Search - business

 
 
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 9, 2006

Bringing the lady-makes-tea debate to the boil

In the early 1990s I interviewed a representative of the vending machine industry who told me that one of the most revolutionary developments in his business was the installation of coffee and tea dispensers in new office buildings. "Think of it," he said excitedly, "women office workers will no longer...
JAPAN
Apr 7, 2006

Foreign students' goal of career proves elusive

In line with the government's campaign launched in 1983 to boost the number of foreign students in Japan to the 100,000 mark, the figure came to some 117,000 in 2004.
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2006

Oki takes over Thai logistics firm

Major telecommunications equipment maker Oki Electric Industry Co. said Wednesday it has acquired a controlling stake in Business Logistics (Thailand) Co. in a move to establish a logistics base in the Southeast Asian country.
BUSINESS
Mar 31, 2006

GM offers Isuzu stake to Mitsubishi, Itochu

Struggling General Motors Corp. is discussing the sale of its 7.9 percent stake in truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd. to Mitsubishi Corp. and Itochu Corp., the two trading houses said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 25, 2006

Shifting fortunes of 'shunto'

Since 2002, major Japanese labor unions have refrained from demanding wage increases during their annual spring labor offensive (shunto). Instead, they have concentrated on securing union members' jobs amid a persistently stagnant economy. But after a long "winter," a ray of hope appears to have emerged...
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2006

Police search Chongryun affiliate over '80 abduction

Police raided six locations Thursday, including an Osaka business group affiliated with the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryun), over North Korea's abduction of Tadaaki Hara in 1980, they said.
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2006

Usen chief to buy Fuji's Livedoor stake

Usen Corp. President Yasuhide Uno said Thursday he will personally purchase Fuji Television Network Inc.'s entire 12.75 percent stake in Livedoor Co. for 9.5 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2006

New chief vows to steady JAL

Japan Airlines Corp. should restructure itself into an airline that can consistently make an operating profit of at least 100 billion yen so it can survive in volatile business conditions, the troubled carrier's incoming president said in an interview with The Japan Times.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2006

TSE elects to delist Livedoor

The Tokyo Stock Exchange said Monday it will delist scandal-tainted Livedoor Co. and subsidiary Livedoor Marketing Co. from its Mothers market for emerging firms on April 14 due to alleged accounting fraud.
BUSINESS
Mar 14, 2006

Final Livedoor directors of Horie era to resign

The remaining three members of the Livedoor Co. board of directors, who held seats when founder Takafumi Horie was running the Internet services company, will resign before a shareholders' meeting in June as the scandal-plagued firm tries to salvage its image, sources said Monday.
Japan Times
LIFE
Mar 12, 2006

Equality still has a long way to go

International Women's Day, commemorated March 8, was a chance to celebrate women's achievements. But it also highlighted the fact that discrimination continues to be a major problem for women around the globe -- and Japanese women, unfortunately, are no exception. In fact, the world's second-largest...
JAPAN
Mar 8, 2006

Let foreign firms also donate, LDP urges

The Liberal Democratic Party has worked out legislation aimed at tapping more corporations for campaign funds by allowing certain foreign-owned companies to make donations, according to sources.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2006

Takenaka mum on Softbank mobile license

Communications minister Heizo Takenaka declined comment Tuesday when asked whether his ministry will rescind the license granted to Softbank Corp. in November that authorized the company to enter the mobile phone business.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Mar 7, 2006

A good cause

While Japan has no tradition of high-priced events for the wealthy to raise money for charity, expatriate communities here regularly lay on glitzy, high-profile parties as a means of raising money for the less fortunate.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2006

Burned Livedoor investors huddle to weigh options

Takashi Shimokawa, 56, is a staunch believer in digital technology and the potential of multimedia.
JAPAN
Feb 27, 2006

Horie allegedly OK'd bogus sales

Former Livedoor Co. President Takufumi Horie and two other former executives decided in 2004 to post 1.58 billion yen in fictitious sales from two firms under Livedoor's control, according to sources close to the investigation into alleged accounting fraud.
JAPAN
Feb 25, 2006

Nihon Keizai reels amid investigations into insider trading

Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. President Ryoki Sugita said Friday its managing director in charge of advertising, Takashi Kageyama, resigned the same day to take responsibility for alleged insider trading by an employee at the business daily's advertising department.
JAPAN
Feb 23, 2006

Livedoor's new boss arrested

Prosecutors on Wednesday arrested Livedoor Representative Director Fumito Kumagai in connection with the alleged accounting fraud in which his former colleagues are embroiled, putting the firm one step closer to being delisted.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2006

Fuji Photo plans foray into drugs

Fuji Photo Film Co. said Monday it has become the leading shareholder in Tokyo drug venture Perseus Proteomics Inc. in a bid to push deeper into the medical business.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2006

Critics cry white elephant while backers hunker down and hope

KOBE -- It was the airport nobody except the Kobe Municipal Government and a few local business leaders originally wanted.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2006

MUFG ups earnings view as forecast

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said Wednesday it has revised upward its earnings forecast for the business year to March 31 to a 1.17 trillion yen group net profit, compared with its previously estimated 9.3 billion yen.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WORDS TO LIVE BY
Feb 14, 2006

Nobuko Mitsumori

Nobuko Mitsumori, 37, works with her mother in their small accounting office in Tokyo's Chuo Ward. With one assistant and myriad clients, the three are always happily overworked. Nobuko studied classical literature and didn't think that math was her strength, but thanks to her talent, the numbers somehow...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 11, 2006

A-team imports 'water of heaven' back to Japan

Rocky Aoki and Keiko Ono are quite a team. They were in Japan just last week and now are here again, leading a tour group of 20 U.S.-based serious sake enthusiasts to taste the real stuff on the home ground of the "water of heaven."
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2006

Fuji Photo plans to ax 5,000 jobs, reduce its film lineup

Fuji Photo Film Co. said Tuesday it will cut 5,000 workers, one-third of its image product division, due to the rapidly shrinking photo-film market.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2006

Meiji Yasuda unveils plan to regain credibility

Scandal-hit Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. announced a medium-term business plan Tuesday focused on regaining credibility over the next two years.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2006

Bravia, Vaio sales buoy Sony earnings forecast

Sony Corp. said Thursday it revised its earnings forecast for the full year through March 31 from a net loss of 10 billion yen to a net profit of 70 billion yen, buoyed by stronger-than-expected sales of Bravia TVs and Vaio PCs over the holidays.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2006

Livedoor allegedly made loss on purpose

Livedoor Co. intentionally carried out loss-making operations for two months after releasing its financial report in the business year ending in September 2004 to wipe out about 2.4 billion yen in fake profits on its books, sources alleged Wednesday.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
Jan 25, 2006

Saving our environment one step at a time

Having ended 2005 with a rant (see below), let me begin 2006 on a more positive note by introducing some valuable environmental education resources.
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 22, 2006

Yokohama: model city for the nation?

'Change Japan -- from Yokohama."

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