Search - 2002

 
 
BUSINESS
May 23, 2003

Nintendo's record profit run ends

Nintendo Co. said Thursday its consolidated net profit fell 36.8 percent to 67.27 billion yen in fiscal 2002, largely due to lower-than-expected sales of game consoles.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
May 23, 2003

Scottish Premier League title race set to go down to the wire

LONDON -- As Celtic flew home from Seville on Thursday after the UEFA Cup final against FC Porto (a 3-2 extra-time defeat) its preparations for what many believe is an even bigger game began immediately -- a league match away to Kilmarnock. The game may not have the romance of a European final but the...
BUSINESS
May 23, 2003

Resona group to undergo FSA inspection

An emergency inspection into Resona Bank and its parent company will take place in June in connection with the government's decision to inject public funds into the bank, agency officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2003

Sluggish ad sales dent Fuji TV profit

Fuji Television Network Inc. said Wednesday its group net profit for fiscal 2002 fell 14.4 percent from the previous year to 14.82 billion yen.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2003

Wowow returns to profitability

Satellite broadcaster Wowow Inc. said Wednesday it climbed back into the black in fiscal 2002 due to a sharp reduction in promotional costs.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET EARTH
May 22, 2003

Corporate values ignore the bottom line

With all the scandals swirling around U.S. corporations, public respect for CEOs has plunged and, as a lawyer, I can empathize. Stories about sleazy lawyers chasing after ambulances still bring color to my cheeks, so I understand what it's like to work in a profession that is equated with sharks and...
BUSINESS
May 21, 2003

Suzuki Motor records 20% sales increase

Suzuki Motor Corp., the nation's top minivehicle maker, on Tuesday reported record group sales of 2.02 trillion yen for fiscal 2002, up 20.8 percent from the previous year.
BUSINESS
May 21, 2003

Ministry calls for sweeping overhaul of farm co-ops

Structural reform is lagging behind in the farm sector and the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives group should undergo a major overhaul, the agricultural ministry said Tuesday in its annual white paper.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 21, 2003

Tuffy slams homers No. 16 and 17 as Buffaloes whip Lions

Kintetsu slugger Tuffy Rhodes smashed two homers and drove home six runs to lead the Buffaloes' 16-hit barrage as Kintetsu destroyed the Seibu Lions 14-3 at Osaka Dome on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2003

Banking selloff prompts further slide on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

Tokyo stocks fell for a third straight session Monday, with the key Nikkei average briefly dipping below the 8,000 line amid a banking sector selloff.
BASEBALL / MLB
May 20, 2003

Hawks beat up Fighters

Daiei right fielder Hiroshi Shibahara drove home four runs and rookie hurler Nagisa Arakaki pitched five-plus innings to notch his his third win as the Pacific League-leading Hawks downed the Nippon Ham Fighters 9-4 at Tokyo Dome on Monday to extend their win streak to five games.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2003

Nissan units plan establishment of light-truck venture

Nissan Motor Co. and Nissan Diesel Motor Co. will set up a joint venture this fall to develop light trucks as part of their efforts to attain a bigger share of the global truck market, the automakers said Monday.
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
May 19, 2003

It's time to meet expectations by installing stock-market package

Japan managed to avoid the so-called March crisis as share prices picked up temporarily toward the end of the month. However, the stock market remained in a slump in April, with the Nikkei average dipping at one point to the 7,600 range.
COMMENTARY / World
May 19, 2003

SARS sets off power struggle in Beijing

CAMBRIDGE, England -- The SARS epidemic centered in China has become a global issue. Most people in the world, even if they are not infected or in serious danger of infection, are indirectly affected by the restrictions on freedom of movement and economic downturns directly attributed to reactions the...
COMMENTARY / World
May 18, 2003

Sea piracy raises watch for terrorist links

HONOLULU -- An almost unnoticed battle against piracy in the South China Sea has become more intense, with the pirates winning and governments in Southeast Asia fearing they will be joined by terrorists in an attempt to disrupt trade throughout Asia.
COMMENTARY
May 18, 2003

A regime to quell nuclear fear

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Any real solution to the North Korean nuclear crisis will ultimately be a "grand bargain" with military, economic, political and diplomatic components. Fashioning that deal will require aggressive and creative thinking. The lack of trust in Pyongyang and Pyongyang's lack of trust...
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2003

Long march back to China

LOS ANGELES -- History is full of irony for former empires. Historians of East Asia have maintained for some time that it was the Japanese war of aggression in China in the 1930s and 1940s that eventually drove the Chinese people into the arms of the Chinese Communist Party. After that, the equally forceful...
BUSINESS
May 17, 2003

Kenwood effects dramatic comeback

Kenwood Corp. said Friday that it chalked up its first return to profitability in four years and a record group net profit.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 17, 2003

Lawmakers question validity of GDP data

Heavyweights in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday accused the government of misleading the public by giving primary importance to real-term figures in its release of gross domestic product data.
BUSINESS
May 17, 2003

Kajima records 28.6% decline in pretax profit

Kajima Corp. said Friday its group pretax profit fell 28.6 percent in fiscal 2002 to 25.82 billion yen, primarily due to smaller profit margins and reduced revenue from construction projects.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 17, 2003

New broom sweeps Seisen into the 21st century

Virginia Villegas was delighted to be asked to return to Japan last year to assist the then head of Seisen International School in Yoga, Tokyo. "When Sister Concesa Martin was elected to the General Council in Rome, I was asked to take over as headmistress," she explains, warm, direct and very perceptive....
BUSINESS
May 16, 2003

Nippon Yusen sees profit sink 18.5%

Nippon Yusen K.K. reported Thursday an 18.5 percent decline in its group net profit for fiscal 2002 but said continued streamlining drives helped lift its pretax profit after a double-digit decline the previous year.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2003

JR Tokai records sales decline

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) said Thursday it suffered its first fall in group sales in three years in fiscal 2002. It attributed the decline to a slump in core bullet train services on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line amid an adverse business environment and intense competition with airlines.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2003

UFJ, SMBC to join up on systems development

UFJ Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. have agreed to jointly develop an improved account transfer system that would allow depositors to pay their utility bills automatically, sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 16, 2003

Mitsubishi Estate back in the black

Mitsubishi Estate Co.'s group net balance returned to the black in fiscal 2002 due to a much smaller special loss than the previous year, when it booked huge valuation losses on fixed property.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Brisk exports widen nation's trade surplus

The nation's current account surplus expanded in fiscal 2002 for the first time in four years on the back of brisk exports to other parts of Asia, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday in a preliminary report.
SOCCER / World cup
May 15, 2003

Ono hires SFX to represent him

Japan midfielder Shinji Ono, playing for Feyenoord in the Dutch first division, signed a management agreement with agent Chiel Dekker of the SFX Sports Group, Ono's Japanese marketing representatives said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Mitsubishi group net profit up 3%

Mitsubishi Corp.'s group net profit in fiscal 2002 rose 3.2 percent from the previous year thanks to strong results at its food and metal resources affiliates.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2003

Kose sets sights on the Philippines

Cosmetics maker Kose Corp. said Wednesday it will sell its products in the Philippines beginning in October under an exclusive sales agency agreement with Rustan Commercial Corp., a leading retail group in that country.

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