Search - information

 
 
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Dentsu announces first-half profit

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, on Thursday announced consolidated net profit of 14.15 billion yen in the first half of fiscal 2000.
BUSINESS
Dec 22, 2000

Mori taps tech sector for IT advice

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has informally selected 10 people, including Sony Corp. Chairman Nobuyuki Idei, as members of his new team of Cabinet advisers for the government's information technology drive, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Auto pact talks end in stalemate

Compiled from Kyodo, staff reports
BUSINESS
Dec 21, 2000

Nikkei falls below 14,000

The main gauge on the Tokyo Stock Exchange tumbled below 14,000 for the first time in 22 months Wednesday, dragged down by fears of slowdowns in the U.S. and domestic economies.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

ODA cuts mark move to efficiency

The draft fiscal 2001 budget presented Wednesday calls for reducing Japan's official development assistance to developing countries while attempting to improve the efficiency of outlays.
JAPAN
Dec 21, 2000

83 trillion yen budgeted for 2001

Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa on Wednesday unveiled a draft general-account budget for fiscal 2001 that is smaller than its predecessor for the first time in three years but will nevertheless leave Japan 666 trillion yen in debt.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2000

Kim, de Gaulle: visionary but vulnerable

SEOUL -- South Korean President Kim Dae Jung returns from Norway and Sweden this week with his Nobel Prize in hand, having secured his place on the world stage. But at home, he faces a nation deeply divided over his "sunshine policy," deeply troubled over its economic prospects and enveloped in a social...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 21, 2000

Time once again for Russia's perennial heating crisis

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- The communist central planners who designed modern Russia's infrastructure devised a system of boiling water kilometers from where it is needed, running it through aboveground pipes across a region where temperatures can drop as low as minus 40 C -- and expected this to warm the...
ENVIRONMENT
Dec 21, 2000

One tall organic latte, please

If you started your day with a cup of coffee, think about how you selected the beans for your brew. Perhaps they were on sale, or your favorite roast from Brazil or Colombia. Chances are, however, you didn't have the option of buying organically farmed coffee.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2000

Hope gleaned from 'tankan' doom, gloom

The Bank of Japan's latest quarterly survey of business sentiment has shed light on two important aspects of economic fundamentals.
LIFE / Travel / NATURE TRAVEL
Dec 20, 2000

Walking along the edge of civilization

Done the Great Wall of China? Try the Great Wall of England. It's arguably the finest Roman monument north of the Alps.
LIFE / Digital
Dec 20, 2000

Gifts galore for the gadget lover

Japan constantly churns out high-tech gadgets, and Christmas is a great time to buy the best.
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2000

Economic panel to be disbanded lists failures

A soon-to-be-disbanded top government advisory panel issued a report Monday reflecting on its failure to quickly deal with major economic changes such as the information technology boom and the collapse of the asset-price bubble that depressed the economy through the 1990s.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2000

Mori allots 250 billion yen toward IT 'revolution'

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Monday unveiled the breakdown of a 700 billion yen special budget that places special emphasis on efforts to realize an information technology "revolution" in Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2000

Societal barriers facing disabled may prove the most formidable

As deputy chief of the Japanese delegation at the Sydney Paralympic Games this summer, Tsunenobu Wakana was impressed with the handicapped-friendly facilities and transportation system.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Violent movie opens despite protest

A controversial Japanese movie that features a series of fights to the death between junior high school students opened Saturday at cinemas nationwide.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Aid for crime victims inadequate, poll finds

About 76 percent of Japanese think government measures to protect and support crime victims are inadequate, according to a survey by the Prime Minister's Office released Saturday.
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2000

Japan, U.S. urged to forget trade spats and rethink focus

Japan and the United States should shift the focus of their economic relationship away from coping with individual trade issues and toward creating a more business-friendly environment, according to a still-classified Foreign Ministry report.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

25 trillion yen budgeted for SDF expenditures

The government's Security Council on Friday approved a new five-year procurement plan for the Self-Defense Forces totaling 25.16 trillion yen.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Subcommittee urges clarity over copyright role of ISPs

A subcommittee of a government advisory panel compiled a report Friday calling for rules to clarify the legal responsibility of Internet service providers for copyright infringements, subcommittee sources said.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

LDP moves step closer to cutting China's ODA

The Liberal Democratic Party's top foreign policy planners approved a panel report Friday proposing that Japan's official development assistance to China should be reduced in the light of the domestic economic situation.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Tokyo, Seoul to increase linking flights

The Transport ministries of Japan and South Korea agreed Friday to greatly increase the passenger capacity of the crowded air routes linking the two countries in preparation for the 2002 World Cup soccer championship, which they will jointly host, Japanese officials in Tokyo said.
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2000

Conference to address endocrine disrupters threat

Amid mounting concerns over chemicals believed to mimic the functions of endocrines, scientists and policy experts from around the world will open a conference in Yokohama today to present new information and discuss the threat these synthetic chemicals pose to human health and the environment.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2000

Bankruptcies rise 22.7%, but liabilities up 200%

The number of corporate bankruptcies in November rose 22.7 percent from a year earlier to 1,683 for the 13th straight monthly increase, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2000

Obara pleads innocent to rape

The man police say may be connected to a high-profile hostess-abduction case pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of drugging and raping two other foreign women.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2000

Mori sues over story on gangster ties

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori filed a libel suit with the Tokyo District Court on Tuesday against a magazine that published an article and photographs allegedly linking him to a rightwing gangster, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY
Dec 14, 2000

Network crusades for dogs in distress

If the pope were to visit Yokohama, he would have to consider Kiyoto Kitaura for sainthood, for the modern-day St. Francis is nothing short of a godsend to animals in need.
JAPAN
Dec 14, 2000

Panel backs use of relatives' seeds to solve infertility

A Health and Welfare Ministry committee has compiled a final report proposing that close relatives be allowed to provide sperm or ovum to infertile couples, ministry officials said.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2000

Kobe man says he was a spy for Pyongyang for 20 years

KOBE -- For nearly 20 years, Cho Ryu Un, a Korean resident of Japan born and raised in Kobe, lived a double life. To friends and business partners, he was a normal businessman, albeit connected with the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon).

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