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JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Nov 17, 2009

Choice, chic, cheap — no one feels fleeced

Times are difficult for many retailers. Conspicuously not among them, however, is Fast Retailing Co., which posted both record sales of ¥685 billion and operating profit of ¥108.6 billion for the business year that ended in August.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2009

Toyota still in the red for first half but issues rosier full-year forecast

Toyota Motor Corp. reported Thursday it suffered a ¥55.99 billion net loss for the first half of the business year amid slumping global demand but forecast brighter earnings for the full year.
EDITORIALS
Nov 1, 2009

Fighting corruption in Asia

When Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama likened the Democrat Party of Japan's takeover to the Meiji Restoration in last week's policy speech, he failed to mention an issue that fueled discontent with the Tokugawa Shogunate as it ended in 1867 — corruption. Though corruption did not get a specific mention...
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2009

JAL downfall not just its own doing

With Cabinet ministers indicating Japan Airlines Corp. may get an injection of public funds, a transport ministry task force is in the final stages of compiling a rehabilitation plan for the struggling carrier.
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Oct 14, 2009

Electric vehicles, touted as next big thing, still in their infancy

Competition has been heating up in the domestic market for electric vehicles and many automakers have been prioritizing the technology since Mitsubishi Motors Corp. launched an egg-shaped electric minivehicle in July.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2009

Some taxi firms go that extra mile

Aya Ito takes a taxi every day to bring her twin 1-year-old boys to a nursery at her workplace thanks to a cab company that is friendly to mothers and the elderly.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Sep 23, 2009

Annals of cheap: QB House

It's very chop-chop at QB House, a chain of successful barber shops where you get a cut, no chit-chat, no shampoo, all in 10 minutes.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 16, 2009

Few answers for language market

Japan's language-related business sales have been on the decline, falling for the fourth straight in year in fiscal 2008, according to a market research firm.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 18, 2009

TOEIC: Where does the money go?

In a country of test-takers, the Test of English for International Communication has become one of Japan's most recognized exams. In 2008, people in Japan paid ¥4,040 — or slightly less if their company or school paid a ¥100,000 membership fee — to take the TOEIC Institutional Program (IP) at their...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Aug 11, 2009

TOEIC no turkey at 30

The Test of English for International Communication turns 30 this year. In three decades it has risen from humble beginnings to become one of the best-known tests in Japan. In December 1979, 3,000 people sat the first TOEIC. In 2008, people in Japan took it 1.7 million times. Many were repeat customers;...
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2009

Nissan turns over new Leaf in EV wars

YOKOHAMA — Nissan Motor Co. on Sunday unveiled its new electric vehicle, the Leaf, which the automaker wants to start selling next year in Japan, the United States and Europe in its quest to become the leader in zero-emission cars.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 14, 2009

Neither charity nor bulldozers prevent slums

LONDON — After treading the red carpet at the Oscars in Los Angeles in February, the child stars of "Slumdog Millionaire" are on the streets. Mumbai authorities have demolished their flimsy shelters only three months after promising them real houses.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jun 13, 2009

A passion for food, cars and aikido

You probably don't know where Ushigome is. Like many areas within Tokyo's Yamanote Line, it is somewhat anonymous — the kind of place where you expect to find nothing of interest and where the local people, as if oblivious to the size of the metropolis around them, shop in tiny old stores. It's the...
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2009

Goldman's Accordia Golf to spend ¥20 billion buying several course operators

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Japanese golf business unit plans to buy more courses as the recession forces companies to sell off assets unrelated to their main business.

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