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BUSINESS
May 9, 2001

Takefuji reports 10th straight year of record profits

Takefuji Corp., the nation's largest consumer finance company, on Tuesday reported a record group net profit for fiscal 2000 for the 10th straight year on the strength of ultralow interest rates that have dramatically reduced its fundraising costs.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2001

Debt-waiver talks may use outsiders

Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Tuesday he is considering involving independent experts, including lawyers, in talks between banks and corporate borrowers over guidelines on waiving debts.
CULTURE / Music / J-POPSICLE
May 9, 2001

3G phones -- putting your music where your mouth is

Today's topic, class, is how to promote music in Japan and keep the Japanese music biz afloat. Are you ready? Then I'll begin.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2001

Sumitomo Life selects new president

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. said Monday it will promote Vice President Shinichi Yokoyama, 58, to president.
COMMENTARY
May 8, 2001

Bush could kill Kyoto treaty

U.S. President George W. Bush announced in late March that his administration did not support the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that requires industrialized countries to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as a way to prevent global warming.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2001

Nagasakiya gets breathing room

Supermarket chain operator Nagasakiya Co., which is currently protected from creditors under the corporate rehabilitation law, said Monday it has been granted six more months to compile a business rehabilitation plan, due partly to the large number of its creditors.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2001

Traditional management schemes wane as firms cut costs: survey

A growing number of Japanese companies are abandoning longtime employee care policies such as seniority-based salary systems and subsidized housing, according to a think tank survey released Monday.
JAPAN
May 8, 2001

Koizumi vows no sanctuaries from reform

The Prime minister's main policy points (Full text) The following is the gist of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's policy speech delivered Monday in the Diet.
JAPAN
May 8, 2001

Authorities concerned over legal but risky drugs

The recent spread of so-called legal drugs among youngsters in the Tokyo metropolitan area has alarmed drug officials.
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
May 6, 2001

Shochu among bamboo

Tokyo's neighborhoods always offer one or two little bars (or sunakku) where down-home drinkers can shake off the workday blues. The greater Jiyugaoka area offers more options than most, and its most recent and welcome addition is Fukukaze.
JAPAN
May 5, 2001

Covert entry puzzling, analysts say

Japanese experts were divided over why a man claiming to be Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of Pyongyang leader Kim Jong Il, tried to enter Japan under an alias with a forged passport.
JAPAN
May 4, 2001

Island Japan's pleasure boaters few but winds of change are a-blowin'

Despite its long maritime tradition, Japan lags far behind Scandinavia and the United States in terms of recreational yachting.
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2001

It's Koizumi vs. the LDP

The public-approval ratings of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's new Cabinet skyrocketed to unprecedented levels of more than 80 percent. Koizumi pledged that his Cabinet would spare no effort in implementing his drastic reform plans.
BUSINESS
May 3, 2001

Vodafone cements local foothold

Britain's Vodafone Group PLC announced Wednesday that it will purchase rival British Telecommunications PLC's shares in Japan Telecom Co., making it the top shareholder of the Japan's third largest telecommunications operator.
JAPAN
May 3, 2001

Murakami gets bonus despite arrest

Former House of Councilors member Masakuni Murakami, accused of taking bribes from mutual-aid foundation KSD, received a spring bonus of around 870,000 yen for work he completed before quitting the Diet over the scandal in late February, Diet sources said Wednesday. Murakami, 68, who has been charged...
COMMENTARY / World
May 3, 2001

Arafat remains unbowed as his 'long march' continues

Veteran Middle East correspondent David Hirst was recently the first journalist to be granted an interview with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat since the intifada began.
JAPAN
May 3, 2001

Japan's Major league idols cash in at home clubs' expense

With the sensational debut of Japanese outfielders Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Tsuyoshi Shinjo of the New York Mets, Major League Baseball is stealing the hearts of many Japanese.
BUSINESS / CABINET INTERVIEW
May 3, 2001

Finance chief Shiokawa supports fiscal tightening

In line with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's fiscal reform policies, Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa has acknowledged the need to make substantial cuts to general expenditures for fiscal 2002.
JAPAN
May 2, 2001

NPO tackles cybercrime as government drags its feet

A group of lawyers, scholars and housewives has launched a nonprofit organization to help victims of libel, fraud and other problems that have seen a sharp increase on the Internet.
BUSINESS
May 2, 2001

IY Bank aims to change banking Monday

The battleground for retail banking will shift to convenience stores Monday when Ito-Yokado Co.'s IY Bank opens on a vast network of ATMs at Seven-Eleven stores nationwide.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2001

Katayama against privatizing posts, favors stronger NTT

Junichiro Koizumi's inauguration as prime minister might have lifted the hopes of those who seek the privatization of the nation's postal services.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2001

Postal savings center fails to tax

OSAKA -- A postal savings center in Kyoto has been ordered to pay about 1.1 billion yen in penalties and back taxes for failing to properly tax about 4.3 billion yen in interest on the savings it handles, sources close to the case said Sunday.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Apr 29, 2001

Armchair travel to Italy and beyond

Tatsuo Umemiya used to be one of the hardest-working yakuza actors in Japan. Nowadays, he is mainly known as the father of model/talent Anna Umemiya and as "the cooking king" of Japanese show business. He even owns a popular chain of stores that sell all sorts of Japanese foods. The stores are easy to...
LIFE / Food & Drink / NIHONSHU
Apr 29, 2001

How Tiger got his game back in five easy sips

Recently Tiger Woods secured his place in golfing history by winning this past Masters tournament. But there's a secret to Woods' recent success that few know about: sake.
CULTURE / Books
Apr 29, 2001

Oral history exposes Japan's wartime enslavement of POWs

UNJUST ENRICHMENT: How Japan's Companies Built Postwar Fortunes Using American POWs, by Linda Goetz Holmes. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001, 202 pp., $24.95. During World War II, nearly 50,000 U.S. soldiers and civilians became prisoners of the Japanese. Approximately half of this total "were...

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