Search - world

 
 
JAPAN
Nov 20, 1998

Mitsui O.S.K., Navix Line announce maritime megamerger

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. and Navix Line, Ltd., the country's second- and fourth-largest maritime transport companies, will merge as of April 1, becoming one of the biggest maritime carriers in the world, top executives of the two companies announced on Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 1998

Moody's downgrades Japanese government debt

Moody's Investors Service has taken Japanese securities issued or guaranteed by the government down a notch from its top Aaa ranking, the U.S. credit rating agency's Japanese unit said on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 1998

Global One alliance profiting from progress

Staff writer
JAPAN
Nov 13, 1998

Trilateral cooperation key to Korea tension: Seoul

Cooperation between Japan, South Korea and the United States is essential to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula, South Korean Ambassador Kim Suk Kyu said Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 1998

Japan Inc. suffers 70% drop in after-tax profit

After-tax profits of Japanese companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange plunged 70 percent from the previous year, marking the largest drop since the period immediately after World War II, according to financial reports announced Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 1998

China wants apology, clarification stated during Jiang visit

China wants a clear apology from Japan over its wartime aggression in China and clarification of its stance toward Taiwan put into a joint statement to be issued when President Jiang Zemin visits Japan later this month, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Chen Jiang said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 1998

Trade stance could trigger Asia-Pacific collapse, U.S. official warns

A senior U.S. government official warned Monday that trade liberalization in the Asia Pacific region will collapse if Japan refuses to join an early market-opening initiative on wood and fish products at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that opens later this week in Malaysia.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 1998

Mitsubishi to layoff 1,000 U.S. autoworkers

Posting huge losses in midterm earnings, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced plans Friday to lay off about 1,000 of the 4,600 workers at two major U.S. subsidiaries as part of restructuring efforts.
JAPAN
Nov 3, 1998

Lower costs fuel boom in exotic, quirky overseas weddings

Regional correspondent
JAPAN
Nov 1, 1998

Japan to ease Pakistan sanctions, withhold aid

Japan has decided to partially lift sanctions imposed on Pakistan following its nuclear tests in May and will approve international bank loans to Islamabad, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told his Pakistani counterpart, Sartaj Aziz, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 1998

Ramos tells Asian states to act as one

Staff writerKAKEGAWA, Shizuoka Pref. -- Asian nations need to transcend narrow national interests and act as a region to overcome the current economic slump, Former Philippine President Fidel Ramos said in a keynote address here Friday."We must reinforce Asian solidarity ... because each of our countries,...
JAPAN
Oct 30, 1998

Global satellite phone systems prepare to power up

Staff writerA new global satellite phone system that promises to release users from the fetters of conventional, bulky and cumbersome mobile phones currently in use begins service Sunday amid mixed expectations regarding its success.Nippon Iridium Corp.'s new Iridium service will provide customers with...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 1998

Canada backs APEC on Japan's forestry, fishery tariffs

Canada on Thursday joined the APEC chorus in calling on Japan to further reduce tariffs on forestry and fishery products during a high-level meeting in Tokyo, Foreign Ministry officials said.At two-day vice ministerial talks ended Thursday, the Canadian side expressed dissatisfaction with Japan's failure...
JAPAN
Oct 28, 1998

WTO sides with U.S. in apple trade dispute

The WTO's dispute settlement panel on Tuesday agreed with the U.S. that Japan's required plant quarantines for testing apples and other produce is effectively a trade barrier.In its final report on the so-called apple dispute, the panel of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization told Japan to simplify...
JAPAN
Oct 27, 1998

Toshiba, Hitachi report huge midterm losses

Plagued by the prolonged economic slump and falling semiconductor prices worldwide, electronics giants Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. on Tuesday reported their first midterm net losses in decades.And they were huge. Hitachi Ltd. posted an unconsolidated net loss of 124.7 billion yen -- the first midterm...
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Faltering Ford charts new recovery path

Struggling to gain a foothold in Japan, senior officials of Ford Motor's Japanese subsidiary next week will begin visiting affiliated auto dealers across the country.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

