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JAPAN
Jul 9, 2006

Skeptics abound that alliance is worth the effort

Despite earlier reports that General Motors Corp. Chairman Rick Wagoner and other executives were opposed to forming an alliance with Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA, GM's board of directors on Friday gave the green light to start negotiations that could lead to the world's biggest automaker alliance....
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2006

Panel to suggest BOJ asset disclosure

A Bank of Japan panel will recommend that the central bank draw up new rules requiring Policy Board members to disclose their personal assets, panel sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2006

Big life insurers apologize to policyholders

Major life insurance companies, reeling from a series of misdeeds, held their annual meetings of policyholders' representatives Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2006

Nikkei ad exec linked to inside trading

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office is mulling charging an employee of Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. with insider trading, sources said.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2006

July rate hike seen amid rosy 'tankan'

Business confidence among major manufacturers improved in the April-June quarter and fiscal 2006 corporate capital spending is expected to post double-digit growth, the Bank of Japan's "tankan" survey showed Monday, increasing the likelihood that the central bank will raise the key short-term interest...
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2006

BOJ execs shouldn't invest in private funds: panel head

A Bank of Japan advisory panel will recommend that the central bank ban its executives from investing in privately placed funds, including the scandal-tainted Murakami fund, the panel chairman said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2006

Sompo Japan punishes 584 after suspension

Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. has punished 584 people in the wake of a business suspension order it received for misconduct related to thousands of cases of unpaid insurance benefits, the company said.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2006

Investors get more vocal on management decisions

Over the past several weeks, company executives have been beating a path to Pension Fund Association's door, trying to get the investment manager to agree with proposals they plan to submit at their shareholder meetings.
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.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2006

Skylark to carry out largest MBO in Japan history

Family-style restaurant chain Skylark Co. announced Thursday its management will buy all outstanding company shares to become private, making it the largest management buyout bid in Japanese history.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2006

New budget plan eyes surplus by 2011

The government has come up with a new budget reform proposal aimed at achieving a primary budget surplus by fiscal 2011 by cutting spending and raising taxes, government sources said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 8, 2006

The act of a professional?

Mr. Yoshiaki Murakami, who has drawn intense public attention as Japan's most controversial investment fund manager, was arrested Monday by the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office on suspicion of violating the Securities and Exchange Law. He is suspected of having engaged in insider stock trading when his...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Jun 5, 2006

A sleuth's Marple-lous take on takeover bids

In the novel "A Caribbean Mystery," Miss Marple asks Mr. Rafiel about takeover bids. She sounds like someone who is talking about a word in a foreign language.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2006

Sompo Japan chief resigns; 6.5 million yen error revealed

The president of Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. resigned Friday to take responsibility for the firm's misconduct that resulted in a business suspension order, while the insurer announced it mistakenly collected 6.5 million yen in premiums due to a clerical error.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2006

NEC close to tieup with TI, Matsushita

Developing or procuring key components for mobile phone handsets are major reasons NEC Corp. will collaborate with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Texas Instruments Inc. in the mobile phone business, NEC President Kaoru Yano said Monday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 29, 2006

Getting to the bottom of foreign currency reserves

In recent months, news about sharp rises in foreign currency reserves held by emerging economies has been making headlines in Japanese papers.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 21, 2006

Ishihara flies over the hurdles toward his own 2016 Olympic gold

Politicians often get elected because of promises they make. In his one term as governor of Tokyo, comedian Yukio Aoshima didn't accomplish anything noteworthy, but he did keep the one promise that got him elected: He canceled the World City Exposition that many constituents thought would be a waste...
COMMENTARY / World
May 20, 2006

Is Europe turning toward a strong euro?

PALO ALTO, California -- European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet made news at the press conference following the May meeting of the ECB Governing Council not by what he said, but by what he did not say.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2006

Economy defies dip in consumption and pulls off 0.5% rise

The economy grew by a real 0.5 percent in the January to March quarter, marking its fifth consecutive quarter of growth despite a slowdown in private consumption, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2006

Isuzu netted record profit in 2005 on strong overseas sales

Truck maker Isuzu Motor Ltd. said Tuesday it set all-time highs in group pretax and operating profit in fiscal 2005, thanks to robust sales in the United States and Southeast Asia.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2006

Tanigaki displeased with yen's rise

Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said Tuesday "excessive volatility and disorderly movements" in exchange rates are undesirable for economic growth, in reference to the dollar's sharp fall against the yen.
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2006

Koizumi issues official Minamata apology

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday issued the first formal apology by a prime minister for the state's failure to deal properly with Minamata disease, one of the worst pollution-caused maladies and one that erupted during the nation's speedy economic growth of the 1950s.
BUSINESS
Apr 15, 2006

FSA orders suspension at Aiful

The Financial Services Agency said Friday it has ordered consumer finance firm Aiful Corp. to suspend most operations at its 1,700 outlets for three to 25 days over the use of strong-arm collection tactics.
BUSINESS
Apr 7, 2006

CPA body plans registry for auditors

An industry body governing certified public accountants said Thursday it will start a registration system next April to help it weed out accounting firms or auditors found to have violated accounting rules.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2006

GM offers Isuzu stake to Mitsubishi, Itochu

Struggling General Motors Corp. is discussing the sale of its 7.9 percent stake in truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd. to Mitsubishi Corp. and Itochu Corp., the two trading houses said Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 23, 2006

A grand splash

Just before Japan's economy took a downturn, the Tokyu railroad conglomerate celebrated good times with the construction of the splendidly designed Bunkamura arts complex just behind its flagship department store in Tokyo's Shibuya district.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2006

New chief vows to steady JAL

Japan Airlines Corp. should restructure itself into an airline that can consistently make an operating profit of at least 100 billion yen so it can survive in volatile business conditions, the troubled carrier's incoming president said in an interview with The Japan Times.
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2006

Fuji TV will sue Livedoor but may try to sell stake first

The chairman of Fuji Television Network Inc. said Thursday the TV network will sue Livedoor Co. for compensatory damages in connection with huge losses caused by a plunge in the stock price of the Internet and financial services company.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2006

Specifics prove difficult in privatizing financier

The government has deferred a decision on whether to include specific measures to fully privatize Shoko Chukin Bank, a public financier specializing in loans to smaller businesses, in a bill on streamlining government-linked financial institutions.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic