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Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 18, 2006

Nintendo hopes for console comeback with wand-wielding Wii

Nintendo brought the world the mustachioed plumber Super Mario and has sold nearly 200 million Game Boy hand-held machines over the years. It's also been coaxing the elderly and other video-game novices to try out puzzles and virtual pets on its DS portables instead of the standard shoot-em-up and sports...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 11, 2006

Mary Ishin Sung Katayama

Educated in Japan and the U.S., and each year making frequent official trips to Europe, Mary Ishin Sung Katayama says that she thinks of herself as borderless. "I love to travel and feel a need to be on the go every month or two," she said.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2006

JAL return to real profitability still up in air

Japan Airlines Corp.'s flight to profitability is running out of both time and fuel, and the passengers are catching on.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Nov 5, 2006

Joi Ito: Master of multitasking

Joichi Ito, better known as Joi Ito, defies any one simple label.
BUSINESS
Oct 11, 2006

Businesses welcome Chinese thaw but remain cautious

The business community greeted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Sunday summit in Beijing with Chinese President Hu Jintao, billed as a fence-mending effort by the two countries, with a sigh of relief.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 8, 2006

Getting real in the way you dress with grass-roots fashion in Japan

In the movie "The Devil Wears Prada," which opens in Japan next month, an imperious fashion magazine editor played by Meryl Streep upbraids her new assistant, who has dared to snicker at a cerulean belt that the editor is considering for an ensemble. With withering condenscension, the editor somehow...
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2006

JAL flying through stormy skies

The international and domestic operations units of Japan Airlines Corp., the nation's flag carrier, merged Oct. 1. The merger means the complete reorganization of JAL and a new start for the airline. But the new JAL faces rough times ahead.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2006

Being an insider is best way to sway Europe's shifting rules

Japanese companies need to act as insiders -- not outsiders -- in Europe as they try to cope with the increasingly tough environmental, safety and other laws of the European Union, whose regulatory power extends beyond the region, experts told a recent symposium in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Sep 11, 2006

Mizuho Corporate Bank to ally with two major S. Korean banks

Mizuho Corporate Bank plans to sign separate accords with two major South Korean financial institutions later this month to tie up in investment banking, sources familiar with the matter said Sunday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Aug 19, 2006

Robert Neff

Think public spirit, think Robert Neff.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Aug 8, 2006

Setsuko Hashimoto

Setsuko Hashimoto, PhD, 52, is Director of Marketing at Biacore K.K., a global supplier of instruments for academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology research. A top class scientist with keen business sense, she formed the Swedish company's Japanese subsidiary, and has been the driving force behind it's...
EDITORIALS
Aug 1, 2006

A generation removed from scandal

Thirty years have passed since former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was arrested July 27, 1976, on suspicion of having received a bribe of 500 million yen that originated from Lockheed Corp., an American aircraft manufacturer. The Lockheed affair, in which 15 people were indicted, became the largest postwar...
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2006

Firms' confidence takes a dive

Slumping stock prices, a rising yen and higher oil prices dampened the business confidence of major companies in the April-June period, sending the key confidence index to the lowest level in four quarters, according to a government survey released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2006

Regional WEF meeting opens

About 300 global leaders from business, government and academia gathered Thursday in Tokyo to kick off a two-day meeting of the World Economic Forum on East Asia to discuss development and the environment as well as regional economic integration.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 6, 2006

Thaksin best underscores fatal flaws of his kind of rule

HONG KONG -- Thailand's "democracy" is in limbo. Judges of the country's three top courts have decided that April's elections were unconstitutional, and new ones must be held. The Election Commission set October for new elections, but the judges said the commission has no power to set the date and its...
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2006

ANA may hand hotels over to InterContinental

All Nippon Airways Co. may sell more than half of its hotel business to InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of Britain, ANA sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2006

One-time gains lift major banks but long-term strategies still needed

Buoyed by a wide-ranging business recovery and a massive one-time gain caused by reductions in loan-loss reserves, the nation's top banking groups have reported record-breaking profits for the 2005 business year ended in March.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2006

Aiful reports 13% fall in profit for '05

Troubled Aiful Corp. reported Tuesday that its net profit for fiscal 2005 dropped 13.1 percent to 65.827 billion yen on a consolidated basis due to a rise in customer demands that excess interest on loans be returned.
JAPAN
May 8, 2006

Sony turns a tumultuous 60 years old

Sony Corp. marked the 60th anniversary of its founding Sunday at a time when the company is struggling to regain its glory with a full recovery in its core electronics business.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2006

TVs twist electronics earnings

Sales of flat-screen TVs proved pivotal to the fortunes of major consumer electronics makers Sony Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. in 2005, according to their annual reports released Thursday.
Japan Times
Features / WEEK 3
Mar 19, 2006

Take note of how to sort out your life

Despite working late every day, Yukihiro Misawa always felt he wasn't getting enough done.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Jan 29, 2006

With Horie's downfall, who can young Japan look up to?

The media has had a field day with Takafumi Horie, the 33-year-old founder of the communications firm Livedoor.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2006

Rakuten pushes ahead with bold move into finance

Rakuten Inc., one of the country's fastest growing Internet startups, said Thursday it has formed business alliances with three entities, as it works to expand its Internet shopping mall business into comprehensive financial services.
JAPAN
Jan 3, 2006

Small manufacturers seek niche in space

For years, small manufacturers in the greater Tokyo area have been trying to market their technologies for space-related projects, hoping that work by their master craftspeople will find its way into rockets and satellites.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2005

Livedoor to join Nippon Keidanren

Internet venture Livedoor Co. has requested admission into the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), the nation's most influential business lobby, federation officials said Monday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 26, 2005

Richard Quest

Almost 20 years ago, viewers of the BBC World Service used to watch a British television reporter whose agile, distinctive style excited comment. "Unconventional," some said. "Quirky," said others, "original and mold-breaking."
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2005

Supermarket bank counters coming soon

In the near future, people may exchange money at travel agencies and open savings accounts in supermarkets.

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan