Search - business

 
 
BUSINESS
Oct 26, 2007

Sony profit up fourfold despite PS3 woes

Despite continuing to sustain heavy losses in its game business, Sony Corp.'s group net profit increased fourfold to ¥140.2 billion in the six months through September compared with the same period last year, thanks to vigorous sales of digital cameras and computers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 16, 2007

No-tell love hotels cash in catering to the carnal

In any town bigger than a hamlet, you are sure to find a patch of gaudy hotels styled after rococo palaces, Grecian temples, even rocket ships. Some sport a miniature Statue of Liberty on the roof, others lurid neon signs.
JAPAN / Q&A
Sep 29, 2007

All eyes on Japan Post as privatization begins

Japan Post will be reorganized Monday, paving the way for it to become a private company for the first time in its more than 130-year history. The following are questions and answers on how the privatization will affect Japan's postal services.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2007

Softbank to focus on small businesses to beat DoCoMo, KDDI

Softbank Corp. expects to gain market share from NTT DoCoMo Inc. and KDDI Corp. by focusing on small businesses.
BUSINESS
Jul 25, 2007

Victor, Kenwood ready for merger

Victor Co. of Japan, a struggling subsidiary of electronics giant Matsushita, said Tuesday it will officially start negotiations as early as next month to merge with Kenwood Corp. in 2008, possibly in the form of creating a joint holding company that will hold all shares of the two firms.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2007

'Tankan' shows big makers still optimistic

Business sentiment for big manufacturers remained optimistic in the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" survey released Monday, fueling market speculation the central bank will raise the interest rate as early as next month.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2007

Investors slam JAL's surprise '06 share issue

Japan Airlines Corp. shareholders Tuesday slammed the carrier's top executives, saying they had deceived them by issuing new shares last July without consulting them at their 2006 meeting and for failing to restore profitability in the last business year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Jun 23, 2007

Handbag entrepreneur owes success to quality, celebrities

From the start, entrepreneur Kazumasa Terada had his eye on the global market. Using celebrities like the Hilton sisters in 2002 to promote his handbag label, Terada has turned Samantha Thavasa into a household name in Japan, and is on the verge of bigger things abroad.
EDITORIALS
Jun 19, 2007

A lesson for Nova Corp.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has decided that Nova Corp., the nation's largest English-language school chain, violated the Specified Commercial Transaction Law and ordered it to partially suspend business. Saying that Nova committed 18 types of violations, the ministry imposed a six-month...
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2007

TBS' Rakuten snub reflects protected world

Hiroshi Inoue, president of Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., does not hide his displeasure when he talks about online shopping mall operator Rakuten Inc.'s attempt to make the broadcaster its affiliate.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2007

Revenues tumble at major life insurers

Premium revenues for the nation's major life insurers dropped in business 2006, reflecting fallout from revelations of an industrywide failure to properly pay out benefits, according to their earnings reports released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2007

KDDI reports 16% profit jump in 2006

Crediting the recently introduced number portability system, KDDI Corp. said Tuesday its group operating profit for the 2006 business year to March jumped 16.2 percent from a year earlier to 344.7 billion yen.
JAPAN
Mar 27, 2007

16 billion yen puts Fujiya in hands of Yamazaki

Yamazaki Baking Co. will purchase a 35 percent stake in Fujiya Co. for about 16 billion yen, making it the scandal-tainted confectioner's biggest shareholder, the two companies said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2007

Kansai execs told to become better corporate citizens

KYOTO -- Elite business leaders should be concerned about Japanese society and not profits, do more to employ young people and seniors, and increase patriotism in its workers, the secretary general for the Liberal Democratic Party told the annual gathering of Kansai business leaders Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2007

JAL set to swing job ax to survive

Japan Airlines Corp. will cut 4,300 jobs over three years starting in April to help return to profitability, the airline announced Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2007

Gore in town to push global-warming fight

Midway through a visit to Tokyo to promote his environmental documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth," former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Monday made sure to praise Japan as the birthplace of the Kyoto Protocol.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 14, 2007

It's high time for Japan to ride the space-tourism wave

The United States and Europe are finally, albeit slowly, paving the way for space tourism to become a revolutionary source of new business -- some economists even believe it could save the stagnating world economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2007

2% economic growth seen in '07

Leaders of Japan's three major business lobbies were upbeat Friday about the country's economic prospects for 2007, saying the economy is likely to grow 2 percent this year on the back of a strong recovery in the business sector.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2006

Hitachi touts three-year plan to revamp TV, power, disk-drive businesses

Hitachi Ltd. announced a plan Thursday designed to turn around its three core businesses -- power plants, flat-panel TVs and hard-disk drives -- by the end of March 2010.
BUSINESS / THE VIEW FROM EUROPE
Oct 2, 2006

Lobbying the potent EU, whose influence is borderless

Companies doing business in Europe are well aware of the European Union. But what some might yet not be so aware of is how important the EU institutions in Brussels and elsewhere can become for their business. What you don't know can hurt you a lot indeed. Consider the following:

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years