Search - financial-news

 
 
BUSINESS
May 26, 2009

Shirakawa foresees mild recovery ahead

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa said Monday the economy is likely to experience a "mild recovery" as exports and production improve, though the outlook remains fraught with "considerable uncertainties."
BUSINESS
May 9, 2009

Toyota expects ¥850 billion loss

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it expects a ¥850 billion group operating loss and a ¥550 billion net loss for the year ending next March — its biggest losses ever and its second straight year of red ink — as the global economy shrinks and the yen muscles up against other currencies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 3, 2009

Pachinko bucks recession trend

In the smoky Maruhan gambling parlor near Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, Shunichiro Nagasawa feeds a ¥1,000 bill into a pachinko machine, helping Japan's biggest gaming industry beat the recession and Las Vegas.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2009

MUFG, Morgan to merge Japan brokerages

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley said Thursday they will merge their Japanese securities businesses to create the nation's second-largest brokerage.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2009

Minor GDP upgrade fails to lift gloom

The economy shrank a bit less than first estimated in the fourth quarter, but the revised data released by the government Thursday offer little good news and only underscore an increasingly grim picture.
COMMENTARY
Feb 12, 2009

Secretary Clinton's No. 1 mission is to reassure allies

HONOLULU — We welcome the news that Hillary Clinton's first overseas trip as U.S. secretary of state will be to Japan, Korea, Indonesia and China. While her visit to Beijing will likely garner the lion's share of attention and her visit to Indonesia will generate the most speculation (can a visit by...
JAPAN / Society
Feb 8, 2009

Burmese junta fuels influx

In 2008 there was a sharp spike in the number of people seeking asylum in Japan, and although only 6 percent of those processed were recognized by the government as refugees, they totalled 57 compared with 41 the year before.
EDITORIALS
Jan 30, 2009

Mr. Aso outlines goals

In a policy address before the Diet on Wednesday, Prime Minister Taro Aso, as expected, gave priority to helping the nation tide over the current economic crisis. Correctly observing that all of the world is simultaneously entering an unprecedented recession and that Japan cannot escape it, he noted...
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Jan 27, 2009

No brown bagging it for students

Safe, healthy, tasty. That's the goal of "kyushoku" (school lunches) that are distributed nationwide.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2009

Three nonlife insurers plan 2010 integration

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings, Inc., Aioi Insurance Co. and Nissay Dowa General Insurance Co. announced Friday they have agreed to merge in April 2010, in a move that will create Japan's largest nonlife insurance group.
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2009

Toyota cut output and now takes aim at pay

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it is negotiating with its workers in Japan to slash salaries as it stops production to adjust to slumping global demand.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2009

Aso set to lead LDP's last stand?

In 2007 it was Shinzo Abe. In 2008 it was Yasuo Fukuda and in 2009 it is Taro Aso.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 1, 2009

Is Aso only postponing the inevitable?

The political news that will have the most far-reaching repercussions into the new year is the plummeting approval rating of Prime Minister Taro Aso and his Cabinet, and his delay in dissolving the Lower House of the Diet for a general election.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2008

Nakasone talks up '08 global achievements

Offering a positive assessment of Japan's diplomatic achievements in 2008, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Friday praised Prime Minister Taro Aso for working tirelessly to raise Tokyo's reputation within the international community.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2008

Rudd takes on climate change

SYDNEY — Christmas is the best time of year for Australian governments to announce bad news. So when Canberra says this country will spend big to help stop world pollution, holidaying citizens are less than stunned.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 16, 2008

A highway system that ever exacts toll

Expressways have been a prominent feature of postwar Japan's infrastructure-building efforts.
EDITORIALS
Nov 23, 2008

Recession at the people's level

Admitting trouble has never been a strong point of the Japanese government, nor has planning ahead, but the failure to promptly and directly confront the current recession will have serious long-term effects. As news from abroad pours in, it is equally clear that Japan, one of the world's largest economies,...
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2008

Dollar should stay top reserve unit: Aso

Prime Minister Taro Aso told global leaders the U.S. dollar needs to remain the world's reserve currency, in contrast to suggestions by French President Nicolas Sarkozy that there are alternatives.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers