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BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2001

FSA approves real estate joint venture

The Financial Services Agency on Thursday gave the go-ahead for a joint venture between major trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and UBS AG of Switzerland to manage real-estate investment trusts, Mitsubishi said.
BUSINESS
Apr 4, 2001

State may help stock-buying body

The government is likely to provide 33 percent of the funds for a proposed stock-buying body at the center of plans that will help banks divest themselves from the stock market, a senior official from the Liberal Democratic Party said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2001

Pundits reckon 15% sales tax ought to nip deflation trend

The problem of falling prices should be handled by gradually increasing the consumption tax to 15 percent over a decade from the current 5 percent, according to a proposal made in a report by Fuji Research Institute.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
Apr 4, 2001

The Royal Crown Revue

The neo-swing boom was shorter than the original swing era, which, according to experts, lasted only as long as World War II did. Nothing so momentous accompanied the '90s explosion of zoot suits and horn sections, which may be why it sounds so empty of ideas. Big bands with "daddy" in their names, like...
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2001

Income gap on rise as middle class deteriorates

Various data show that the income gap is widening in Japan, which has long prided itself on being a nation of equality, free of class struggle.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 3, 2001

Homegrown IT plans are best

The government has unveiled the "e-Japan" strategy that it hopes will turn Japan into the most advanced information-technology-based nation in five years. Most mass media and IT experts are critical of the strategy. They say it lacks vision and workable plans, is late and is designed to benefit only...
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2001

Nissan to ride Suzuki into minicar market

Nissan Motor Co. announced Monday it will enter the minivehicle market by procuring products from minicar maker Suzuki Motor Corp. and marketing the cars under the Nissan brand.
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2001

Economic outlook uncertain: Conference Board

The economic outlook will remain uncertain for months to come, according to a set of economic indexes released Monday by an influential U.S. business research group.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2001

70 firms cancel transactions with Canadian logging firm

More than 70 Japanese companies have canceled transactions with a Canadian logging company suspected of damaging the ecosystem in the country's temperate rain forests, according to Greenpeace in Japan.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2001

Tokyo's most wanted: the depachika bestsellers

The capricious tastes of consumers have seen food fads come and go. Remember the short-lived nata de coco boom or Cinnabon craze of last year? Now depachika are the centers of gourmet attention, selling a whole range of foods, among them some old favorites, but also many new items aiming to become the...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Apr 1, 2001

Squid tentacles draw the crowds

OSAKA -- If asked to name Osaka's local specialties, most outsiders would say okonomiyaki (meat and vegetable pancakes) and takoyaki (octopus dumplings, or, as former Gov. "Knock" Yokoyama once introduced them to visiting world leaders, "samurai balls"). While it's true that these dishes originated in...
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2001

Spending by wage earners grows 0.9%

Spending by Japan's wage-earning households in February grew a real 0.9 percent from a year earlier to an average of 314,197 yen for the third straight month of increase, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2001

Microsoft, NTT unit link up on Xbox

Microsoft Corp. and NTT Communications Corp. said Thursday they have formed a strategic alliance to develop and provide broadband online game services for Microsoft's Xbox home video game machine.
BUSINESS
Mar 30, 2001

More mobile phones anticipated

Ownership of mobile phones in Japan is expected to rise to around 66.8 percent of the population in fiscal 2004 from 57.1 percent in fiscal 2001, according to a survey released Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 30, 2001

Heo gets 71/2 years for breach of trust

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court on Thursday sentenced former fugitive real estate executive Heo Young Joong to 71/2 years in prison and fined him 500 million yen for aggravated breach of trust and tax evasion.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2001

Ministers ordered to have emergency plan by early April

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori instructed his economic ministers Tuesday to compile by early April a package of emergency economic measures to support Japan's fragile economy, government officials said.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2001

Honda prepares to build transportation system in Singapore

Honda Motor Co. said Monday that it will start research next month on a new transportation system in Singapore under which people will share environmentally friendly vehicles.
COMMENTARY
Mar 23, 2001

Challenges for Japan-U.S. ties

The joint statement issued in Washington Monday by Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and U.S. President George W. Bush is the first political declaration issued by Japan and a Republican administration in the United States in eight years. It marked a starting point for redefining terms of the Japan-U.S. security...
EDITORIALS
Mar 23, 2001

The fear on the farm

Britain has closed zoos, animal parks and tourist attractions, banned protest marches and political gatherings in some rural communities, and postponed the Crufts dog show and the Cheltenham horse races. Portugal has banned bullfights. Governments in Northern African and Central European have threatened...
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2001

Tertiary industry index slips

The government said Wednesday that an index designed to gauge economic activity in Japan's tertiary industries slid 0.5 percent in January from the previous month.
BUSINESS
Mar 22, 2001

Sato in Sega hot seat

Sega Corp. announced Wednesday that Vice President Hideki Sato has taken over the firm's presidency, following the death of Isao Okawa from heart failure Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2001

U.S. power reforms, IT sparking change in Japanese industries

The rapid liberalization of the U.S. electric power industry and the worldwide development of information technology are prompting key Japanese industries to change their structure and management styles.
BUSINESS
Mar 21, 2001

Curb on Chinese sweet potatoes sought

MITO, Ibaraki Pref. (Kyodo ) An association of sweet potato farmers from the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, will demand that the government curb imports of dried sweet potatoes from China, association members said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 18, 2001

Torture continues to be big business

Recent events highlight the importance of the torture-weapons trade and the role that private companies in some countries, notably the United States and Britain, have in it. Their role was stressed in a recent Amnesty International document, "Stopping the Torture Trade," which calls for a stop to the...
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2001

Kansai mulls ways to attract U.S. cash

OSAKA -- Discussion on America's relationship with the Kansai region generally centers on business investment or the lack thereof.
COMMUNITY
Mar 18, 2001

For top U.K. ceramics, no need to see Cornwall

Koichiro Isaka was traveling with his wife in the south of England when he first became aware of a ceramic tradition. Like many Japanese, he knew the name Bernard Leach, who studied with Shoji Hamada in the early 1900s as part of Japan's folkloric revivalist movement and helped establish Mashiko as a...
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2001

Snow Brand execs sent to prosecutors

OSAKA -- Police on Friday sent papers to prosecutors on nine officials of Snow Brand Milk Products Co. on suspicion of professional negligence in connection with the massive outbreak of food poisoning that hit western Japan last summer.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
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