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BUSINESS
May 16, 2003

Nissho Iwai, Nichimen report net losses

Trading houses Nissho Iwai Corp. and Nichimen Corp., which integrated their management under a holding company April 1, reported Thursday sizable group net losses for fiscal 2002.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Hitachi Capital joins mortgage firm

Hitachi Capital Corp., the consumer financing arm of Hitachi Ltd., said Wednesday it has set up a joint venture with home builders Sekisui House Ltd. and Daiwa House Industry Co. to engage in the residential mortgage loan business.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Mizuho eyes borrower-revival units

Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said Wednesday it will form five financial affiliates specializing in reviving feeble corporate borrowers.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Kose sets sights on the Philippines

Cosmetics maker Kose Corp. said Wednesday it will sell its products in the Philippines beginning in October under an exclusive sales agency agreement with Rustan Commercial Corp., a leading retail group in that country.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Casio swings back into the black

Casio Computer Co. swung back into the black in fiscal 2002 thanks to cost-cutting efforts and increased sales in its electronics business, the office equipment and consumer electronics manufacturer said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2003

Eisai logs net profit surge of 12.4%

Pharmaceutical maker Eisai Co. said Tuesday that its group net profit rose 12.4 percent and its group operating profit increased 4.4 percent in fiscal 2002.
BUSINESS
May 14, 2003

Nichirei sees net profit rise 28.4%

Nichirei Corp. said Tuesday its group net profit in fiscal 2002 rose 28.4 percent from the previous year, thanks to the strong performance of its processed food and food wholesale divisions.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
May 14, 2003

Bulletins from life in a box

Once, people had more time to think about the meaning of life -- or its meaninglessness. Poor students brooded over their ambitions in 4 1/2-tatami rooms, undistracted by computers and 3G keitai. People dreamed of a peaceful future while huddling sheltered during the war. Long, long ago, some may have...
BUSINESS
May 13, 2003

Nippon Keidanren to back political donations

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) said Monday it will resume coordinating political donations from member companies and associations beginning next year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 13, 2003

Off-the-wall fiction feeds weird ideas about Japan

If you review novels set in Asia, as this writer does, it follows that you read a lot of books. To call some of them "terrible" may be putting it kindly.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
May 13, 2003

Entering the Dragon Palace, English-language driving schools and craft experience

Dragon palace Following on from news of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo, a reader asks why Meguro Gajoen's Dragon Palace is closed most of the year.
COMMUNITY
May 11, 2003

Shaking off the shogun's shackles

"The world is wider than we can imagine," said the novelist Iharu Saikaku (1642-93). It's a pregnant thought under a regime doing its utmost to narrow the world. A contemporary of Basho's, Saikaku shows us a restlessness of spirit quite different from the monkish poet's. "There's nothing," declared Saikaku,...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 11, 2003

English 'samurai' feted in a hostile land

Anyone who's read James Clavell's "Shogun," or seen the TV mini-series of the same name, is already indirectly acquainted with William Adams, the first Englishman to settle in Japan after a solitary ship of the Dutch trading fleet he was piloting drifted ashore in present-day Oita Prefecture in April...
BUSINESS
May 10, 2003

Malfunction sends Japan Net Bank offline

A computer malfunction shut down Japan Net Bank's online deals for 22 hours through Friday afternoon, the company said.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2003

Softbank posts second net loss

Softbank Corp. said Friday its group net loss worsened in the year through March 31 due to hefty outlays to attract new subscribers to its broadband Internet service.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2003

Ikuta against using postal savings to prop up stocks

Japan Post President Masaharu Ikuta said Friday he is against calls for the new public postal corporation to dump more funds from postal savings and insurance into the flagging stock market.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2003

Nippon Steel posts 51.7 billion yen loss

Nippon Steel Corp.'s group net loss widened to 51.69 billion yen in the 2002 business year, up from 28.40 billion yen the previous year, due to restructuring-related losses and appraisal losses on land and stockholdings.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
May 10, 2003

Japan's most honorable form of death

"Well, you don't have a fever," the doctor told me. Next, he looked down my throat.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
May 10, 2003

Matt Lagan

People say that the show must go on. They also say that what may happen behind the scenes only the actors know.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2003

Disney operator's profit up 48.8%

Oriental Land Co., operator of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, said Thursday its group net profit for fiscal 2002 rose 48.8 percent to 18.93 billion yen.
BUSINESS
May 9, 2003

JT net profit more than doubles

Japan Tobacco Inc. said Thursday its group net profit for the fiscal year that ended March 31 leaped 104.3 percent from the previous year to 75.3 billion yen due to improved profitability on the back of cost cuts and higher sales of its flagship brands.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2003

Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Shell ink oil, gas deal

Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi Corp. and the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of the Netherlands have agreed to invest $10 billion, or about 1.2 trillion yen, over five years in a joint oil and gas development project in Russia, company officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2003

Shiseido shoots back to black, record earnings

Shiseido Co. not only returned to profitability for the first time in three years in fiscal 2002 but also logged record earnings thanks to strong overseas sales and cost-cutting efforts, the company said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 8, 2003

Prudential sells securities subsidiary

Prudential Financial Inc. has withdrawn from Japan's retail securities business, selling its subsidiary, Prudential Financial Advisors Securities Co., company sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / MATTER OF COURSE
May 8, 2003

More breathing space in the classroom

Last month, just before the new school year started in Japan, I ran into a neighbor at the supermarket. She's a bit high-strung and gets worked up over school matters, so I try to avoid her. But she collared me by the cabbages and dropped her voice to a dramatic whisper. "Have you heard? The Suzukis...
BUSINESS
May 7, 2003

U.S. court dismisses Furukawa suit

A U.S. federal district court has dismissed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Furukawa Electric Co. because the case was outside its jurisdiction, the company said Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
May 4, 2003

Rare chance for U.S. to fix tort lottery

WASHINGTON -- Trial attorney and U.S. Sen. John Edwards is well-liked by the plaintiff's bar. Too well-liked perhaps, since the Justice Department is investigating apparently illegal contributions to his presidential campaign -- which have since been returned -- from an Arkansas law firm. Although Edwards...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUZZY LOGIC
May 4, 2003

How to become a musical genius without trying

On the surface, you might think British techno animal Aphex Twin and Tokyo rock anarchists Bossston Cruising Mania have little in common. I mean, the one twiddles knobs while the other bunch plucks strings. But you'd be wrong. Take these four things off the top of my head: 1) they have no respect for...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 3, 2003

Minivehicle, truck makers hope to cash in on hybrid market

With the success of the Toyota Prius, a gasoline-electric hybrid compact that debuted in 1997, such models have become a major focus of an automotive industry eager to clear tougher environmental regulations and improve its image.
BUSINESS
May 3, 2003

Ruthless foreigners given bad-news role

Japan's regional banks are turning to a tried and true method of conveying bad news: asking a foreign third-party to do it for them.

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