Search - company

 
 
EDITORIALS
Nov 28, 2000

Quit coddling NTT

The Telecommunications Council, an advisory panel to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, has produced a preliminary report calling for stepped-up competition within the NTT group. The report, however, falls far short of expectations. The overall impression is that the panel is keen to minimize...
EDITORIALS
Nov 8, 2000

Reform is key to winning IT race

The world is gripped with IT fever. Despite linguistic differences, IT, shorthand for information technology, is a buzzword even here. It is believed to hold the key to the future development of the Japanese economy. That is why Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori is leading the drive for an IT revolution. ...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Nov 8, 2000

Nihongo dekiru?

Nihongo dekiru? Since Amazon.com opened for business, its biggest foreign market has been Japan. The company has about 193,000 customers here and they ring up about $34 million worth of sales. Mind you, the domestic Japanese market for online book sales is only $46 million. (In the name of full disclosure,...
EDITORIALS
Nov 3, 2000

Amazon flows into Japan

Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has declared that he wants to build an "e-Japan." He may find that his wish comes true sooner than he thinks. This week's launch of Amazon.com's Japanese Web site will push the electronic envelope as much as any government initiative. But the Amazon.com venture also highlights...
JAPAN
Oct 25, 2000

Kondo set to resign over solar blunder

OSAKA -- Sanyo Electric Co. President Sadao Kondo expressed his intention to resign Tuesday in an effort to take responsibility for the sale of defective solar cell systems by a subsidiary.
COMMUNITY
Oct 22, 2000

ZERI student volunteer recalls Expo experience

Agreeing to be interviewed but only 18, Ikuko Sato brought along her elder sister Kyoko for support. Actually, Kyoko had her own motive for joining us. Soon to visit a Filipino friend in England, she wanted information on traveling in the U.K.: "Is there a special rail pass for tourists? And what do...
COMMUNITY
Oct 19, 2000

Glittering prizes on the Ginza

There's a new tenant on Ginza's shopping street, a new jewel.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

Chiyoda Life seeks court protection

Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co. filed for court protection from creditors Monday with liabilities of 2.94 trillion yen -- the biggest failure in Japan's insurance industry since the war.
COMMUNITY
Oct 5, 2000

Vanity, thy name is . . . Vince?

SAN FRANCISCO -- Clairol, the staid manufacturer of women's hair dyes, tried something new this year: It went after kids.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2000

Consolidated business tax eyed for 2002

The tax panel of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party plans to introduce a consolidated corporate tax system in fiscal 2002 to help companies restructure, panel sources said Sunday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 21, 2000

Japan insurance market just a phone call away

For the past several years, the insurance industry has been battered on two fronts by bad publicity. On the one hand, the collapse of almost all the major life insurance companies has been blamed on poor investment choices and even poorer management, while on the other, the spate of recent murder-for-insurance...
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2000

Yaohan chief extracts success from failure

OSAKA -- It is considered difficult and extremely unusual in Japan for those who have failed once in businesses to have a chance to succeed again.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2000

Five firms to integrate Tokyo cable TV businesses

Fujitsu Ltd., Secom Co., Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Marubeni Corp. have agreed to integrate their cable television (CATV) businesses to create the industry's second largest CATV operator, sources within the industry said Saturday.
COMMUNITY
Sep 3, 2000

Kennedy gives answers with Tokyo Q online

Rick Kennedy loves Tokyo. He has been here for years, yet still can't get over the kindness of its citizens, the flawless attention to detail, the sensory feast to be partaken of at every twist and turn -- much of which can be eaten and drunk! So great is his enthusiasm that we missed our stop, Hamamatsucho,...
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2000

Ripplewood to run failed insurer

The U.S. investment company Ripplewood Holdings LLC, the parent of Shinsei Bank, will take over the operations of the failed Daiichi Mutual Fire & Marine Insurance Co., industry sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2000

Chemical firm disputes EC's fines

Leading chemical maker Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. has filed a complaint with the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice claiming the European Commission broke a promise when it calculated a price-fixing fine imposed on the company, the firm said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2000

Sogo to close down Yurakucho store

Sogo Co., the failed department store operator that has applied for rehabilitation measures under court protection, will close its store in the Yurakucho district of Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Sept. 24, the company announced Wednesday.
COMMENTARY
Aug 19, 2000

Labor challenges for Japan

Since the end of the Cold War -- symbolized by the collapse of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989 -- "globalization" has become the world's most controversial subject. But what does "globalization" mean?
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2000

Secondhand comic book firm tapping into American interest in 'manga'

Savoring his success dealing in secondhand comic books and character items in Japan, Masuzo Furukawa, president of Mandarake Inc., is now eyeing an overseas market he believes is thirsting for Japanese "manga" culture.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2000

Support the economy -- take a vacation

If all you knew about Japan was what you saw on Japanese TV, you might think the Japanese are the most well-traveled citizens in the world. No other broadcast culture offers as many travel programs in which happy-go-lucky celebrity guides see the sights, interact freely with the natives and, most importantly,...
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
Jul 16, 2000

Yamazaki starts recall of moldy curry buns

OSAKA -- Yamazaki Baking Co. has retrieved more than 4,100 curry-flavored buns it recalled after convenience stores in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures reported that some of the products appeared to contain mold, officials of the company's factory in Osaka said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2000

Snow recycled milk into 'new' products

OSAKA -- Snow Brand Milk Products Co.'s Osaka plant, where a valve contaminated with bacteria has been linked to a massive outbreak of food poisoning, recycled milk products that were returned from stores to make "new" products, according to the Osaka Municipal Government.

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