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BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2003

Mitsukoshi's group net profit falls

Department store operator Mitsukoshi Ltd. said Thursday its group net profit for the six months to Aug. 31 fell 19.5 percent from a year earlier to 2.06 billion yen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / PARTY LINE
Oct 23, 2003

JCP to stick with criticism of Koizumi, U.S. security ties

The Japanese Communist Party has no plans to change tack ahead of the upcoming general election, training its guns on the policies of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, whom it accuses of pandering to big business and the United States.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2003

Firms unveil home stereos that can download digital music

Imagine if your stereo system were linked directly to an online music store.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2003

Ford sees Mazda as key to energizing worldwide operations

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- Ford Motor Co., which has suffered losses the past two years, said Wednesday it will take advantage of its Japanese partner, Mazda Motor Corp., to bolster its global presence.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2003

Hidden income off for self-employed

Self-employed business operators, especially moneylenders and sex-industry establishments, failed to declare 856.5 billion yen in the 12 months to June 30, the lowest figure on record, National Tax Agency data show.
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2003

Stock-company run university, graduate course to get government approval

The government said Tuesday it will approve within the month applications filed by two local governments to allow stock companies to set up a university and the equivalent of a university graduate course, paving the way for such educational institutions to open next spring.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2003

Recruitment exec says change must be embraced

As Japan's economic slump lingers and its once near-universal lifetime employment system collapses, many of the nation's workers are sharing an increased sense of insecurity. But the top executive of a global recruitment consultancy tells them not to fear change.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Oct 19, 2003

The gangsters that just keep coming back

THE YAKUZA MOVIE BOOK: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films, by Mark Schilling. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press, 2003, 336 pp., $19.95 (paper). When Mark Schilling was interviewing veteran filmmaker Seijun Suzuki for this book, the director suddenly asked the author: "Why are you interested in yakuza movies?"...
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Oct 19, 2003

Tigers players hope to win one for the skipper

I knew I was on my way to a special Japan Series Saturday when several people on my jam-packed Japan Airlines flight were wearing Hanshin Tigers jerseys. There was one Hiyama 24, a couple of Imaoka 7s and several Igawa 29s.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2003

Naigai to reduce workforce by 7%

Apparel maker Naigai Co. said Friday it will cut 50 jobs, or about 7 percent of its workforce, through early retirement by the end of this year as part of a new three-year restructuring program.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2003

Sony and Samsung near LCD accord

Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea have begun final negotiations on establishing a joint venture to produce liquid crystal display panels, industry sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2003

Bus rides to glitzy Tokyo high-rises are wooing the package tour crowd

People on package tours to Tokyo are now being treated to free bus rides to the newest attractions to rise far above old Edo -- a number of massive and gleaming redevelopment projects that have recently opened their doors for business.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2003

Manufacturers cut 117,600 jobs

The nation's leading manufacturers eliminated 117,600 workers in fiscal 2002, a credit-research agency said Wednesday, citing the results of a survey.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2003

Bankruptcies decline as firms go on life support

The number of corporate bankruptcies fell 14.2 percent on a year-on-year basis to 8,183 cases in the six months through September, Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. said Wednesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2003

South Africa's challenge

We were in Pretoria in August. That month, a baby, its mother and grandmother were shot to death and their car stolen; a man visited his wife in the hospital only to be "carjacked" and shot dead when he came back to the car park; a woman was critically wounded when she was shot in her car as she visited...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2003

Plastic surgery makeovers luring the insecure

Risa Arato never liked her hooded eyes -- even her friends said she had a perpetually stony gaze. And she hated the way her sunglasses slipped down her nose. But the clincher was meeting her estranged father for the first time since childhood and being told she hadn't turned out very cute.
BUSINESS
Oct 15, 2003

FSA official to join Basel Committee

A Financial Services Agency official has been formally appointed secretary general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the FSA said Tuesday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 12, 2003

Policy debate apt to decide poll

Vigorous policy debates between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan are likely to feature prominently in campaigning for the Nov. 9 general election, due to begin officially on Oct. 28. The buzzword is "manifesto" -- a published list of campaign promises....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 12, 2003

Livin' la vida loca

Charles Darwin must have been a regular at whatever passed for a bar on the HMS Beagle. During the ship's five-week stop at the Galapagos, the scientific superstar-to-be got his kicks from riding the trunk-size tortoises that give the islands their name -- galapago is Spanish for "saddle." Despite the...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 12, 2003

Back to life, back to prosperity

Ecuador was built on bananas. Then, in the 1970s, this tiny South American country struck oil. Forward thinkers, though, are looking to tourism to keep Ecuador's economy afloat when the oil dries up -- as it is expected to do an estimated 15 years from now.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 12, 2003

His finger on the pulse of life on Earth

The Philip Glass Ensemble has been performing the music to the film "Koyaanisqatsi," live with screenings of the film, since the year after the film's release in 1982. This was later complemented by the performance of music from the film's 1987 followup "Powaqqatsi." So far, these cinema concerts have...
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2003

Resona to post 1.76 trillion yen loss on writeoffs

Resona Holdings Inc. said Friday it will post a first-half net loss of 1.76 trillion yen, a stark reversal from originally projected net profits of 22 billion yen.
COMMUNITY
Oct 11, 2003

Find your writer's voice via the Amherst method

As a break from academia in 2001, American-born Ella Rutledge decided to try her hand at creative writing.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 10, 2003

Bali summit moves ASEAN toward sense of community

SINGAPORE -- At the Ninth ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia, this week, the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations signed the Bali Concord II, an action plan aimed at realizing a more integrated ASEAN in terms of economy, culture and security.
BUSINESS
Oct 10, 2003

Ito-Yokado profit plunges 71.2%

Ito-Yokado Co., Japan's largest retailer, on Thursday became the latest chain to report dismal first-half results due to the cool summer.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Oct 10, 2003

The cutting edge of Tokyo's fashionably tressed

Every morning at around 9 o'clock, Naoko Hayashi arrives at the Toni & Guy Japan hair salon in Tokyo's smart Minami-Aoyama district. The trainee, who joined the salon in April, sets to work on a wig, practicing how to curl hair. Just along the street at rival salon Kakimoto Arms, Noriko Yagi, a second-year...

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear