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COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 24, 2006

Japan's hordes of hoarders still look to their navel nest eggs

I have spent nearly 40 years writing about Japan, virtually all of the time trying to show how Japanese people are really no different from other nationalities. But, by God, there is one aspect of Japanese life that makes this country unique. I defy any reader to name a society that has a custom like...
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 24, 2006

Monkey business can be serious literature

MONKEY by Wu Cheng-en, translated by Arthur Waley. London: Penguin Books, 2006, 352 pp., £9.99 (paper). After many years out of print, this famous translation, originally published in 1942, is this autumn back in the bookstores. It is a partial rendering of a 16th-century Chinese classic text, otherwise...
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2006

Sato admits his involvement in Fukushima bid-rigging

The arrested chairman of Fukushima-based construction contractor Sato Kogyo Corp. has begun confessing his involvement in bid-rigging for a public sewage system project ordered by the Fukushima Prefectural Government, investigative sources have said.
JAPAN
Sep 23, 2006

Orix chief quits deregulation panel

Yoshihiko Miyauchi, chairman of Orix Corp., tendered his resignation Thursday as chairman of the government's deregulation panel. The resignation was accepted by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2006

JAL Hotels discussing plans to go public in fiscal 2008

JAL Hotels Co., a unit of financially distressed Japan Airlines Corp., is planning to list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's second section in fiscal 2008, according to sources.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2006

Hanshin, Hankyu stores agree on business tieup

Hankyu Department Stores Inc. and Hanshin Department Store Ltd. said Friday they have agreed to form a comprehensive business alliance ahead of their parent companies' Oct. 1 merger.
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Sep 22, 2006

Open-air sightseeing bus celebrates second anniversary

The Hinomaru Limousine Company this month celebrates the second anniversary of its "Sky Bus Tokyo" tours. The tours offer passengers a scenic 45-minute ride through Maranouchi and its surrounding area every day of the year, every hour, on the hour. The tour takes in a number of Tokyo landmarks, including...
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Sep 22, 2006

On a pathway to the divine

Since it acquired the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, more people have naturally felt inclined to see the temples and monasteries of Koyasan in Wakayama Prefecture for themselves. But more than a few visitors to the complex find that its heavy Buddhist religiosity and the funereal gloom...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / BEST BAR NONE
Sep 22, 2006

Sounds and surrounds of high rank

Cyril Roy is a natural-born barman. Like any professional, he makes it look easy. When he arrived in Japan six years ago, Tokyo's pub culture was bloated with English- and Irish-styled establishments serving classic and micro-brewed quaffs on tap. But Roy landed squarely on his feet, within a month,...
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2006

First Blu-ray recorder due out in November

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Wednesday it will launch the world's first Blu-ray DVD recorders in Japan on Nov. 15, rising to do battle with High-Definition DVD, a rival format.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2006

Itoyama takes stake in TV Tokyo

Financier Eitaro Itoyama said Wednesday he has acquired a 5.09 percent equity stake in TV Tokyo Corp., becoming its second-largest shareholder after Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2006

Firms halt production after Thai coup

Some Japanese manufacturers suspended production in Thailand Wednesday after a bloodless military coup took place overnight.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2006

Murakami is granted pretrial proceedings

The Tokyo District Court decided Tuesday to hold pretrial proceedings on the founder of Japan's best-known investment fund, Yoshiaki Murakami, who has been charged with insider trading, according to sources.
BUSINESS
Sep 20, 2006

Yakult starts new firm to sell drinks in coastal China

Yakult Honsha Co. said Tuesday it has established Shanghai Yakult Marketing Co., which will sell its mainstay Yakult drink starting in March in major Chinese coastal cities.
LIFE / Language
Sep 19, 2006

Rougher language behind face-value meanings

First of a two part series
JAPAN / LASTING IMPACT
Sep 18, 2006

Aum's crimes marked start of growing public safety fear

Last in a series
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 17, 2006

Noodles with attitude

Chairman Mao Zedong -- who back in 1935 wrote that his nation's basic task was "to oppose the attempt of Japanese imperialism to annex China" -- obviously had some, shall we say, issues with the Middle Kingdom's diminutive neighbor to the east.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 17, 2006

Monsters out of the closet

MILLENNIAL MONSTERS: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination, by Anne Allison, foreword by Gary Cross. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006, 332 pp., 48 b/w photos, $24.95 (paper). When I was a child, toys from Japan were kept in the cheapest bins of Woolworth's and Newberry's. Sparkler-wheels...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Sep 17, 2006

Bizarre bouts of self-expression

Nearly 300 spectators cheered wildly as disco music blared. A spotlight picked out two fighters approaching the ring to kick off a puroresu (prowrestling) event held recently in a Tokyo town hall.
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2006

Horie ordered profit inflation tactics, Miyauchi says

Livedoor Co.'s former Chief Financial Officer Ryoji Miyauchi testified about his former boss Takafumi Horie in court Friday and said that he and other former executives acted on orders from Horie to inflate the company's earnings for the business year to September 2004.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2006

Japan, Iran to continue talks on oil field project

Japan and Iran have agreed to continue talks beyond the Friday deadline over developing the giant Azadegan oil field, trade chief Toshihiro Nikai indicated Friday.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2006

Victor dodecahedron audio speaker debuts

Victor Co. of Japan on Thursday unveiled a 12-sided audio speaker that radiates a uniform sound in almost all directions.
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2006

Mixi shares close at 3.12 million yen

Shares of Mixi Inc. ended their second day of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at 3.12 million yen Friday, up from the initial price of 2.95 million yen fetched in the morning.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2006

Daiei to cut debts through selloff of properties, stocks

Struggling giant retailer Daiei Inc. will cut its interest-bearing liabilities by 200 billion yen from 350 billion yen on an unconsolidated basis by selling real estate and stock holdings, sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2006

Mixi skyrockets in stock market debut

Shares of Mixi Inc., Japan's most popular social networking site, shot up during the company's stock market debut Thursday as buy orders swamped sell orders and more than doubled its initially offered price.

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