Ostracized burakumin leather tanners faced with new threat

The biggest victim of a leather products trade dispute between Japan and the European Union may turn out to be the hisabetsu buraku — the ostracized hamlets where many of Japan's social outcasts earn a living tanning leather.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 1998

APEC may force Japan into tariff compromise

Japan intends to seek a compromise on the easing of its fisheries and forestry trade barriers at next month's meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the government's top spokesman indicated Friday.Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka said the government has virtually given up its position...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

ANA changes course for Star Alliance

In an effort to pull in business class customers for its international routes, All Nippon Airways Co. will join the Star Alliance, a multilateral strategic linkup of international carriers, next October, ANA officials said Thursday.The alliance is made up of Air Canada, Lufthansa German Airlines, Scandinavian...
JAPAN
Oct 22, 1998

MITI, Saudi trade chiefs chat

Japan and Saudi Arabia on Thursday reaffirmed their bilateral efforts to facilitate investment in the Arab nation, which pledged to be a primary oil supplier to Japan and other world economies, officials of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said.MITI Minister Kaoru Yosano met separately...
JAPAN
Oct 20, 1998

Sakakibara backs Mahathir on currency controls

Sharing Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's concerns over capitalism, Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs supported Malaysia's foreign exchange controls Tuesday.At a Tokyo symposium, Eisuke Sakakibara said global capitalism backed by "market fundamentalism," or the belief...
JAPAN
Oct 19, 1998

Shiga rail crash hearings come to end

OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court concluded hearings Monday in a civil suit filed by relatives of some of the 42 people killed and 614 hurt in a head-on train collision in 1991 in Shigaraki, Shiga Prefecture.A group of 23 plaintiffs, relatives of nine of those killed, demanded a total of 1.14 billion...
JAPAN
Oct 15, 1998

Expert calls for overhaul of emergency medical system

Staff writerThe nation's emergency medical system should be greatly improved before organ transplants from brain-dead donors are promoted, said one veteran doctor who specializes in emergency care.Yuichi Hamabe, director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bokuto Hospital's Life Support Emergency Center in Sumida...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 1998

Northeast Asia security forum to go 'track 1'

Staff writerJapan, the United States and Russia will inaugurate an official security-dialogue forum as early as next year to discuss the Northeast Asian situation and possible security cooperation among the three major players in the region, government sources said Tuesday.The three countries will upgrade...
JAPAN
Oct 12, 1998

Cargill plans to takeover Toshoku

The world's largest grain trading house said on Monday that it will help collapsed Japanese food trader Toshoku Ltd. rehabilitate by turning it into a wholly owned subsidiary.Cargill Inc. of the United States, based in Minnesota, hopes to set up its own domestic food distribution system by using Toshoku's...
JAPAN
Oct 9, 1998

Tokyo court dismisses sex slave suit, ignores alleged ordeals

The Tokyo District Court on Friday rejected claims by 46 former "comfort women" from the Philippines who were seeking compensation from the Japanese government for forcing them to provide sex for Japanese soldiers during World War II.Presiding Judge Yoriaki Ichikawa of the Tokyo District Court dismissed...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1998

Kim prods Japan to lead Asia's recovery

Liberalization of the Japanese market and expansion of domestic demand in Japan are critically important to resuscitate the Asian economy, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung stressed Thursday in Tokyo."Now is the time for Japan to take the initiative to revive the Asian economy," which is in the midst...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1998

Leaders sign wide-ranging action plan

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and South Korean President Kim Dae Jung signed during their summit meeting Thursday a 43-point joint action plan aimed at enhancing ties toward the next century.The paper covered a wide range of topics for the two countries to pursue together and covered five major areas...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1998

The Kim Visit: Leaders look ahead, vow cooperative ties

Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and visiting South Korean President Kim Dae Jung put the past behind them Thursday, with Japan apologizing for its past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and both pledging to establish a new partnership in a variety of fields for the 21st century.Obuchi said at a joint...
JAPAN
Oct 8, 1998

President Kim addresses Diet

Japan and South Korea must establish "future-oriented relations" while working to resolve differences in interpretation over Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung said Thursday in a speech to the Diet."The time has come for the two countries to look...

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