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JAPAN
Mar 17, 2007

Horie handed 2 1/2 years

The Tokyo District Court sentenced Livedoor Co. founder Takafumi Horie to 2 1/2 years in prison Friday for falsifying financial statements and violating the Securities and Exchange Law in a harsh ruling sure to raise questions about double standards in the justice system.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2007

IRCJ chief satisfied as bailout body prepares to wind down

Atsushi Saito, president of the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, is confident the government-backed bailout agency has done more than revive ailing companies.
JAPAN
Mar 13, 2007

Horie didn't like his job, he was just good at it

to try to increase its value, just like any shareholder would," he said between frequent glances at his cell phone. Livedoor shares were trading at around 700 yen shortly after a stock split and before the firm was raided in January 2006 for alleged accounting fraud. By the time Livedoor was delisted...
BUSINESS
Mar 10, 2007

Aeon to pay 46 billion yen for 15% Daiei stake

The Aeon supermarket chain said Friday it will take a 15 percent stake in troubled Daiei for 46.2 billion yen, an alliance that will create the country's biggest retail group.
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2007

Aussie skiers spark land boom in Niseko

"When I started the business, people told me 'Ben, you're crazy, it's too expensive,' " he said. "But our buyers were saying the opposite: 'Ben, you're crazy. Why is it so cheap?' " suggesting properties in the area are still underpriced compared with overseas ski resorts.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2007

Japan, Russia agree to discuss nuke pact

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Fradkov, agreed Wednesday to negotiations on a nuclear cooperation pact and inked accords to boost bilateral economic ties, a Japanese government official said.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2007

Nikko to sue former execs over accounting fraud

Nikko Cordial Corp., facing possible delisting from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, said Tuesday it will sue three former senior executives for a combined 3.1 billion yen for their roles in accounting fraud committed at the firm.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 25, 2007

Women who give a rise to the man below them; it must be love

The big show business news last weekend was the wedding of model-actress Norika Fujiwara to comedian Tomonori Jinnai at a shrine in Kobe. The press were not permitted to attend the Shinto ceremony, but Fujiwara and Jinnai did come out a few times in their costumes to talk to reporters, which was nice...
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2007

New hearts for dying cities

The current economic recovery in Japan has been marred by imbalances. One imbalance is between the corporate and household sectors. While the corporate sector is prospering, much of the household sector is missing out on the fruit of the nation's longest postwar economic expansion. Stagnant wage growth...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 17, 2007

Japan's pop culture made palatable for the layman

Roland Kelts does not look like his publicity photo, in large part because he's wearing sunglasses. But not because he's trying to be cool: "It's just that my eyes are really tired this morning."
EDITORIALS
Feb 16, 2007

JAL's last chance at revival

The medium-term restructuring plan announced last week by Japan Airlines Corp. is a plan for the survival of the nation's flag carrier. The group is saddled with 1.7 trillion yen in debt. JAL President and CEO Haruka Nishimatsu summarized the importance of achieving the goals when he said, "We must keep...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 14, 2007

From rackets to real estate, yakuza multifaceted

The yakuza have long played a powerful, if often unseen, role in society. Romanticized in literature and film as noble outcasts replete with punch-perms, extensive tattoos and severed pinkies, the underworld is one of archaic language and secretive rituals and customs as well as extreme violence and...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 10, 2007

Time custom-designed for that unique experience

It takes Charlie Spreckley no time at all to leave his apartment in Ebisu and meet at the station. He is tall, smiling, and very droll. Nicole Fall, his business partner, falls in not far behind, looking brisk and wearing wrist weights. "I've no time to go the gym these days. These help keep my upper...
BUSINESS
Feb 9, 2007

Softbank sees firm rise in profits

Softbank Corp. announced Thursday that its operating profit for the April-December period rose sevenfold to 197 billion yen from a year earlier following a cut in basic monthly fees and the introduction of more attractive handsets to lure subscribers from rivals in the hotly contested wireless market....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 8, 2007

Rejecting kawaii culture

Momoyo Torimitsu (b. 1967) is a little tired of being remembered for Jiro Miyata, a life-size robot she created based on a middle-aged salaryman in 1994. But who could forget? Miyata, which Torimitsu had crawl around the streets of Tokyo, Paris, New York and other cities, so brilliantly embodied the...
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2007

JAL's operating loss soars to 5.8 billion yen

Japan Airlines Corp. announced Tuesday it had an operating loss of 5.8 billion yen for the first three quarters of its business year to March, a huge setback from the 800 million yen loss the previous year.
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2007

Costs, lack of new models dent Nissan's profit

Nissan Motor Co. announced Friday its group operating profit dropped 15.8 percent year-on-year to 531 billion yen in the nine months to December, as a dearth of new car models and rising raw materials costs cut its full-year operating profit forecast despite the weaker yen against the dollar and the...
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2007

Sony sees 15% fall in profit for quarter

Sony Corp. said Tuesday its group operating profit in the October-December period plunged 14.9 percent from 2005 to 178.9 billion yen due to the cost of launching the PlayStation 3 in November.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 16, 2007

Mixed results with foreign influx

At first glance there is little sign that Nishi-Kasai is different to any other Tokyo suburb. It's a neat, if unremarkable, commuter town. Like similar areas, it grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s with an influx of migrant workers from the countryside.
Japan Times
LIFE
Dec 31, 2006

Daunting challenges face fast-graying nation

Robert Feldman is chief economist at Morgan Stanley Japan Securities, where, as cohead of Japan Equity Research, he is responsible for forecasting the direction of the Japanese economy.
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2006

Prosecutors demand four years for Horie

Prosecutors on Friday demanded a four-year prison sentence for Takafumi Horie, the former president of Internet firm Livedoor Co., for alleged violations of the Securities and Exchange Law.

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