Search - real_estate

 
 
COMMUNITY
Oct 11, 2000

A perfect picture of a garden in Shimane

The Adachi Museum and its Japanese garden in Shimane Prefecture, part of the beautiful San'in district in western Honshu, is near historic Matsue with its castle and the home of writer Lafcadio Hearn.
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2000

Firms continue to be optimistic: 'tankan'

The outlook of the nation's corporations -- particularly large manufacturers -- continued to improve over the past three months, according to the latest quarterly "tankan" business sentiment survey, released Tuesday by the Bank of Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 30, 2000

Time to reassess the nuclear-energy option

Safety and cost competitiveness: These two factors are clearly incompatible when it comes to nuclear energy. Yet these were some of the key words used by the government and the nuclear industry to promote nuclear energy.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2000

Sogo urged to seek redress from execs for bad loans

OSAKA -- A citizens' group representing individual investors on Thursday called on Sogo Co. to seek damages from its former executives to recover losses stemming from irrecoverable loans to fur dealers, the group said.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2000

Daiwa execs' assets safe for time being

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court has temporarily decided not to seize the assets of 11 former and current executives of Daiwa Bank who were ordered last week to pay the bank $775 million in compensation, sources familiar with the case said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Sep 27, 2000

Private-sector workforce has first fall in 50 years

The number of employees working at private companies in Japan decreased last year for the first time in 50 years, the National Tax Administration Agency said in a report released Tuesday on the profile of the nation's salaried workers.
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2000

18 credit associations fall short

The Financial Services Agency said Thursday that 18 Japanese small credit associations failed to achieve the 4 percent threshold for the capital-adequacy ratio in their earnings report for fiscal 1999.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2000

Corporate bankruptcies leap 21.5%

Corporate bankruptcies in Japan rose 21.5 percent in August from a year earlier to 1,704 cases, up for the 10th consecutive month, a private credit-research agency said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2000

Condos on market rise 13% ahead of tax break deadline

The number of new condominiums put on sale in the Tokyo metropolitan area increased 13.1 percent in August from a year earlier to 4,431 units, the third consecutive monthly gain, a private research institute said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Sep 7, 2000

The price of failure

Nippon Credit Bank, which came under state control in December 1998, was sold last Friday to a consortium led by Internet investor Softbank Corp. The contract includes a controversial clause that says the buyer (the Softbank group) can request the seller (the government) to buy back troubled NCB loans...
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2000

Japan Energy to reorganize subsidiaries for competition

Japan Energy Corp. will consolidate and reorganize its four engineering subsidiaries an effort to reinforce their competitive edge, the major Japanese oil refiner and distributor announced Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2000

Taisho Life collapses amid scandal

The Financial Services Agency on Monday ordered Taisho Life Insurance Co. to suspend its operations following the arrest earlier in the day of the head of the insurer's largest shareholder, in connection with the insurer's capital-building methods.
BUSINESS
Aug 28, 2000

Seoul's Itaewon stages revival

SEOUL -- Seoul's scruffy backwater of Itaewon -- for years known only for its girlie bars, tatty drinking dens, cut-price souvenirs and fake watches -- is undergoing a gradual transformation.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2000

NCB sale to proceed unchanged, Aizawa tells Son

The government confirmed Wednesday that it will sell the nationalized Nippon Credit Bank to a Softbank Corp.-led consortium Sept. 1 under the original contract terms, government officials said.
BUSINESS
Aug 22, 2000

Sogo collapse hits banks, construction stocks

Bank and construction stocks have taken a battering in the wake of the collapse of department store chain Sogo Co. in July.
BUSINESS
Aug 15, 2000

Realtor Hiei fails, leaving debts of 650 billion yen

Tokyo-based real estate company Hiei Sangyo has filed with the Tokyo District Court for special liquidation, becoming the sixth largest corporate bankruptcy this year with about 450 billion yen in liabilities, a private credit research institute said Monday.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2000

Sleaze market festers with rip-off artists

The promise is too good to be true -- all you can drink and "excellent service" provided by "companions" for 6,000 yen in Tokyo's adult entertainment central.
BUSINESS
Aug 12, 2000

Number of new condos for sale in Tokyo rises 17.9%

The number of new condominiums put on sale in metropolitan Tokyo rose 17.9 percent in July from a year earlier to 9,081, a private research institute said Friday.
BUSINESS
Aug 10, 2000

Finance chief may fight interest rate hike

The Finance Ministry will probably oppose raising interest rates during the Bank of Japan's Policy Board meeting Friday, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2000

Court allowed defendant in Itoman scandal to travel

The Osaka District Court allowed a defendant in a scandal involving defunct trading house Itoman Corp. to travel abroad 29 times between December 1993 and his disappearance while on trial in October 1997, according to Supreme Court officials.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2000

Former Sogo chief's assets to be seized

The Tokyo District Court has opted to seize the personal assets of former Sogo Co. Chairman Hiroo Mizushima, at the request of the Industrial Bank of Japan, in a bid to collect a loan to the failed department store chain that he personally guaranteed, sources said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Aug 3, 2000

Mr. Mori fails his test

The Diet has completed a round of plenary debates on Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's policy speech -- the first full-dress parliamentary exchanges since he launched his second Cabinet following the June 25 Lower House election. But the prime minister has only disappointed the people. He fell far short...
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2000

Scandal drops Nikkei to 16-month low

The key 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell to a fresh 16-month closing low Monday despite a partial recovery from its intraday low.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2000

Bangalore emerges as Asia's high-tech hub

BANGALORE, India -- At a recent roadshow for India's Karnataka state, one proud exhibit was a slide of the cover of Newsweek's issue of Nov. 9, 1998, showing a list of the world's "hottest tech cites." The magazine had chosen 10, of which only two were in Asia -- Singapore and Bangalore, Karnataka's...
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2000

Evolving Okubo strikes a balance

Okubo's image varies widely. To some people, it's a nasty urban jungle filled with sleaze. To others, it's a foreign world of fascination.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2000

Nakao's middleman arrested in bribe case

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office has arrested the manager of an art gallery on suspicion of taking 10 million yen in bribes from Wakachiku Construction Co. in August 1996 in collusion with former Construction Minister Eiichi Nakao.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2000

New warrant served on Nakao for bribery

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's office on Friday served former Construction Minister Eiichi Nakao with a new arrest warrant on suspicion of receiving 30 million yen in bribes from Wakachiku Construction Co. between June and September 1996.
BUSINESS
Jul 22, 2000

Toho Mutual pair sued for 1 billion yen

The liquidators of collapsed Toho Mutual Life Insurance Co. said Friday they have filed a lawsuit seeking 1 billion yen in damages from two former executives of the company.
BUSINESS
Jul 18, 2000

BOJ decision said to be ambiguous

The Bank of Japan's decision Monday to leave the "zero-interest-rate" policy unchanged did not surprise many, given the shock financial markets received from the virtual bankruptcy last week of department store operator Sogo Co.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2000

Bankrupt firms owe 6.95 trillion yen

The combined debts of companies that went bust in the first half of 2000 came to 6.95 trillion yen, down 24.2 percent from a year earlier but the second-largest figure for a first-half period in postwar Japan, a major credit research agency said Friday.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji