Search - business

 
 
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2011

Hitachi cuts power-system sales goal

Hitachi Ltd. lowered its target for power-system sales in fiscal 2012 by 3.3 percent, as the company expects reduced revenue from its nuclear energy business.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Jun 15, 2011

Kawachi meets group seeking to buy Apache

Toshimitsu Kawachi, the bj-league commissioner, met with the Tokyo Apache's potential new owners on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 15, 2011

Yakuza eye cleanup profits

The government and law enforcement authorities appear to be fighting an uphill battle to prevent gangsters and other "antisocial" groups from cashing in on disposing of huge amounts of debris generated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which played havoc with large areas along the Pacific coast...
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2011

Toyota expects profit to shrink by over 30%

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it expects group operating and net profit for the current business year to drop more than 30 percent from the previous year after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged key parts makers in northeast Japan.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2011

Fishermen take matters into own hands

The fine drizzle falling on the picturesque fishing village of Kyubun, Miyagi Prefecture, is dampening Toshikazu Takahashi's normally sunny disposition.
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2011

Advisers see V-shaped recovery, not recession

The slump following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis may be too short-lived to be called a recession, economists advising the government say.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
May 31, 2011

The edified and TEDified in Japan

On May 21, Tokyo's third annual TEDx event was held at Miraikan (the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation) in Odaiba. Though officially closed until June 11 due to the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake, Miraikan hosted 300 guests to this year's event: TEDxTokyo 2011: Enter the Unknown.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 16, 2011

Old proverbs should be minded even in tough economic times

Recent news of the restaurant chain Yakiniku-zakaya Ebisu serving contaminated raw beef to its customers makes me think of an old Japanese proverb. It tells us that "poverty breeds stupidity." All old proverbs are invariably wise. They also tend to be true most of the time.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2011

Nissan reports 72.5% jump in group profit

Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday its group operating profit jumped 72.5 percent to ¥537.47 billion for the business year ended in March, mostly on the back of strong sales in China and other emerging markets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 12, 2011

Toyota predicts early rebound in production capacity

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it expects that its damaged domestic production lines will rebound to 70 percent of capacity by June, a month earlier than initially scheduled, thanks to efforts made after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami slowed some of its plants in the northeast.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 7, 2011

American's food import firm has grown organically

Jack Bayles, owner of Alishan Organic Center and founder of Tengu Natural Foods, has lived within a 5-km radius his entire time in Japan in the shadow of the verdant, hazy mountains of Chichibu near the Koma River in Hidaka, Saitama Prefecture.
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2011

Morgan Stanley, Mitsubishi UFJ OK preferred stock deal

Morgan Stanley agreed to convert most of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s preferred stock in the company, paying a premium of about $2 billion to eliminate annual dividend payments of $784 million.
LIFE / Digital / TECH_JAPAN
Apr 20, 2011

In the battle with smart phones is i-mode dead?

Ever since 1999, when the Web-service/portal known as "i-mode" first appeared on Japanese keitai (cell phones), Japan has been hailed as the world leader in mobile phone technology — until recently that is.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Apr 14, 2011

Fashion designer Saleem d'Aronville

JUDIT KAWAGUCHI Saleem d'Aronville is a British fashion designer based in Tokyo. In 2003, he launched Orihica, a brand he developed for Aoki Holdings Inc., one of Japan's top fashion retailers. As its creative director, Saleem built Orihica into a major label with 65 stores around the country. The brand's...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 10, 2011

Market investors loath to weigh real challenges to U.S. economy

HONG KONG — Sometimes I find it hard to understand "Mr. Market" — if I may presume to call and poke fun at the combined wisdom of investors in stock and other markets. Immediately after announcement of a modest rise in U.S. employment numbers, the Dow Jones Industrial average rose, triggering a general...
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2011

Tepco may hobble Toshiba and Hitachi

Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Corp. may struggle to find buyers for their nuclear reactors after the worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl damaged Japan's reputation for safety, according to analysts and investors.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2011

Osaka's allure increases

Japanese companies may rethink their century-long trend of concentrating resources in Tokyo after the nation's record earthquake crimped power supply to the capital and radiation concern spurred some residents to flee.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Mar 24, 2011

Kitamura shows Japanese women how to be 'Top Girls'

"The play was written nearly 30 years ago, but I feel the situation for women has hardly changed at all. In fact, it hasn't fundamentally changed for 100 years, even though Japanese women got the vote around 65 years ago," said theater producer Akiko Kitamura when asked why she chose to stage the well-known...
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Mar 20, 2011

Actions of Apache, Broncos unacceptable

It's understandable that the Sendai 89ers, whose home region was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, won't continue play this season. But the Tokyo Apache and Saitama Broncos, Sendai's Eastern Conference rivals in the bj-league, appear to have not thought things through or come up with...
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2011

Japan's film industry faces quake fallout

The Japanese entertainment industry is reacting to the massive disaster caused by the March 11 earthquake much the way it reacts to any major national tragedy — by observing jishuku (self-restraint).
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2011

United Continental hints at flight cuts

United Continental Holdings Inc. reported a "measurable decline" in demand for Japan-bound flights and signaled some flying may be cut as the crisis deepens at the country's earthquake-damaged nuclear plant.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 13, 2011

Has rice farming passed its expiry date in Japan?

Atsuo Aoki doesn't appear to be an irrational man. At 52, he works in the banking division of the Japan Agricultural Cooperative (JA) in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, an old castle city at the foot of the Japan Alps about three hours by rail north of Tokyo. He lives there with his wife and three children...

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb