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BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Foreign-takeover blocks to come later

It is difficult to submit legislation for increasing regulations on purchases of Japanese broadcasters by foreign companies during the current Diet session, Taro Aso, minister of internal affairs and communications, said Friday after a Cabinet meeting.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 5, 2005

Okada looking to conquer Japan, Asia and rest of world

YOKOHAMA -- Yokohama F. Marinos manager Takeshi Okada has set his sights on a domestic and continental title double in 2005.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

GE plots housing-loan sector foray

U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co. will enter Japan's housing loan business, opening seven outlets in six major cities from April, company officials said Friday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Mar 5, 2005

Marja Kullberg

"You can miss everything else, but not this: midsummer in Sweden. This is our tradition, going back a long time, to celebrate the 24 hours of daylight of midsummer, the occasion everybody waits for after a long, dark winter."
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Livedoor ups stake in broadcaster

Livedoor Co. has increased its stake in Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. to more than 45 percent in terms of voting rights, Livedoor sources said Friday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Mar 5, 2005

Get! Strunk & White's punctuation soup

The Japanese have some unique ways of learning English. Did you know, for example, that you can learn English from animal crackers? Yes, animal crackers in Japan have English names on them, presumably to provide an educational aspect to snacks. Talk about forcing the language down our throats! Perhaps...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Investment managers push Indian stock funds

Investors are taking an interest in Indian stocks as "high-risk, high-return" investments gain favor in a country where interest rates are virtually zero, stock prices seesaw and deposit protection will soon be curtailed.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Surcharges considered for falsified financial reports

The governing Liberal Democratic Party will propose a bill to impose surcharges on companies falsifying their financial statements, members of an LDP panel on corporate accounting said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Seibu Railway open to offers on baseball club

Scandal-tainted Seibu Railway Co. would consider offers on the Seibu Lions professional baseball club, the head of a Seibu group reform panel said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2005

Toyota Vitz reclaims pole position in vehicle sales battle

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Vitz was the best-selling new car in Japan in February, returning to the top spot for the first time since July 2000.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 4, 2005

Ai-chan to play for Liaoning

Japanese table tennis player Ai Fukuhara will join Chinese club Liaoning after turning down an offer from Super League rival Beijing, table tennis officials said Thursday.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Mar 4, 2005

Poor loser Mourinho in danger of losing the plot altogether

LONDON -- If, and it is a huge if, I decide to make a less than flattering gesture to someone in a bar I would make sure I knew where the guy was standing. Otherwise, I might find myself explaining my actions to a few people who were less than happy with what they saw.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 4, 2005

Oda leads the field after qualifying round

Nobunari Oda
EDITORIALS
Mar 4, 2005

Ailment needs a national response

For sufferers of kafunshou (pollen allergy) or hay fever, this is shaping up into a really bad year. Because of last summer's sweltering heat, the amount of cedar pollen in the air is forecast to rise two or three times above average, possibly exceeding the worst-ever level of 1995. Reports say that,...
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2005

Yahoo Japan to pay 2004 dividends

Yahoo Japan Corp. said Thursday it will begin paying dividends for fiscal 2004.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2005

Waking up to China's threat

NEW YORK -- On Feb. 19, Japan and the United States issued a joint statement that maintaining peace and security in the Taiwan Strait is a common strategic objective. This was nothing extraordinary except for the fact that Japan, for the first time, joined the U.S. in voicing public concern about China's...
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2005

Nippon Steel ups profit estimates

Nippon Steel Corp. on Thursday revised upward its group net and pretax profit forecasts for the fiscal year to March 31, citing higher prices of steel products stemming mainly from bigger demand overseas.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2005

BOJ provides short-term cash boost

The Bank of Japan pumped 500 billion yen into the short-term money market Thursday in its first emergency fund provision in about four months as it feared banks' reserves at the central bank would fall below its liquidity target.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2005

Livedoor furor opens up M&A can of worms

As it gears up to pass new legislation that will make it easier for companies to merge or acquire other firms, Japan is getting cold feet.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2005

Marui plots generational power shift

Department store chain Marui Co. said Thursday it has nominated Executive Vice President Hiroshi Aoi, 44, to replace his father, Tadao, as president on April 1, marking the first change in the top post in 33 years.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / THEN AND NOW
Mar 4, 2005

Happy in the haze of a hanami hour

The 1830s wood-block print below depicts hanami (cherry-blossom viewing) on the banks of the Sumida River. A group of young women and girls are on an excursion, and, with their elaborate hairstyles and fancy, uniform kimono, it appears they are apprentice geisha from licensed quarters nearby. Like teenage...
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2005

Nippon Broadcasting staff object to Livedoor bid

Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. employees objected Thursday to Livedoor Co.'s attempt to take control of the firm.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Mar 4, 2005

Casa Paradis Barcelona: Tapas and paella in Shibuya

Much like Pavlov's poor, sad, salivating dogs, we can never pass a restaurant without going inside if there's a paella pan, some empty sherry bottles and a red-and-yellow flag outside. This weakness for Spanish food often results in disappointment: mediocre tapas and the music of The Gypsy Kings can...
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2005

Horie lauds new rules, says 'friendly' deal was dead end

Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie said Thursday he welcomes the capital market regulations set to be introduced in the wake of his firm's controversial bid to acquire Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2005

Increase pressure on North Korea

Talks with North Korea are deadlocked on two make-or-break issues: that country's nuclear weapons program and its past abduction of Japanese nationals. Last month, declaring that it has nuclear weapons, Pyongyang threatened an indefinite boycott of the six-party talks. It also refused to discuss the...
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / OLD NIC'S NOTEBOOK
Mar 3, 2005

Unique 'twin' woods branch out

Our little Afan Woodland Trust here in Kurohime in Nagano Prefecture is twinned with the Afan Forest Park in South Wales. Most folk have heard of twinned cities (though I believe that Americans call them "sister cities"), but as far as I know, our twinning of forests is unique, and -- as sometimes happens...

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A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?