Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2005

Sanyo exec to bow out to take blame for losses

Former Sanyo Electric Co. Chairman Satoshi Iue is expected to resign as executive director to take responsibility for the firm's poor earnings, company sources said Thursday.
BASKETBALL
Nov 16, 2005

Saitama Broncos used to challenges

After the win, Saitama Broncos general manager Toshihiko Narita seemed on the verge of tears, his face red with excitement.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2005

Japan imports illegally caught tuna: WWF

Japan has imported thousands of tons of bluefin tuna caught by Turkey in the Eastern Atlantic in violation of international agreements, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2005

Seibu Railway provided 400 million yen to ultranationalist through land deals

Seibu Railway Co. provided 400 million yen to a former high-ranking member of an ultranationalist group in the six years to 2003 via a string of transactions involving land in Kanagawa Prefecture, sources said Saturday.
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2005

Softbank rides broadband to 4.4 billion yen operating profit

Softbank Corp. said Thursday it posted its first first-half operating profit in five years, helped by steady growth in its high-speed Internet service.
JAPAN
Nov 10, 2005

Fall falling back and spring springing forward

A study by the Meteorological Agency says fall foliage is appearing more than two weeks later than about 50 years ago and spring flowers are blooming nearly 10 days earlier due to global warming, agency officials said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2005

Toyota woos figure skater

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday that figure skater Miki Ando will join the automaker next April after graduating from high school.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2005

Koizumi unlocks auto taxes

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has ordered the government to use revenue from some auto-related taxes for purposes other than road-related projects, infrastructure minister Kazuo Kitagawa said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2005

Amway ready for greater triumph in China after tough years in Japan

For direct-selling giant Amway Co., China is fast becoming its most lucrative overseas market, far surpassing sales in the massive yet troublesome Japanese market.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Nov 6, 2005

The media is insuring itself, but is failing to assure the people

Japan has a reputation for being a shoppers paradise, but while Japanese consumers are considered savvy and discriminating, they aren't necessarily safe from those who would want to take advantage of them.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2005

Tsushima named to head former Hashimoto faction

The Liberal Democratic Party faction once led by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto chose ex-health minister Yuji Tsushima on Friday as its new chief, ending a leadership vacuum that existed since July 2004 in the wake of a political donation scandal.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2005

Inoguchi wants more money for kids

the low birthrate, so (the government) needs to reinforce measures" to tackle the problem, Kuniko Inoguchi, 53, a former professor of international politics at Sophia University, said in an interview Wednesday. "If the birthrate keeps falling, we will not be able to support our aging society." Japan's...
BUSINESS
Nov 5, 2005

Toyota suffers first drop in profit in four years

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday its group net profit for the first half of fiscal 2005 declined 2.3 percent from the previous year to 570.5 billion yen -- the company's first interim profit drop in four years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
Nov 3, 2005

Cutting deficit still top priority: Yosano

Debate over proposed tax hikes will not keep the government from trying to trim the budget deficit, according to Kaoru Yosano, the new economic and fiscal policy minister.
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2005

Sales of new vehicles fall to 34-year low

Domestic sales of new vehicles, excluding minivehicles, dropped 3.4 percent in October from the year before to 281,452 units, a 34-year low for the month and the fourth consecutive monthly fall, an industry body said Tuesday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 30, 2005

Communing with wild animals in Japan's famous culture of cute

In the first of a series of recent articles about nonindigenous animal species in Japan, the Asahi Shimbun reported comments made at this year's annual meeting of the International Association of Falconry. The meeting, which took place earlier this month in Prague, saw the chairperson criticize the Japanese...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2005

FSA punishes Meiji Yasuda once again for unpaid claims

The Financial Services Agency on Friday ordered Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. to suspend part of its operations following the insurer's repeated failure to pay legitimate insurance claims.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2005

Output up for second month in row

Industrial production inched up a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in September from the previous month, scoring a second straight monthly increase for the first time since the summer of 2004, according to a preliminary government report released Friday.
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2005

Risks of U.S. beef low if regulations observed: panel

An expert panel on mad cow disease has agreed there is little difference in the risks posed by beef from North American and Japanese cows, paving the way to lift the ban on U.S. beef imports before President George W. Bush's visit next month.
JAPAN
Oct 26, 2005

Court splits on Hansen's compensation

Judges were split Tuesday on two lawsuits filed by former Hansen's disease patients from South Korea and Taiwan -- the South Korean patients were denied compensation while the Taiwanese were awarded it.
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2005

Let consumption tax pay for welfare: panel

A Liberal Democratic Party panel called Monday for converting the consumption tax into a welfare tax, a step that would certainly boost the tax rate to more than 10 percent from the current 5 percent.
JAPAN
Oct 22, 2005

Emissions data put Kyoto target in doubt

Japan emitted 1.329 billion tons of greenhouse gases in fiscal 2004, up 7.4 percent from the benchmark year of 1990 set under the Kyoto Protocol, the Environment Ministry announced Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2005

MMC seeks salvation in flagship Outlander SUV

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Monday launched the new Outlander sport utility vehicle, its first all-new model in nearly 2 1/2 years, which it hopes can revitalize the struggling automaker.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 9, 2005

America's war criminals pass the buck to underlings

'I was only following orders." With these words, that have entered our language as a cliche reeking of bitter irony, SS-Obersturmbannfurer Karl Adolf Eichmann (1906-62) defended his part in the murder of innocent prisoners in Nazi death camps. The court in Jerusalem, where Eichmann was put on trial in...

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.