Search - 2002

 
 
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FRONT-RUNNERS
Jun 3, 2003

Sanyo charging ahead in cell phone battery sector

Chances are if you use a mobile phone equipped with a camera, it's powered by a Sanyo battery.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2003

Trucks, large autos lead rise in domestic car sales

Domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses in May rose 2.3 percent from the same month last year to 291,363 units, logging the first increase in two months, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2003

From language to food, things Korean seen finding favor in World Cup wake

A year after the historic cohosting by Japan and South Korea of the 2002 World Cup finals, Japan's embracing of things Korean appears to have gone beyond being simply a one-time fad.
JAPAN
Jun 3, 2003

From language to food, things Korean seen finding favor in World Cup wake

A year after the historic cohosting by Japan and South Korea of the 2002 World Cup finals, Japan's embracing of things Korean appears to have gone beyond being simply a one-time fad.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2003

Millennium Retailing born from Seibu, Sogo coupling

Seibu Department Stores Ltd. and Sogo Co. integrated their operations Sunday to form one of Japan's largest department store groups.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2003

Rokkasho blunder leads to failures

Oye Kogyo Co., a manufacturer of nuclear power equipment, and its subsidiary Oye Engineering Co. have filed for protection from creditors under the corporate rehabilitation law.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 30, 2003

Irabu goes distance as Tigers edge BayStars

Hideki Irabu went the distance Thursday as the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers edged the Yokohama BayStars 2-1 at Koshien Stadium.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2003

Public money spent for failed banks tops 10 trillion yen over last four years

The period from fiscal 1998 through fiscal 2002 saw 10.433 trillion yen in taxpayer funds spent on failed financial institutions, government sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2003

Nonlife insurers boost Millea group profits

Millea Holdings Inc., which controls nonlife insurers Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance Co., on Thursday reported a group net profit of 56.62 billion yen for the year through March 31.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 30, 2003

Is Resona the tip of the iceberg?

The whistle-blowing erupted a few days before May 17, the day Resona, the nation's fifth-largest banking group, announced its capital had tumbled below regulation levels.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2003

NHK in black for 13th straight year

NHK said Wednesday it remained in the black in the year to March 31 for the 13th straight fiscal year, with operating revenues exceeding expenses by 10.2 billion yen.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2003

Aozora sheds bad loans, ups profit

Aozora Bank said Wednesday it posted a group net profit of 23.4 billion yen in fiscal 2002, up 25 percent from the previous year, by shedding many bad loans from its portfolio and increasing its loans to good borrowers.
BUSINESS
May 29, 2003

Domestic vehicle production falls again

Domestic production of cars, trucks and buses fell 0.4 percent in April from the same month last year to 774,261 units, down for the second straight month, due to sluggish domestic car sales, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Wednesday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle / ON THE BOOK TRAIL
May 29, 2003

"Power and Stone," "Rome"

"Power and Stone," Alice Leader, Puffin Books; May 2003; 249 pp. There's so much more to history than memorizing dates.
EDITORIALS
May 28, 2003

Why not a parliamentary faction?

The Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Party see each other as partners in a future government. Yet their on-and-off merger talks, which began half a year ago, seem to have produced no meaningful progress. Prospects for their unification receded further into the background Monday when Liberal...
BUSINESS
May 28, 2003

Cabinet OKs plan to move up pension refunds

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a government proposal to move up by one month to Sept. 1 the date when corporate employee pension funds will be allowed to start handing back to the government the portion of pension assets they manage on the its behalf.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 28, 2003

An icon of her times

In the history of Russian icons, one image is pre-eminent as the most copied, most decorated and most adored: "Our Lady of Kazan."
BUSINESS
May 27, 2003

Kumagai Gumi falls deep into red

Ailing construction firm Kumagai Gumi Co. fell into the red in fiscal 2002. The general contractor blamed poor sales and massive extraordinary losses, including appraisal losses on its fixed assets.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2003

Tokyo to issue bonds on own terms

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government decided Monday to issue bonds under terms it will set by evaluating market conditions, officials said.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2003

Profit dips 13.4% for Shinsei Bank

Shinsei Bank said Monday that its group net profit fell 13.4 percent in fiscal 2002 to 53.03 billion yen.
COMMENTARY
May 26, 2003

High cost of the farm lobby

The outlook for the World Trade Organization's new round of trade negotiations is uncertain after member nations failed to agree on farm-trade "modality" before the March 31 deadline. The U.S.-European split over the Iraq war has slowed the momentum for talks. The initial goal of reaching a comprehensive...
MORE SPORTS
May 26, 2003

Russians hand Japan 43-34 defeat

Japan's build up toward the 2003 Rugby World Cup suffered yet another setback on Sunday with a 43-34 loss to Russia in a Super Powers Cup game at Tokyo's Chichibunomiya Stadium.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 25, 2003

Getting into hot water for health

In the hot-spring heaven that is Japan, there are a countless number of onsen from Hokkaido to Okinawa, from those of luxurious spas in nondescript concrete buildings to rotenburo set in pristine natural surroundings.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 25, 2003

Soaked in the city

Though you may not have seen Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning animated film "Spirited Away," which is set in an opulent bathhouse for the gods, even the most fleeting acquaintance with Japan will have made it clear that soaking in a hot tub is an almost celestial experience for the inhabitants of these...
BUSINESS
May 24, 2003

Fuji Heavy banking on new Legacy

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which makes Subaru vehicles, launched a remodeled Legacy wagon on the domestic market Friday, hoping the key product will reinvigorate the carmaker's sluggish sales.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2003

Hazama logs net loss of 122 billion yen

Ailing contractor Hazama Corp. said Friday its group net loss swelled to 122.6 billion yen in fiscal 2002, due to valuation losses on its asset holdings, including stocks. The firm posted a group net loss of 1.66 billion yen in fiscal 2001.
SOCCER / World cup
May 23, 2003

Zico names squad

Japan coach Zico on Thursday handed Cerezo Osaka hotshot Yoshito Okubo and two other Japan Under-22 players the chance to make their full international debut when he named a 23-man squad for the upcoming home friendly against 2002 World Cup cohost South Korea.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2003

Broadband mart seen growing fivefold in five years

The telecommunications ministry expects the value of the nation's broadband market to post a fivefold surge to 10.2 trillion yen over the next five years, according to a copy of a draft 2003 white paper made available Thursday.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami