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BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2006

Fitch keeps Hankyu ratings intact

Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it has decided to keep the credit ratings of Hankyu Holdings Inc. unchanged because the burden stemming from the tender offer for Hanshin Electric Railway Co. shares has stayed within the anticipated level.
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2006

Insurer Mitsui Sumitomo faces FSA sanctions

The Financial Services Agency is considering ordering Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. to suspend sales of nonlife insurance policies as well as medical insurance products at all of its outlets for about two weeks as punishment for its nonpayment of insurance claims, FSA sources said Tuesday.
MORE SPORTS
Jun 20, 2006

Ex-speedskater takes helm of JSF

Former speedskater Seiko Hashimoto, a bronze medalist at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, was selected Sunday as president of the scandal- plagued Japan Skating Federation.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 18, 2006

In the wake of the true traditional Japanese funeral

MODERN PASSINGS: Death Rites, Politics, and Social Change in Imperial Japan, by Andrew Bern- stein. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2006,242 pp., with photos, $39 (cloth). I have long admired Japan's attitude toward death, its acceptance, its no-nonsense attitude toward disposal and entombment,...
CULTURE / Books
Jun 18, 2006

The lore and legend of Asian lawmen

"The Calf Strung Up beneath The Cart" will cause you agony profound; "The Ass tied tightly to The Post" will make you scream and leap around; "The Phoenix drying both her Wings" to death itself will bring you near; "The Boy who Sits and Contemplates," the stoutest soul will cause to fear; And if "The...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 18, 2006

Kanjani 8 hosts "Suka*J" on TV Tokyo, Nihon TV's "Tetsuwan Dash" and more

Always on the lookout for new variety show ideas, TV Asahi experiments with the idea of mathematical probability.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 18, 2006

NHK's public service is to take your money and run . . . bad TV

Fans of baseball star Ichiro Suzuki had reason to be mad at NHK two weeks ago. The Seattle Mariners outfielder was on the verge of his 2,500th career hit, one of the game's rare milestones, which was predicted to happen some time between June 6 and 9. However, the public broadcaster, whose BS-1 satellite...
EDITORIALS
Jun 17, 2006

Mr. Fukui's poor judgment

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui has made public that he invested 10 million yen in an investment fund led by maverick fund manager Mr. Yoshiaki Murakami, who was arrested June 5 on suspicion of insider trading involving purchases of Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. shares.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 17, 2006

Still blue-eyed, but not a 'salaryman' anymore

Niall Murtagh begins "The Blue-Eyed Salaryman" with good humor and a wry, self-deprecating smile:
MORE SPORTS
Jun 16, 2006

Hashimoto in line to lead JSF

Former speed skater Seiko Hashimoto, a bronze medalist at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, is most likely to become president of the scandal-plagued Japan Skating Federation whose executives are set to be reshuffled in July, skating sources said on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2006

Interest rate hike not in the cards yet, BOJ assures

The Bank of Japan said Thursday it will maintain its "zero-interest-rate" policy, leaving the unsecured overnight call money rate unchanged near zero.
BUSINESS
Jun 14, 2006

U.S. accounting firm to try again

PricewaterhouseCoopers said Tuesday it has formed a new auditing company in Japan following an official penalty slapped on its longtime Japanese ally, ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2006

Sompo insurance sales ban kicks in

A temporary ban on part of Sompo Japan Insurance Inc.'s business operations, ordered by the Financial Services Agency, took effect Monday as punishment for financial irregularities.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 13, 2006

Tiffany-Gehry collaboration, Commes des Garcons for Speedo, Oliver Goldsmith eyewear . . .

Architectural accessories Synonymous with refined New York-style luxury, jeweler Tiffany & Co. has signed up California-based Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry to enhance its conservative image with a little left-field design credibility. The stellar collaboration has resulted in six lines...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 13, 2006

The beautiful game inspires sartorial sins

Soccer might be known as the beautiful game, but it has never inspired beautiful design. As the World Cup in Germany gets into full swing, patriotic fervor will move millions of fans to purchase their team's jersey, resulting in innumerable crimes against good taste.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2006

Filmmaker retraces footsteps of Palestinian thinker

"Fighting the jihad with the pen is the same as dying for the jihad," says Mahmoud, a young Lebanese man in a new documentary dedicated to Edward Said, the Palestinian-American intellectual and advocate for the Palestinian cause.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 11, 2006

Stick-thin, gay, or preferably both -- a television career awaits

Truth in advertising has never been strictly enforced in Japan, especially with regard to health-related claims. Breweries can get away with promoting "low-calorie" beers as weight-loss aids, while pharmaceutical makers sell vitamin supplements that claim to do everything from clear up your skin to help...
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 11, 2006

Nihon TV's "Antenna 22" digs in to Shibuya's Center-gai culture and more

For 20 years the crucible of teen girl fashion and attitude has been Shibuya's Center-gai street in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Core machinery orders jumped 10.8% in April

Core private-sector machinery orders in April soared a seasonally adjusted 10.8 percent over the previous month to 1.140 trillion yen, the highest since August 2000, the government said Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Dream Technologies' revival tied to Murakami

Late last October, while everyone was watching Rakuten Inc. make a surprise bid to integrate with Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., Yoshiaki Murakami launched a new investment plan.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Law to make stores cut back on bags

The Diet enacted a revised law Friday that gives the government the authority to order supermarkets and other retailers to cut their use of shopping bags if the businesses' own efforts are deemed insufficient.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2006

Skylark to carry out largest MBO in Japan history

Family-style restaurant chain Skylark Co. announced Thursday its management will buy all outstanding company shares to become private, making it the largest management buyout bid in Japanese history.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Jun 9, 2006

Breezy mall brightens up a down-at-heel district

As home to myriad love hotels, hostess bars and seedy nightlife establishments, Kinshicho in Tokyo's Sumida Ward has earned itself an unenviable reputation as a center of iniquity. Though it bustles after dusk, during the daytime, the east Tokyo town is an unremarkable shitamachi (downtown) district....
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2006

Prince Hotels falls further into red

The reorganized Seibu Group said Wednesday its Prince Hotels chain had a net loss of 37.2 billion yen in fiscal 2005, an increase from the previous year's loss of 32 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2006

FT questions fairness of arrests

The Financial Times raised questions in its lead editorial Tuesday about whether financial authorities are being even-handed in their arrest of investment fund chief Yoshiaki Murakami for suspected insider trading.
JAPAN
Jun 7, 2006

Aneha faces more claims of misdeeds

Police filed an additional report with prosecutors Tuesday on their investigation into disqualified architect Hidetsugu Aneha's fabrication of earthquake-resistance data for a condominium complex and a budget hotel, both of which were later found to be susceptible to damage in a strong quake.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2006

Murakami fund to sell Hanshin stake to Hankyu

The investment fund led by Yoshiaki Murakami announced Monday that it is selling its shares in Hanshin Electric Railway Co., paving the way for Hankyu Holdings Inc.'s takeover bid for Hanshin.
BUSINESS
Jun 6, 2006

Firms log 15.5 trillion yen profits

Combined pretax profits by companies totaled a record 15.51 trillion yen in the January-March quarter, up 4.1 percent from the same period last year, according to a Finance Ministry survey released Monday.

Longform

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person