Search - 2003

 
 
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2004

JAL narrows loss; ANA logs profit

Japan Airlines Corp. said Friday it posted a group net loss of 40.7 billion yen in the April-June quarter, compared with a 77.2 billion yen loss in the same period a year earlier.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2004

Cabinet OKs 48.2 trillion yen outlay cap

The Cabinet on Friday approved a 48.2 trillion yen ceiling for core policy-related outlays in the fiscal 2005 budget, kicking off the annual scramble by government ministries and agencies for public funding.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2004

Nissan's net profit rose 4.5% in first quarter

Nissan Motor Co. reported a 4.5 percent increase in net profit for the April-June quarter on Thursday, crediting surging sales of new car models launched last year.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2004

Matsushita sees 12-fold rise in profit

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Thursday its net profit for the April-June quarter soared 12-fold to 32.82 billion yen on strong sales of plasma display-panel TVs and cost-cutting efforts.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2004

Honda posts 12% increase in first-quarter profit

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday its group net profit for the April-June quarter rose 12.2 percent from a year earlier to a record 114.2 billion yen, due mainly to robust sales in Asia and Europe.
BUSINESS
Jul 29, 2004

Demand in Asia lifts vehicle exports by 4%

A total of 2,390,701 cars, trucks and buses manufactured in Japan were exported in the January-June period of 2004, up 4 percent from a year earlier for the third consecutive year of increase.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2004

Court halts MTFG-UFJ merger negotiations

The Tokyo District Court ordered a halt Tuesday to merger negotiations between Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. and UFJ Holdings Inc. in a move that could kill the creation of what would have been the world's largest banking group.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 28, 2004

Photos bloom in Ebisu's garden

Conceived during the halcyon days of Japan's economic boom, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (TMP) has seen plenty of ups and downs in its 10 years of operation. The fact that the TMP's entrance is hidden within Yebisu Garden Place has been one issue, but the bigger problem is that the TMP...
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2004

Mob figure owns up to overseeing loan-sharking enterprise

A mob figure accused of masterminding one of the nation's most extensive loan-sharking rings pleaded guilty Monday before the Tokyo District Court.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2004

Man gets suspended term for illegal stay

A Bangladeshi man suspected of having links to alleged al-Qaeda member Lionel Dumont was handed a 30-month sentence Monday, suspended for five years, for violating immigration laws.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 27, 2004

Godzilla smashes grand slam but Yanks still lose to BoSox

BOSTON -- Hideki Matsui drove home five runs on a sacrifice fly and the fourth grand slam of his major league career, but the New York Yankees fell 9-6 to the Boston Red Sox in the rubber game of a three-game series.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2004

UFJ hands improvement plan to FSA

UFJ Holdings Inc. told the Financial Services Agency on Monday it will carry out organizational changes, including an increase in outside directors, in response to business improvement orders issued by the FSA.
CULTURE / Books / THE BOOK REPORT
Jul 27, 2004

Publishers bid to halt reading slump with flood of new youth-oriented titles

"Reading at Risk," a report published in the United States this month by the National Endowment for the Arts, deplores the decline of reading. Now, fewer than half of American adults read fiction, with the rate of decline especially sharp among those who are 18 to 24 years of age. Newsweek (7/19) notes...
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2004

MTFG's leaders eyed to head merged group

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. and UFJ Holdings Inc., eyeing a merger in the next fiscal year, are considering having the president and chairman of MTFG take the same positions in the merged banking group, informed sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2004

MTFG's leaders eyed to head merged group

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. and UFJ Holdings Inc., eyeing a merger in the next fiscal year, are considering having the president and chairman of MTFG take the same positions in the merged banking group, informed sources said Saturday.
Japan Times
Features
Jul 25, 2004

Japan's inventor supreme shares the secret of 3,218 successes

Who is Japan's most famous inventor? No doubt about it, it's Yoshiro Nakamatsu -- or Dr. NakaMats as he styles himself. The doc says he has 3,218 inventions to his credit, including the floppy disk and the compact disc. Although his childhood dream was to become Finance Minister, from the age of 5, Nakamatsu...
JAPAN
Jul 24, 2004

Birthrate benefits future students

The nation's falling birthrate is good news for future university and junior college applicants but could spell disaster for some unpopular institutions, according to a report compiled by the Central Education Council.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2004

Postal privatization may see end to guarantee on deposits

The government might strip Japan Post workers of their public-servant status and might end the guarantee on ordinary deposits in 2007, when postal service privatization is phased in, according to government sources.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 24, 2004

Mycal brings high-flying fashion grad to Tokyo

Back in March, my traveling companion en route from London to Narita was Ben Archer, English crew chief of an airship -- one of those zeppelin-type balloons that fly around advertising companies and products. We tried to meet up, but schedules failed to mesh. Sorry about that, Ben.
JAPAN
Jul 23, 2004

Taxi drivers sue over smoking in cabs

A group of 26 taxi drivers and users filed a lawsuit Thursday at the Tokyo District Court, demanding 13.6 million yen in damages from the state over its alleged failure to actively curb smoking inside cabs.
JAPAN
Jul 22, 2004

Ueno Zoo tries to impregnate panda again

Officials at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo said Wednesday that a female giant panda on loan from a zoo in Mexico City was artificially inseminated with sperm from an Ueno Zoo panda last week.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2004

Foreign Ministry reorganizes to boost crisis-management

The Foreign Ministry will upgrade its consular affairs department to a bureau and create senior crisis management posts to better ensure the safety of Japanese abroad, according to ministry officials.
JAPAN
Jul 20, 2004

More Americans see Japan as reliable

A record 68 percent of Americans see Japan as a reliable partner, up 1 percentage point from 2003, according to a recent Foreign Ministry poll.
EDITORIALS
Jul 19, 2004

Opaque dental group donations

Tokyo public prosecutors are probing the alleged embezzlement of political campaign funds from the Japan Dentists Federation, the lobby for the Japan Dental Association. The investigation reached a new stage last week when a former Lower House member of the Liberal Democratic Party, Mr. Yukihiro Yoshida,...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 19, 2004

Going global with civic virtues

How do we instill civic virtue in the global marketplace to civilize and tame it so that we arrive at the place where the market serves the people instead of where people are served up to the market? Around half of the world's 100 largest economies are private companies. This gives the private sector...
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2004

Clutch housing find poses more trouble for Mitsubishi Fuso

Government examiners searching a Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. factory in Kawasaki have found a broken clutch housing that apparently fell off a bus.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji