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COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2007

A war of nerves in Turkey

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — With the political standoff surrounding the selection of a new president intensifying, Turkey is entering a critical period that could have a profound effect on both the country's internal evolution as a secular democracy and its relations with the West. The presidential candidacy...
COMMENTARY
May 10, 2007

Who benefits from M&A?

LONDON — Mergers and acquisitions have been much in the news in the last few weeks. These have raised some controversial issues. One of these concerns the role of private equity. Another is that of cross-border mergers.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2007

Toyota profit hits record 2.24 trillion yen

Toyota Motor Corp. became the first Japanese firm to top the 2 trillion yen line in profits, driven by brisk sales in North America and Europe and the weaker yen.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2007

Shinsei had 61 billion yen loss in '06

Shinsei Bank, the first Japanese lender acquired by foreign investors, said Wednesday it posted a net loss of 61 billion yen for the business year that ended March 31 due to losses incurred by Aplus Co., an affiliated consumer lender.
JAPAN
May 9, 2007

Abe made offering to Yasukuni Shrine instead of visiting

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chose not to visit Yasukuni Shrine last month during its spring festival but did make a 50,000 yen private offering, a Yasukuni spokeswoman said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2007

Softbank profit jumps thanks to Vodafone buy

Softbank Corp. posted a record high operating profit of 271 billion yen in its business year to last March, up from 62.3 billion yen the year before thanks to its purchase of British cell phone giant Vodafone Group PLC's struggling Japan unit in April 2006.
SUMO
May 8, 2007

Hakuho for yokozuna or Asashoryu to block his path?

In the days leading up to the May 5th Yokozuna Soken training session at the Ryogoku Kokugikan the Japanese media was abuzz with things sumo.
JAPAN
May 8, 2007

Ishibashi's brief reign in '57 a key crossroads

is congratulated by Nobusuke Kishi after winning a runoff election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidency on Dec. 14, 1956. KYODO PHOTO
BUSINESS
May 8, 2007

Corruption issue gets short shrift

KYOTO — The four-day Asian Development Bank meeting addressed a host of general issues related to the bank's future. But one that got little in the way of detailed discussion is also one of the most politically contentious: corruption.
JAPAN
May 8, 2007

Health ministry, docs were at odds over Tamiflu effects

so that the causal links with it cannot be denied," the doctor said in the opinion. The 2005 case involved a 14-year-old male junior high school student in Aichi Prefecture who jumped to his death from an apartment.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: FASHION
May 8, 2007

Helmut Lang, Black Label and more

Stepping into the Lang
BUSINESS
May 8, 2007

Aiding middle-income Asia ADB's future role?

KYOTO — The Asian Development Bank wrapped up its 40th annual meeting Monday with a broad agreement that the bank needs to reorganize but continue to financially assist the region.
Reader Mail
May 6, 2007

East Timor wasn't a Dutch colony

East Timor was a Portuguese colony, not a Dutch colony as stated in the April 28 Kyodo News article titled "East Timor former sex slaves start speaking out." dan winters
BUSINESS
May 6, 2007

Asia finance chiefs agree on foreign reserves pool

KYOTO — Finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations along with Japan, China, and South Korea on Saturday hammered out a basic agreement to pool some of the region's $2.7 trillion in foreign reserves to prevent the kind of currency runs that led to the Asian financial crisis a...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
May 6, 2007

Karel Van Wolferen: Insights into the new world disorder

When Karel Van Wolferen released his seminal book "The Enigma of Japanese Power" in the dying months of the bubble economy, the normally staid monthly magazine Chuo Koron described its impact as akin to being struck by a bolt of lightning. For once, the hype was merited. Little before had matched the...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 6, 2007

Baseball federation and schools cause student players to suffer

Some scandals shock the public and others don't. The latter type usually involves organizational malfeasance that people suspect is a normal fact of life. However, in some rare cases a scandal of this type will actually strike people in a contradictory way: The purported malfeasance is not a surprise,...
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 5, 2007

Liverpool, Milan prove worthy Champions League finalists

LONDON — The Athens police, sponsors, television companies and millions of fans around the world can relax. The Champions League final will not be between Liverpool and Manchester United, a matchup that would virtually have guaranteed nasty scenes in the Greek capital between two sets of fans whose...
BUSINESS
May 3, 2007

JAL saw profit, but logs 16 billion yen loss

Japan Airlines Corp. said Wednesday it will log a net loss of 16.2 billion yen for the business year that ended March 31 instead of 3 billion yen in net profit as it earlier pledged, after its auditor required the carrier to apply stricter accounting rules.

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years