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BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2002

Sony vows to back mobile joint venture

Sony Corp. will continue supporting its high-profile mobile-phone joint venture with Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, its president said Wednesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN / LEGACIES OF 9/11
Sep 5, 2002

Post-9/11 aid push highlights Japan ODA conundrum

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the world's major donor economies have increased their aid budgets in an effort to address a perceived link between terrorism and poverty.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2002

Tokyo stocks continue descent

Share prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange took another severe beating Wednesday, with the Nikkei Stock Average briefly dipping below the crucial 9,000 mark to hit a fresh 19-year low.
BUSINESS
Sep 5, 2002

Japan Asia invests in Okinawa firm

The holding company of Japan Asia Securities Co. said Wednesday it will acquire 51 percent of the outstanding shares in Okinawa Securities Co., based in Naha, to make the firm a group member.
COMMUNITY
Sep 5, 2002

A day of taking tea and tonkatsu with a spirited local guide

Accustomed as I am to a stoic mug of Brooke Bond in the morning, I admit having been less than overjoyed at the prospect of visiting the Yue He Cha herbal tea house in Kyodo, a bustling little town on the Odakyu Line.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2002

Mitsui unveils new president

Mitsui & Co. decided Tuesday to promote Shoei Utsuda, senior executive managing officer, to company president, company officials said.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2002

Takenaka to attend meet in Italy

Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Heizo Takenaka will visit Italy from Wednesday to Sunday to attend an international conference on world political and economic issues, the Cabinet Office said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2002

Tax Commission looks to cut exemptions

The government's Tax Commission on Tuesday proposed abolishing in fiscal 2003 certain tax exemptions granted to salaried employees with a working spouse.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2002

Osaka officials declare USJ drinking fountains safe

OSAKA -- Osaka city officials on Tuesday declared the drinking fountains at the Universal Studios Japan theme park safe.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
Sep 4, 2002

X Japan pianist/drummer is now a global commodity

If you've walked by the Laforet building in Harajuku recently, you might have noticed a huge banner that draped the structure's exterior featuring a masked character, looking something like a pro wrestler, poking his head out of what appears to be a body of water.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2002

Sanyo touts home-use sensor to gauge sleep apnea

OSAKA -- A new sensor developed by Sanyo Electric Co. could help people with sleep apnea, and may eventually regulate the environment in which one sleeps.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2002

Contractor suffers 2.5 billion yen loss

OSAKA -- Takenaka Corp. said Tuesday it suffered a group pretax loss of 2.5 billion yen in the first half of the current business year, its first such loss since the war.
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2002

Tepco chairman, president announce resignations over nuclear coverups

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday that President Nobuya Minami and Chairman Hiroshi Araki will resign over reported coverups of damage at the utility's nuclear power plants.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2002

Toyota and Nissan forge hybrid tieup

Toyota Motor Corp. will provide Nissan Motor Co. with technology aimed at developing eco-friendly hybrid cars over a period of more than 10 years, the automakers said Monday.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2002

Panel seeks new zero-interest accounts

An advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urged financial institutions Monday to create fully protected zero-interest accounts by April.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Sep 2, 2002

Japan laying it on thick with ancient corporate shtick

The hammier the act, the better it gets. Nippon Ham, Japan's largest ham and sausage processor, tries to tap the government's post-BSE meat buyback program by pretending it has a lot of unsold domestic beef on hand, which actually turns out to be imported stock.
COMMENTARY
Sep 2, 2002

U.S. role critical in Indo-Pakistani dispute

ISLAMABAD -- Renewed Indo-Pakistani conflict in Kashmir, just before U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's August visit to the region, demonstrated how close to war South Asia's two nuclear rivals remain.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 2, 2002

Historic Tsumago: a time capsule of Edo living

Build a good tourist trap, and the world will beat a path to your door. This seems to have been the thinking in the small town of Tsumago in southwestern Nagano Prefecture. Facing rural decay in the late '60s, the townspeople decided to do something about it. They reached for their one real asset the...
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Sep 2, 2002

Revival depends on openness, immigration

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The late Shigeto Tsuru's "Japan's Capitalism: Creative Defeat and Beyond," which I referred to and quoted in my Aug. 26 column, urged Japan to "work hard, through both aid and trade, to wipe out the poverty that plagues the Third World."
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 1, 2002

Taking stock of power and purpose in Asia

STRATEGIC ASIA: Power and Purpose 2001-02, edited by Richard J. Ellings and Aaron Friedberg. Seattle, Wash., National Bureau of Asian Research, 2001, 378 pp., $19.95 (paper) Power is the currency of international relations. Incredibly, we still aren't exactly sure what "power" is, how it is exercised...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 1, 2002

Rene Paulo takes a break from the hotel circuit

For the better part of five decades, Rene Paulo has made a steady living playing piano in hotel lounges in Honolulu, Las Vegas and Los Angeles -- but don't call him a lounge player. And don't ask him if Liberace was an influence.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Sep 1, 2002

The pros and cons of character typing

If you need help with a problem and want to make a bunch of celebrities feel good, check out Nippon TV's "Power Bank" (Sunday, 12:30 p.m.). For each episode of the show, individuals register as "helpers," meaning people with some kind of skill or experience, and when a viewer requests assistance, this...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 1, 2002

Hitting English language-learning overdrive

The Japanese media is in the middle of another of its sporadic English-language learning frenzies, which, this time, seems to have been sparked by an Education Ministry decision to promote English conversation lessons in public elementary schools.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2002

Reforms eyed for financial sector

A key government panel will discuss the impact on private financial institutions when it addresses the reform of government-affiliated financial bodies in September, economy chief Heizo Takenaka said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2002

July unemployment unchanged at 5.4%

Japan's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.4 percent in July for the third consecutive month, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2002

Japan's economy grows 0.5%

The nation's economy expanded 0.5 percent in the April-June quarter, up for the first time in five quarters, on the back of strong performance by exports, government data showed Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2002

Panel formalizes road-firm privatization report

A key government panel on Friday formalized an interim report on ways to privatize four road-related public corporations, proposing to freeze a number of pending highway projects and minimize the financial burden on taxpayers.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2002

FSA plans to offer cash incentives to banks that merge

The government may provide as much as 1 trillion yen to banks that agree to consolidate, according to a proposal outlined Thursday by the Financial Service Agency.
COMMENTARY
Aug 29, 2002

Taiwan ditching 'nice guy' diplomacy

Taiwanese Vice President Annette Lu was greeted triumphantly upon her return to Taiwan, but her trip to Indonesia yielded mixed results at best. Taiwan may well have raised expectations in Indonesia that it may not be able to fulfill. Moreover, China will now put renewed pressure on Southeast Asian countries...

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?