Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2005

Regional banks turn profit, cut bad-loan ratios

Regional banks swung back to the black in fiscal 2004 as a whole for the first time since fiscal 1999 with a combined net profit of 800 billion yen, the Financial Services Agency said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2005

Kanebo is delisted, ending 116-year run on Tokyo bourse

Kanebo Ltd., a maker of food, pharmaceutical and household products, was delisted Monday from the Tokyo Stock Exchange for overstating its earnings for years.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2005

January-March growth revised down to 1.2%

The economy expanded a real 1.2 percent in the January-March period compared with the previous quarter, the government said Monday, revising the initially reported growth of 1.3 percent downward due to slower than expected inventory growth and a fall in exports.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2005

Vinegar fad shows no signs of souring as more take to drinking it straight up

Japanese tend to be quick to warm to a new fad and just as fast to abandon it.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2005

Ministry touts perks of growing prison system workforce

Need workers? Japan's penal system has the answer: prison labor.
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2005

Tax breaks eyed for quake-proofing

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry is considering giving tax breaks in the next fiscal year to people who make their houses earthquake-resistant, ministry officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 6, 2005

Income gap among Japanese expanding, but not by much

Traditionally, the income gap between the rich and the poor has been rather small in Japan, creating what has become known as the "all-Japanese-as-middle class" mentality.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2005

Ruling bloc bill to put card theft onus on banks

The Liberal Democratic Party and coalition partner New Komeito agreed Thursday to a bill that would require financial institutions to compensate depositors for losses incurred from stolen or forged cash cards unless the users are mainly at fault, officials from the two parties said.
EDITORIALS
Jun 2, 2005

Not out of the woods yet

Japan's major banking groups all achieved their fiscal 2004 target of halving their bad-loan ratios, which had been considered a stiff hurdle to their recovery of sound management. All of them expect to make a profit in the current fiscal year, ending in March 2006. The disposal of the legacy left by...
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2005

Nippon Life loses top spot to AIG in premium revenues

Nippon Life Insurance Co. lost its No. 1 position in the domestic market to American International Group Inc. in terms of premium revenues from new contracts concluded with individuals in fiscal 2004, according to financial statements.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2005

Kanebo posts net profit on cosmetics selloff, debt waiver

Kanebo Ltd. said Tuesday it logged 314.97 billion yen in net profit for the year ended in March, thanks mostly to gains from the selloff of its mainstay cosmetics business and a debt-waiver from lenders.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 28, 2005

Liverpool's win shows miracles do happen

LONDON -- I now believe I will marry Julia Roberts. I now believe I will win the lottery triple rollover. I now believe I will win the Tour de France, the Olympic 100 meters and climb Mount Everest, possibly all in the same year.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2005

Jakarta and Beijing cozy up

SINGAPORE -- During Chinese President Hu Jintao's recent visit to Jakarta and Bandung for the Golden Jubilee Commemoration of the 1955 Bandung Conference, Indonesian organizers underscored China's place at the conference and Hu stayed an extra day to sign a Strategic Partnership Agreement between Indonesia...
EDITORIALS
May 26, 2005

Bid-rigging at public expense

The Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office is conducting a sweeping investigation of a number of public engineering companies on charges of violating the Antimonopoly Law over the years by restricting fair business transactions. Public prosecutors have launched the massive investigation in response to...
BUSINESS
May 25, 2005

Service industries up for sixth year

Service industries expanded for the sixth straight year in fiscal 2004, with the tertiary industry activity index posting the biggest growth in eight years, the government said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2005

Insurers pay the price for last year's typhoons

Due to record natural disaster-related claims caused by the unprecedented number of typhoons last year, Japan's three largest nonlife insurers on Monday reported sharp drops in fiscal 2004 profits.
Features
May 22, 2005

A growing trend

These are hard times for Japan's construction workers. The days when they were forever taking flak for digging up roads and causing traffic chaos, or teetering on the edge of scandals as they built yet more roads and bridges into the middle of nowhere are now long gone.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2005

Daikyo sees red after following state-backed reconstruction

Struggling condominium builder Daikyo Inc. said Thursday it fell into the red in the business year that ended March 31, affected by its withdrawal from noncore businesses under a state-backed reconstruction plan.
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
May 18, 2005

Man United fans being irrational about Glazer's takeover

I was asked an interesting question recently.
BUSINESS
May 18, 2005

GMO to invest in Nippon Shinko

Internet service provider Global Media Online Inc. and several other Japanese firms are in final investment talks with Nippon Shinko Bank, industry sources said Tuesday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 14, 2005

Near relegation, Saints wondering where it all went wrong

LONDON -- If Norwich City beats Fulham on Sunday then Southampton will lose the top division status it has held since 1978. Relegation would complete one of the most remarkable and unexpected declines in Premiership history -- two years ago Southampton finished eighth and was beaten 1-0 by Arsenal in...
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

Machinery orders grew 6.5% in '04

Core private-sector machinery orders grew 6.5 percent in fiscal 2004 from the previous year, marking a second straight yearly rise, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2005

'Indoor dogs' on rise as small pets become part of the family

"Beware of Dog" signs are becoming increasingly rare as a growing number of people choose to keep their pets inside with them and not outside to guard the house.
COMMENTARY
May 13, 2005

China cracks rights window

HONG KONG -- Last month, China issued a white paper that purported to show progress it had made on the human-rights front in 2004. It was immediately dismissed by human-rights organizations as little more than propaganda. While this may well be true, there are signs of significant progress on human rights....
BUSINESS
May 11, 2005

Bandai profit falls on weak U.S. sales

Bandai Co. said Tuesday its net profit fell 21 percent to 11.23 billion yen for the year ended in March, dragged down by a weak performance in the United States.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2005

Hot summer hits Disney operator Oriental Land

Oriental Land Co., the operator of Disney theme parks in Japan, said Monday its net profit for fiscal 2004 dropped 7 percent to 17.22 billion yen as an unusually hot summer hit visitor numbers.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2005

Chairman quits but JAL is back in black

Japan Airlines Corp. said Monday that Isao Kaneko will resign as both chairman and board member at the end of this month and become an adviser to the company.

Longform

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