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JAPAN
Jul 24, 2005

Seibu to hang on to Kyoto hotel

Scandal-tainted Seibu Railway Co. said Saturday it will continue to operate the Takaragaike Prince Hotel in Kyoto, the upscale hotel that hosted the 1997 conference which produced the Kyoto Protocol, reversing its original plan to sell the property under a business rehabilitation program.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jul 23, 2005

'Breakthrough Japanese' book sees light of day

It is rare to be interviewed twice for this column. But Hitomi Hitayama, president of the executive Japanese language school Japanese Lunch, deserves the space because she has kept faith with her book project for so long. Also, the result -- "Breakthrough Japanese: 20 Mini Lessons for Better Conversation"...
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2005

Meiji Yasuda's scandals likened to 'Pandora's box'

Two disclosures of payout misdeeds involving Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. in the last six months are casting a dark shadow over an industry plagued with offensives from foreign-affiliated life insurers.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2005

Foreign acquisitions here on rising trend

The number of foreign investors acquiring Japanese businesses with ownership of at least one-third of their shares rose 13.1 percentage points in fiscal 2003 to 26.0 percent, underlining increasing foreign mergers and acquisitions here, according to a survey released Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 21, 2005

Yumeshin makes bid for Japan Engineering

Yumeshin Holdings Co. launched a hostile takeover bid Wednesday for Japan Engineering Consultants Co., cutting its per-share bidding price to 110 yen to compensate for a 5-for-1 stock split to be made during the tender offer period.
BUSINESS
Jul 19, 2005

Money -- the toughest hurdle in sport

Just as many professional athletes struggle to carve out a second career after they retire, amateur sports players are also confronting some really hard times.
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2005

Three major home improvement centers to merge in 2006

Three major home center operators said Monday they will merge their operations under a joint holding company Sept. 1, 2006, to create Japan's largest home center group.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2005

'Cool Biz' dress code spreads through halls of promotion

The "Cool Biz" casual dress code campaign launched by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on June 1 has spread to the bureaucracy, Diet and Supreme Court, but whether the intended effect -- of setting air conditioners at higher levels in cities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and thus help curb global...
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2005

Meiji Yasuda president to resign

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. President Ryotaro Kaneko announced his intention to resign at a representative members' meeting Tuesday because new cases of the company illegally withholding policy payouts have been discovered.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2005

Daiei to sell 100 additional properties to cut debt

Daiei Inc. plans to sell an additional 100 real estate assets for 20 billion yen to cut huge interest-bearing debts as a key part of its rehabilitation plan, company sources said Sunday.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 3, 2005

This is Japan and yes, it's easy to net a pet to enjoy a dog-day life

Ten years ago I was in San Francisco and dropped by the local SPCA's pet-adoption facility in the Mission District to make a donation. When I was living in the city years before, I had adopted a cat there that was still living with me, and I wanted to express my appreciation.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jul 3, 2005

Writers ask: Are you being served?

SAYING YES TO JAPAN: How Outsiders are Reviving a Trillion Dollar Services Market, by Tim Clark and Carl Kay. New York: Vertical, 2005. 175 pp., $14.95 (paper). Readers familiar with Japan are in danger of whiplash when reading this entertaining and informative book about Japan's services sector. Some...
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2005

SMFG to repay public funds by '08, waits on Daiwa merger

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. will go ahead with a plan to pay public money it received to shore up its capital base back to the government in three years, according to its top leaders.
BUSINESS
Jul 2, 2005

Don't put all eggs in China basket: METI

Japanese companies should seek to establish a regionwide network in East Asia to maximize their business efficiency, turning not only to China but also to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations as their production bases, a government white paper on trade said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2005

'Takkyubin' founder, regulation foe, dead at 80

Former Yamato Transport Co. Chairman Masao Ogura, who in the 1970s started the first private door-to-door parcel delivery service firm in Japan, died Wednesday of kidney failure in Los Angeles, his family said. He was 80.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2005

Law passes to facilitate M&As but allow for takeover defenses

The House of Councilors on Wednesday passed into law a bill to update the corporate legal system, facilitate mergers and acquisitions and enhance defenses against hostile takeovers.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2005

UFJ shareholders challenge but give nod to merger

Shareholders of UFJ Holdings Inc. and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. approved on Wednesday their plan to merge in October, taking a big step closer to creating the world's largest banking group in terms of assets.
COMMENTARY
Jun 29, 2005

A tidal wave of optimism

LOS ANGELES -- Talk about an ocean of optimism! Here's a positive current for you if there ever was one: A close friend -- whom I dub The Very Successful Korean-American Businessman (VSKAB), who doesn't want his name to be used (but whose last name is Kim like several million other Korean-Americans),...
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jun 28, 2005

Visa crackdown -- don't get burned

Last year The Japan Times ran an article entitled "Students pay price in visa crackdown" about Americans put through the wringer on minor infractions.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2005

Confidence up among large firms

Business confidence among large companies in Japan improved for the first time in three quarters in the April-June period, spurred by a pickup in personal spending, the government said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2005

Sony shareholders give nod to Stringer's team

Shareholders of Sony Corp. on Wednesday approved a new management team led by Howard Stringer, who pledged to turn around the company's struggling consumer electronics business.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2005

'Scandal spokesman' speaks on crisis management

The cost of scandals to business is at an all-time high. Time was when a bow held for 10 seconds by executives in a news conference, plus the resignation of a top official, would clear the air for business as usual.
EDITORIALS
Jun 10, 2005

The real state of the economy

Japanese corporations, by and large, chalked up their biggest profit gains ever in the financial year ended March 31, breaking previous records for the third straight year. But numbers can be misleading. Earnings statistics indicate economic movements and trends but do not necessarily tell what these...
BUSINESS
May 31, 2005

Life insurers still suffer but rays of hope seen

Business volumes of Japan's six largest life insurers continued to shrink in the financial year that ended March 31 due to intensifying competition with U.S. rivals and the still feeble economy, according to earnings reports released Monday.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2005

The serious side of Britain

LONDON -- The takeover of the Manchester United soccer (ManU) club by American businessman Malcolm Glazer dominated the news in Britain for some days this month. By May 16, Glazer had managed to purchase more than 75 percent of the shares by paying £3 (£1 equals approximately 200 yen) per share, a...
BUSINESS
May 20, 2005

Japan Net Bank books first profit

Japan Net Bank said Thursday it posted a net profit of 1.1 billion yen in the business year that ended March 31, the company's first net profit since it started operating in October 2000.

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