Search - 2003

 
 
BUSINESS
May 19, 2004

Japan Post could pay 533 billion yen in taxes when privatized

Japan Post will need to pay 533 billion yen a year in national and local taxes when it is privatized, according to an internal estimate obtained by Kyodo News.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2004

Big contractors ride out decline in public works

Japan's four largest construction companies on Tuesday reported bolstered earnings for the year through March, with the fruits of cost-cutting more than offsetting flat or even declining revenue.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2004

Health food vendor top taxpayer

Health food entrepreneur Hitori Saito was Japan's top individual taxpayer last year, according to a list released Monday by the National Tax Agency.
MORE SPORTS
May 17, 2004

'Brave Blossoms' disappoint in draw with South Korea

How time flies. Was it only seven months ago in the tropical heat of Townsville, Australia, that Japan played such scintillating rugby that it scared the living daylights out of both France and Scotland during its adventures down under in the 2003 Rugby World Cup?
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
May 16, 2004

Spring, summer, fall and winter haiku

HAIKU: A POET'S GUIDE by Lee Gurga, Illinois: Modern Haiku Press, 2003, 170 pp., $20 (paper). HAIKU: The Poetic Key to Japan, selected & introduced by Mutsuo Takahashi, photographs by Hakudo Inoue, design by Kazuya Takaoka, translated by Emiko Miyashita & Lee Gurga. Tokyo: P.I.E., 2003, 400 pp....
Features
May 16, 2004

A guide by any other name

We don't know when she was born, or when she died -- was it April 9, 1812, at age 25, or perhaps Dec. 20, 1884, aged nearly 100? We don't even know her real name, but the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis, Clark and the Corps of Discovery has a fair claim to being the most celebrated woman of color...
BUSINESS
May 15, 2004

Sony Bank remains mired in the red

Sony Bank Inc. posted a net loss of 2.1 billion yen in fiscal 2003 for third consecutive annual loss since it started operations.
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2004

New jailers, same prison?

The stage-managed toppling of ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's statue will not, after all, be the image defining the Iraq war. Like the famous photo of the young girl on fire running naked to escape the horror of napalm in the Vietnam War, the photographs emerging from Abu Ghraib prison will be the...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 14, 2004

Arsenal one game away from setting new standard in England

LONDON -- Arsenal stands on the verge of what manager Arsene Wenger called "sporting immortality" with just Leicester blocking its path to the record books.
JAPAN
May 14, 2004

COMJAN 'abduction' list grows -- despite lack of evidence

OSAKA -- On the afternoon of Feb. 1, 2003, 42-year-old Naruki Okita, operator of a small marine transport company in Taisho Ward here, showed up near the docks of Izumi Kita with his luggage in tow.
JAPAN
May 14, 2004

COMJAN 'abduction' list grows -- despite lack of evidence

OSAKA -- On the afternoon of Feb. 1, 2003, 42-year-old Naruki Okita, operator of a small marine transport company in Taisho Ward here, showed up near the docks of Izumi Kita with his luggage in tow.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2004

Ripplewood expresses interest in MMC

Ripplewood Holdings LLC is interested in investing in troubled Mitsubishi Motors Corp., according to sources.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2004

Konami gets a kick back into profitability

Konami Corp. said Wednesday it returned to profitability in fiscal 2003 on strong overseas sales of soccer video games.
JAPAN
May 5, 2004

More universities offering internships in business field

University graduates are finding it hard to get jobs despite the much-vaunted economic upturn, so the schools are promoting business internships in an effort to help them get started on their careers.
JAPAN
May 1, 2004

Ministry safety devices come from LDP lawmaker's pal

Ministries exclusively use chemical-substance gauges sold by an acquaintance of a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker in projects aimed at curbing sick building syndrome, according to sources.
JAPAN
May 1, 2004

Ministry safety devices come from LDP lawmaker's pal

Ministries exclusively use chemical-substance gauges sold by an acquaintance of a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker in projects aimed at curbing sick building syndrome, according to sources.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2004

CPI off a sixth year in '03 but deflation pace easing

The key gauge of consumer prices in Japan dropped 0.2 percent in fiscal 2003, down for a sixth straight year, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2004

Kimono makes comeback -- in used form

Every once in a while, 27-year-old Junko Nagumo and five companions visit boutiques in upmarket Tokyo districts such as Omotesando and Ginza -- not to buy trendy fashion items but to find inexpensive used kimono.
BUSINESS
Apr 29, 2004

Employment opportunities set to grow amid recovery

More than 40 percent of major companies that took part in a recent survey said they plan to increase the recruitment of workers fresh out of school next spring, according to a report compiled Wednesday by Kyodo News.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Apr 28, 2004

Young stars filling shoes of those who left for major leagues

Proof positive Japanese baseball is not "doomed," as some critics have suggested with regard to star players leaving for the major leagues, is the emergence of young phenoms coming seemingly out of nowhere to take the places of Ichiro (Suzuki), Hideki and Kazuo Matsui, Hideo Nomo, Kazuhisa Ishii, Shingo...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 28, 2004

Should Buddhist art be left in the temples?

The most poignant work in Kyoto National Museum's "Treasures of a Great Zen Temple, The Nanzenji: Commemorating the 700th Memorial Year of Emperor Kameyama" is a hand scroll titled "Prayer for the Prosperity of Zenrinzenji [Nanzenji]" from the hand of Emperor Kameyama himself.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2004

FSA discloses results of special audit

The Financial Services Agency said Tuesday it upgraded 23 borrowers that have loans with Japan's 11 major banks, and downgraded 26 others.
JAPAN
Apr 27, 2004

Accused Softbank data extortionist says he just wanted a reply

A man accused of stealing client data and trying to extort money from Softbank BB Corp. denied in court Monday that he had intent to extort and said he only wanted the firm to respond to him.
BUSINESS
Apr 27, 2004

China, consolidation end steel industry slump

After years of being in a slump, Japan's steelmakers are again enjoying strong demand, buoyed by China's red-hot hunger for everything used to make buildings, bridges and other social infrastructure.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2004

Mitsui O.S.K. lifts earnings forecast

Shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. said Friday it has raised its earnings forecast and dividend payment plan for fiscal 2003 as a market recovery and progress in cost cuts boosted its business.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2004

Repercussions for MMC could be terminal: analysts

The sudden decision by DaimlerChrysler AG to halt further financial support to ailing Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has forced the Japanese automaker to drastically reconsider its restructuring program, analysts said.
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2004

Individual traders boost earnings of online brokerages

Online brokerages' earnings surged in fiscal 2003 due to active trading by individual investors during the recent stock market rally.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?