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JAPAN
Oct 14, 2005

Rakuten, Murakami grab stakes in TBS

Top e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc. has acquired a 15.46 percent equity stake in Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. and proposed integrating management of the two firms under a holding company, Rakuten's president said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2005

Shock over aid worker's death

Relatives of a Japanese aid worker and his son killed in Saturday's massive earthquake in Pakistan have departed their home in Fukuoka to identify the bodies as people close to them expressed shock and disbelief.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 9, 2005

Roll up! Roll up! For a freak show starring 'Koizumi's children'

Adding salt to its wounds, it was reported recently that the Democratic Party of Japan paid 129 million yen to the American public relations firm Fleischmann-Hillard to buff its image in 2004. Though it might have helped in last year's Upper House election, the company's strategy didn't seem to work...
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2005

Wal-Mart takes control

Seiyu Ltd. said Friday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of the United States will raise its stake in the retailer from 42 percent to over 50 percent by the end of the year, making it a subsidiary of the U.S. retailing giant.
BUSINESS
Sep 29, 2005

MTFG, Merrill Lynch in joint venture

Competition in the private banking business got tougher Wednesday after Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. announced they will set up a joint-venture brokerage targeting wealthy customers.
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2005

LDP rookie serves self high-class dish of crow

Taizo Sugimura, the youngest of the 83 new Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers elected earlier this month to the House of Representatives, apologized Tuesday for stating he hoped to dine at high-class restaurants during his new career as a Diet politician.
COMMENTARY
Sep 26, 2005

Underwhelmed in Okinawa

Most of the Japanese political community is all agog over the overwhelming victory of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party in the Sept. 11 Lower House election. Okinawa Prefecture is the exception.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 25, 2005

Help the disabled, but don't deny them

Several years ago, the government discussed state-sponsored care for people with disabilities. The idea was to assist mentally and physically disabled people in leaving publicly-funded facilities and entering society; or, at least, that was how it was presented.
COMMENTARY
Sep 23, 2005

Small but vital step for man

HONOLULU -- The agreement on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula reached Monday in Beijing was "one small step for man." It is, however, premature to call it a "giant leap for mankind." The agreement provides a template for working toward a solution to the denuclearization problem; it is not yet a road...
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2005

Japan to guard Teikoku Oil if gas-field talks fail

If no agreement is reached in talks next week with China on natural gas development in the East China Sea, Japan is prepared to ensure the safety of Teikoku Oil Co. employees and protect the Japanese company's right to drill in disputed waters, Shoichi Nakagawa, minister of economy, trade and industry,...
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2005

Japan seeks abduction sincerity in renewed talks

Tokyo and Pyongyang have agreed to resume bilateral talks -- stalled since last November -- to resolve various issues, including the abductions of Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2005

Oil prices up steelmakers' costs

Japanese steelmakers as a whole will face a yearly cost increase of 100 billion yen or more if crude oil prices remain high for a year, an industry leader said Tuesday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Sep 20, 2005

Brought to heel

The watchdog role of journalists in Japan is on trial in several cases with enormous implications for freedom of the press here
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2005

Sony unveils Bravia-brand TVs in turnaround bid

Sony Corp. on Wednesday unveiled its Bravia brand of liquid crystal display televisions with high hopes the new line will be able to turn around its ailing TV-set business.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2005

Disaster responses redefine 'Third World'

BANGKOK -- "If America and Thailand were both hit by natural disaster, Thais would handle it better," a Thai lawyer once told me.
BUSINESS
Sep 13, 2005

METI praises industry for freeing up oil

Hideji Sugiyama, vice minister of economy, trade and industry, welcomed on Monday moves by domestic oil firms to tap into their reserves in response to the government's calls last week to allay global supply concerns in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Japan Times
Features
Sep 4, 2005

Nagano's champion of change

He is perhaps the most well-known governor in Japan, largely because he has been breaking with tradition ever since he took office in Nagano Prefecture in October 2000.
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Sep 4, 2005

Selective thinking devalues the V-word's worth

There is a six-letter word so abused and perverted these days that I wouldn't blame the media for banning it altogether. It is the V-word and, I must confess, I hesitated to write this column about it myself. But journalists must not be daunted by trends that pollute . . . and so, here we go. The word,...
JAPAN
Sep 3, 2005

Textbook revisionists plan to diversify

Despite the marginal adoption of its contentious history textbook, which critics say whitewashes Japan's wartime aggression, the group that compiled the book said Friday it now plans to pen a junior high school geography textbook.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2005

TBS to issue 20 billion yen in new shares to partners

Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. announced Wednesday that it will issue 20.6 billion yen in new shares to major ad agency Dentsu Inc. and several of its other business partners to raise money for new projects.
JAPAN
Aug 30, 2005

DPJ narrows gap with LDP, tracking poll shows

The Liberal Democratic Party's lead in voter support over the Democratic Party of Japan is diminishing in the runup to the Sept. 11 election, and the approval rate for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet has edged down, according to a Kyodo News tracking poll taken over the weekend.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 28, 2005

Koizumi says postal dissenter may get on LDP ticket

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Saturday his Liberal Democratic Party may put postal rebel Eita Yashiro on the party's roster for the Tokyo proportional representation block in the Sept. 11 election.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2005

Matsushita 65-inch PDP TV under 1 million yen

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Thursday it will offer the world's first full high-definition 65-inch plasma display panel TVs with a price tag of less than 1 million yen.
COMMENTARY / THE VIEW FROM MOSCOW
Aug 26, 2005

Playing war in the Far East

MOSCOW -- Chinese walk into Vladivostok, Russians occupy Qindao. Amphibious armored vehicles negotiate the surf, jet fighters refuel in the air, troops land on barren beaches. A Hollywood World War III movie? An Internet prank? A hallucination from a crazed war veteran? Nope, they are joint military...
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2005

Welfare trumps posts as candidates' main concern

Most of the declared candidates running in the Sept. 11 general election say social welfare reform should be the policy priority after the poll, according to a Kyodo News survey released Monday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 21, 2005

Party leaders head out on the national stump

Ruling and opposition leaders traveled to various parts of the country Saturday to seek public support ahead of the Sept. 11 general election.
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2005

DPJ's platform vows troop pullout

The Democratic Party of Japan on Tuesday unveiled its platform for the Sept. 11 election, pledging to pull the Ground Self-Defense Force out of Iraq by December if it comes to power.

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