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JAPAN
Feb 11, 2000

More Japanese urged to join international student forum

The International Students' Committee, organizers of the annual International Management Symposium in St. Gallen, Switzerland, is urging more Japanese business leaders and students to take part in the gathering. Organizers say the symposium has become one of the prime occasions for leaders and top students...
JAPAN
Feb 10, 2000

International student forum needs more Japanese

The International Students' Committee, organizers of the annual International Management Symposium in St. Gallen, Switzerland, is urging more Japanese business leaders and students to take part in the gathering. Organizers say the symposium has become one of the prime occasions for leaders and top students...
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 9, 2000

English food -- beyond shepherd's pie

People did some funny things during the bubble economy. An insurance firm paid $80 million for an incredibly ugly painting by van Gogh; other companies paid equally stupid sums for New York's Rockefeller Center and California's Pebble Beach golf course; Louis Vuitton's vastly overpriced handbags became...
SPORTS / SPORTS SCOPE
Jan 13, 2000

Things that make you go PING

If I asked my mother how I could get more out of my golf clubs, she would probably reply: "Buy bigger ones so you can hit the ball easier" or "Ooh! Those orange ones look nice."
JAPAN
Jan 11, 2000

Allstate withdraws Japanese operations

Allstate Property and Casualty Insurance Japan Co., a Japanese subsidiary of a major U.S. insurance group, said Tuesday it will withdraw from operations here -- only nine months after its launch. The move follows the group's review of its business strategy late last year, officials said, adding that...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2000

Economics and the human perspective

Economics, it is sometimes useful to point out, can hardly be analyzed at all if divorced from some basic cultural parameters. A recent academic gathering in Japan reminded us of just that.
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2000

ACCJ chief aims to fortify bilateral bridge

While major elections are likely to consume Tokyo and Washington in 2000, trade disputes are simmering beneath the relatively calm surface of Japan-U.S. economic relations.
BUSINESS
Jan 4, 2000

Domestic banks embrace information technology

Domestic banks, lagging behind their American counterparts in the use of information technology, are stepping up their Internet banking operations and expanding services available to retail customers via the Net.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2000

Wake-up call for the private sector

As the New Year begins, many corporate leaders and economic experts will be holding their breath to see what the Japanese economy will do -- work its way to a self-sustained recovery, or be pulled along by the steamroller of government spending.
EDITORIALS
Nov 26, 1999

The computer giant stumbles

In the era of globalization, the management mantra seems to be "bigger is better." From automakers to securities traders, every business aspires to the size and weight that would allow it to influence -- if not dictate -- developments in its particular industry. In the fast-moving world of high-technology,...
JAPAN
Nov 23, 1999

Foreign carmakers wedge feet in door at Toyohashi

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1999

The 401(K) Approach: Firm offers pension guidance

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 18, 1999

A dream to revive the woolly mammoth

Staff writer
JAPAN
Oct 14, 1999

Keidanren urges MITI to help ailing small firms

Top business leaders want Takashi Fukaya, new minister for international trade and industry, to take further measures to assist small and midsize firms that are struggling amid the stagnant economy, officials of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 7, 1999

Asahi, Tokai move up merger

Asahi Bank and Tokai Bank announced Thursday they will integrate their operations under a holding company next October -- moving up their original schedule by more than a year.
JAPAN
Sep 1, 1999

Fujitsu, Orient plan credit venture

Fujitsu Ltd. and Orient Corp. will set up a joint venture later this month to develop a computer system for credit services, top officials of the two firms announced Wednesday.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 1999

Getting past the glitter in daily life

In Japan heavily forested mountains cover over 70 percent of all the land, and the Japanese have taken advantage of wood since ancient times.
JAPAN
Aug 11, 1999

Legislation slated to aid venture firms in autumn

The government will take legislative steps in the upcoming Diet session, expected to convene this fall, to help revitalize small and medium-size enterprises and nurture venture businesses, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 1999

Sony quits North America cell phone market

Sony Corp. announced Wednesday it will withdraw from the cellular phone business in North America, citing dwindling market share and profits due to intensifying competition.
EDITORIALS
Jul 3, 1999

NTT readies for the digital era

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. made a fresh start Thursday as a group of companies under the control of a holding company. As Japan's largest telecommunications company, NTT is expected to play an even larger role in a broad spectrum of activities. With competition heating up at home and abroad,...
JAPAN
Jul 1, 1999

NTT-West hefts ax as cost-cutting option

OSAKA -- NTT-West Corp. President Kazuo Asada on Thursday said job cuts are one option for trimming costs and putting the firm's business into the black within three years.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Jun 9, 1999

The random walk

Hoping to tap into that Amazon.com magic right here in Japan, Softbank (a software and publishing company), Seven-Eleven, Yahoo! Japan and Tohan, a book publisher and distributor, last week announced a joint venture to sell books online. e-Shopping! Books (who thinks up these names?) plans to open for...
JAPAN
Jun 3, 1999

Obuchi takes competition woes to industry leaders

Japan needs to promote joint projects between the government and the private sector to strengthen its industrial technology, government and business leaders agreed Thursday at a state panel on beefing up industrial competitiveness.
JAPAN
May 19, 1999

Japan Telecom posts 1.7% sales drop

Japan Telecom Co. on Wednesday reported 385.3 billion yen in unconsolidated sales for the business year that ended March 31, down 1.7 percent from the previous year.
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
May 12, 1999

What's in store

Everyone in my family is in retail, except me -- unless you consider this journalism gig equivalent to selling snake oil. My mother and sisters have run wearable-art galleries and design-centered shops for a couple of decades, and they seem to be pretty good at it. They travel around the United States...
JAPAN
Apr 26, 1999

Daiwa group launches holding firm operations

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. kicked off operations as a holding company Monday, placing four separate firms under its wing.
JAPAN
Apr 21, 1999

Hewlett Packard chief talks of split

The chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard Co. on Wednesday talked about the most difficult question his firm faced in deciding its future -- whether to keep the hard-copy unit with the computing unit.
EDITORIALS
Apr 15, 1999

Justice for all, even prosecutors

The Public Prosecutor's Office, in any country, is the arm of the law responsible for investigating crimes, gathering evidence and seeing to it that justice is done. In Japan, where collusion among politicians, bureaucrats and business-people is not uncommon, the Public Prosecutor's Office is often the...
LIFE / Digital / CYBERIA
Mar 17, 1999

The doctor is in

Steve Chang has a fondness for viruses. It's not as ghoulish as it sounds; he's obsessed with the computer variety, not the human kind. Fortunately for him -- unfortunately for us -- there are a lot out there.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 1999

Three JR firms project falling sales for '99

Mired in gloomy economic conditions, three JR group companies projected declining sales conditions Friday for the upcoming fiscal year.

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