers -- who will get the most advantage out of the...
EDITORIALS
Feb 5, 2002

Mr. Bush's battles

American President George W. Bush's first State of the Union address, delivered last week, will be remembered for one striking phrase: his reference to Iraq, Iran and North Korea as "an axis of evil." It is a powerful notion and one that perhaps reveals more than was intended. Yet for all its simplicity,...
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2002

Tokio, Asahi Mutual scrap tieup

The merger of Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s life insurance businesses, touted for March 2003, has been scrapped. The decision, reached during a meeting Thursday morning between Tokio Marine President Kunio Ishihara and Asahi Mutual President Yuzuru Fujita, has...
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2002

JAL, JAS give merger details

Japan Airlines Co. and Japan Air System Co. on Tuesday unveiled details of their upcoming merger, saying they plan to cut 73 billion yen in costs by fiscal 2005 by shedding 3,000 workers and sharing aircraft and facilities.
SOCCER / J. League / ON THE BALL
Jan 29, 2002

Bellmare looking at more than just soccer

J. League second division club Shonan Bellmare is making a unique challenge to transform itself into a multi-sports organization.
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2002

Seibu may shut five bleeding stores

Seibu Department Stores Ltd. is considering closing down about five loss-making outlets in rural areas over the next three years, company sources said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Jan 24, 2002

A case for campaign finance reform

WASHINGTON -- Controversy is raging about the Enron collapse. Is it a political story? Is it a criminal story? Is it a business story? Is it a story about personalities? The Enron story is all three. The real question is which category is the most important. and that all depends on your perspective....

Longform

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