search

 
 
BUSINESS / ON THE FRONT LINE
May 23, 2001

BOJ liquidity effort failing

The Bank of Japan has failed to attract enough sell offers from financial institutions for its commercial bill-buying operations in recent weeks.
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

High-rise hair takes center stage

Early evening thundershowers have raised humidity in Harajuku's Lapnet Ship Gallery to near-sauna level, but despite the sticky discomfort the tiny room is packed on this Saturday night. It's the much-anticipated opening party for Vivienne Sato's exhibition "Wig Wig Wig," and by following a Marge Simpson-like...
CULTURE / Art
May 23, 2001

Bright horizon seen from Odaiba

Reflecting the energy and vibrancy of the surrounding Odaiba district on Tokyo Bay, the "New York Philip Morris Art Award: 24 Winners from 1996 to 2000" exhibition is housed in the Fuji Television Forum, on the 22nd floor of the landmark Fuji Television Headquarters Office Tower.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 23, 2001

'If You Happy With You Need Do Nothing': Alfie

In Britain, "slow-fi" (that's one of the terms being bandied about) is the new rock 'n' roll. It's a genre of music that is, yawn, perfect for dropping off to sleep to. That doesn't mean it's boring, it means it's slow acoustic guitar music made by people glued to stools who are probably majorly into...
JAPAN
May 23, 2001

Why pay king's ransom on conveyor-belt nuptial when Hawaii beckons?

More Japanese couples are getting married at overseas holiday resorts in destinations that include Hawaii, Guam and Australia, accompanied just by family and a few friends.
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 23, 2001

'Cassidy': Luke Sutherland

The fringes of hip-hop that line the frayed fabric of British club music have lately become tangled up in the nascent European postrock scene, a development that has resulted in an expanded instrumental pallette taking over where machines previously ruled. Luke Sutherland, the restless, thoughtful multi-instrumentalist...
CULTURE / Music / HIGH NOTES
May 23, 2001

Mark Murphy

Common enough are jazz vocalists with a sense of the flexibility and evocative power of the human voice. But when that conception combines with a hip, humorous sense of verbal play, an astute awareness of lyrical phrasing, an inclusive, genre-spanning attitude and over 40 years' experience, you get,...
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
May 23, 2001

Rookie president seizes the political initiative by zeroing in on a few core issues

Our first MBA president is managing the agenda of action in Washington in textbook fashion. Unlike his predecessor or his father, George W. Bush is limiting his exposure to the myriad issues waiting to be tackled and fights available to be fought. By this time in his first year, President Bill Clinton...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2001

Government lowers March economic index to 11.1%

The government said Tuesday it has revised downward its key economic gauge for March due to weak production data.
EDITORIALS
May 22, 2001

Fling the door wide open

In this age of escalating economic globalization and cross-border business competition, Japan must develop into an attractive place for foreigners to invest, live or work. In particular, it needs to make itself more attractive to long-term foreign investors in order to promote structural reforms such...
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Downside risk is subsiding

The Tokyo stock market's downside risk has visibly subsided, thanks to the stabilization of U.S. stocks.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

LDP to extend bad-debt buying

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided Monday to allow the state-run Resolution and Collection Corp. to continue buying bad debt from banks for another three years, until the end of March 2004, LDP officials said.
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Japan to field woman for Yugoslavia tribunal

Japan will field Chikako Taya, a veteran female public prosecutor, in the election for ad litem judges at the United Nations tribunal for crimes committed against humanity in the former Yugoslavia, U.N. sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

TTNet back in the black to the tune of 3.66 billion yen

Tokyo Telecommunication Network Co. posted 3.66 billion yen in pretax profits for the year to March 31, marking a recovery from 635 million yen in losses the previous year, according to the firm's earnings report released Monday.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Nissan Diesel to receive engines from rival Hino

In a bid to cut costs and meet stricter environmental standards, Nissan Diesel Motor Co. announced Monday it will buy diesel engines for midsize trucks from Hino Motors Ltd. starting in 2004.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Customs-cleared trade surplus fell 41.6% in April: report

Japan's customs-cleared trade surplus fell 41.6 percent in April from a year earlier to 665.9 billion yen, the Finance Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Cost-cutting returns IHI to profits

said Monday it restored profitability in fiscal 2000 for the first time in two years, thanks to cost-reduction efforts and management restructuring. It registered a consolidated net profit of 9.21 billion yen, against a net loss of 79 billion yen the previous year. Its group pretax profit came to 28.06...
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Nikon enjoys 21 billion yen net profit

Nikon Corp., a leading maker of cameras and high-tech precision instruments, said Monday its group net profit in fiscal 2000 rocketed 169.1 percent to 20.91 billion yen, due chiefly to good sales of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment and digital cameras.
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2001

Politics slides as style prevails

LONDON -- The British general-election campaign has started. The "spin doctors" are working overtime to show the party leaders and party policies in the best possible light and to provide good photo opportunities to illustrate their leaders' popular appeal. At the same time, the party leaders themselves...
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Tanaka clams up on Lee visa remark

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka on Monday refused to reveal further details of a comment she reportedly made to her Chinese counterpart earlier this month that Japan will not issue another entry visa to former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2001

Begrudgingly, Bush endorses dialogue

SEOUL -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's meeting with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung last week clearly signaled that the United States will renew bilateral negotiations with North Korea, affirming similar assurances given by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly at his April...
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Yokohama man held for child porn

A Yokohama man has been arrested on suspicion of putting pornographic images of young girls on a Web site in violation of the national law banning child prostitution, which covers child pornography, police said Monday.
MORE SPORTS / THE DUKE OF HAZARDS
May 22, 2001

Jumbo starting to consider his mortality

I used to be critical of some of Jumbo Ozaki's performances, especially outside Japan when he seemed to be so weak compared to his strong showings at home.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Airbus touches down with hopes of capturing half of Japanese market

European aircraft maker Airbus Industrie has officially established its Japanese unit, Airbus Japan K.K., in Tokyo, company officials revealed Monday.
JAPAN
May 22, 2001

Obituary: Firdous Khergamvala

Firdous Khergamvala, the East Asia correspondent for the Indian newspaper Hindu, died Thursday of lymphoma at a Tokyo hospital, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan said Monday. He was 54.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2001

Fuji TV shakes up management

Fuji Television Network Inc. said Monday that Executive Vice President Koh-ichi Murakami will replace Hisahi Hieda as president.

Longform

Construction equipment sits idle in a park near Shiba Toshogu shrine in Tokyo's Minato Ward. While Japan has a history of treating its trees with reverence, green coverage is said to be lacking in most of the major cities.
Do Japan's trees no longer occupy the sacred space they used to?