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Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
May 6, 2008

As parent firm posts record profits, Berlitz teachers strike back

Question: How do you get to be on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires? You might inherit your wealth, take risks and get lucky, or work for it. For Soichiro Fukutake, owner of Berlitz's parent company Benesse, it's a case of "all the above."
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 1, 2008

LDP gets drivers' ire for gas hikes

Angry motorists swiftly slammed the government's decision Wednesday to reinstate provisional extra tax rates on gasoline, with some calling the imminent price hike a "terrible act" and others criticizing Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda for his strong-arm political tactics.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 27, 2008

Weighing up a media culture that sees 58-cm waistlines as the norm

Earlier this month, the French Parliament began contemplating a bill that would make it illegal to promote extreme thinness. Following the death in 2006 of a Brazilian supermodel from complications associated with anorexia, the issue of young women purposely starving themselves for the sake of self-image...
BUSINESS
Apr 25, 2008

KDDI posts 16% profit rise for '07 but looks vulnerable

KDDI Corp., Japan's second-biggest mobile phone operator, said Thursday that operating profit for the year ended March 31 rose 16.2 percent to ¥400.5 billion as it continued to add new subscribers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Apr 5, 2008

Leaf-selling business helps small town rake in cash, find pride

Tomoji Yokoishi, 49, recalls how astonished he was 21 years ago by three pretty women sitting next to him in a sushi restaurant in Osaka's Namba district.
COMMENTARY
Mar 24, 2008

Chinese arms fueling Sudanese conflict

NEW YORK — Between 2003 and 2006 China sold Sudan more than $55 million worth of small arms, which, according to a report recently published by Human Rights First (HRF), are among the main ingredients fueling conflicts in that country.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 23, 2008

Oh what an extravaganza

Even the heavens were smiling on Tokyo Girls Collection. Balmy 19-degree temperatures — the year's highest up until then — provided the perfect setting last Saturday for the Spring/Summer edition of this hugely popular fashion-show-cum-showbiz extravaganza, allowing most of the 22,000 teenage and...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Q&A
Mar 20, 2008

Counting the cost of a weak dollar on the economy

This week saw the dollar slip to its lowest level against the yen in over 12 1/2 years.
BUSINESS
Mar 19, 2008

Retailing giant Wal-Mart to buy last 4% of ailing Seiyu

Wal-Mart Stores will buy the rest of ailing Seiyu as the U.S. retail giant seeks the flexibility it says it needs to turn around the money-losing supermarket chain.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2008

Mitsubishi Estate eyes property manager M&As

Mitsubishi Estate Co., Japan's largest developer by value, may buy property managers to more than double assets under management to ¥4 trillion ($40 billion) within six years as Tokyo commercial rents slow.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / TAKING A CHANCE
Mar 12, 2008

Young CEO breaks through corporate age barrier

With a single click, you can view the 3-D image of a sedan or a sports car on a Web site of global automakers like Honda and Nissan. With another click, you can change the color and model, or even rotate the vehicle.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2008

Shinginko Tokyo may sue ex-managers

Shinginko Tokyo, the brainchild of Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, said Monday it will consider suing its former management team, including ex-Chief Executive Officer Yasumasa Nishi, for allowing over-lenient screening that resulted in billions of yen in losses.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2008

Warm reception may not await iPhone in Japan

Unlike much of the rest of the world, Japan is unlikely to embrace the iPhone, Apple Inc.'s Internet-enabled multimedia mobile phone, said Nahoko Mitsuyama, a telecom analyst at Gartner Japan who attended the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, in February.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2008

Skymark mulls first dividend

Skymark Airlines Inc., Japan's largest low-fare carrier, may pay a dividend for the first time next business year to help stem a decline in its shares.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2008

MMC focusing on emerging markets to boost income

Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Japan's least-profitable carmaker, aims to raise net income in three years by winning customers in emerging markets.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Feb 29, 2008

Splendor falls on castle walls

Snowcapped Fuji drops behind the humps of the Hakone range in central Honshu as a southwest-bound train approaches Odawara Station. With mountains on the west and the ocean on the south and east, Odawara was a natural fortress. The first to exploit this topography was the Kobayakawa clan, who built a...
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2008

LPG merger eyed to boost competitiveness

Japan Energy Corp., the oil refining unit of Nippon Mining Holdings Inc., said Thursday it is holding talks with Osaka Gas Co. and Itochu Corp. to combine their liquefied petroleum gas businesses.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?