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BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

New car sales fell 1.6% in February

A total 361,787 new cars, trucks and buses were sold in Japan in February, down 1.6 percent from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Mitsui Mutual, SMBC to tie up

Mitsui Mutual Life Insurance Co. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. said Monday they have agreed on a tieup in mortgage loans.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 2, 2004

Is it worth it to live inside the Yamanote loop?

Vanessa Gillett Teacher, 30-ish
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Wholesale prices of Australian beef down

Wholesale prices of imported Australian beef declined last week to levels seen before the discovery of mad cow disease in the U.S. in December.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

McDonald's, Yoshinoya diversify fare

McDonald's Co. (Japan) chose fish Monday and Yoshinoya D&C Co. went for pork as new alternative dishes.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Mar 2, 2004

Getting a visa and finding a good lawyer

Japanese visas Dear Lifelines; How do I apply for a visa for Japan?
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Renown, D'urban form holding company

Apparel makers Renown Inc. and D'urban Inc. on Monday established Renown D'urban Holdings Inc. through a share exchange deal and integrated their operations in a bid to overcome a difficult market environment.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2004

Government to own more than a third of road bodies

Nobuteru Ishihara, minister of land, infrastructure and transport, said Monday the government will own more than a third of the privatized entities of four public highway corporations after their privatization in fiscal 2005.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Japan-Mexico FTA talks still stuck on core issues

Japan and Mexico are still unable to agree on several key issues in negotiations for a free-trade agreement, a senior Japanese trade official said Monday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Railways venture down new income track

In a bid to expand their revenue sources, major railways are rushing to open a diverse range of shops and restaurants inside urban stations.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Work hours rise for the first time in three months

Workers put in an average of 141.9 hours in January, up 1.3 percent from a year earlier for the first year-on-year rise in three months.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 2, 2004

Home Sweet Uchi

Dec 31, 2002, a total of 1,851,758 foreigners were registered with immigration authorities in Japan. That's about 1.5 percent of this country's population. But it's an exceptionally diverse group and comprehensive information on their housing conditions is difficult, if not impossible, to come by.
MORE SPORTS
Mar 2, 2004

Junior high student named to team

Hachioji Jissen Junior High School student Maiko Kano was named to the 18-woman provisional squad for the Asian zone qualifier for the Athens Olympics to be held in Tokyo in May, the Japan Volleyball Association said Monday.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / A GAIJIN'S TALE
Mar 2, 2004

Just the tonic

I walked into my local doctor's clinic last summer to get my prescription replenished. It was dark and quiet -- and deserted, except for one nurse who seemed to be just passing through. Apparently the clinic had been closed down since my last visit -- but not being able to read the "Closed" sign I'd...
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2004

Six-nation working group to meet in March ahead of full talks

The six countries holding talks on North Korea's nuclear arms program are expected to set up a working group by the end of the month to prepare for their next meeting.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2004

Stomach to cut government

LONDON -- A British government review, to be published shortly, has apparently suggested that some 80,000 civil service jobs could be cut and up to £14.5 billion ($28 billion) could be saved by 2007 if recommendations such as "streamlining" back-office functions and raising productivity in education,...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Developers hope middle-aged migration to cities continues

Real estate companies are betting that empty nesters will continue migrating to condominiums in Tokyo and other urban centers after selling suburban homes.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

NTT units to focus on fiber-optic nets

The two regional land-line carriers of NTT Corp. will focus on expanding fiber-optic networks for broadband services, according to their fiscal 2004 business plans released Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 2, 2004

Tax revenues decline 11.1%

Tax revenues in January fell 11.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.89 trillion yen as smaller winter bonus payments for civil servants and company workers pushed down income tax revenues.
COMMENTARY
Mar 2, 2004

Requiem for American nation-building

WASHINGTON -- Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has fled. The island country is in crisis. The United States is sending in Marines as part of a multilateral peacekeeping force. Instead of occupying yet another failed state, however, Washington should declare its era of nation-building to be over....

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes