Search - business

 
 
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2004

SMBC to acquire stake in Promise

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will acquire a 15 percent equity stake in Promise Co. by July 13 and eventually boost it to 20 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., the bank's parent, and the major consumer finance company said Monday.
Japan Times
Features
Jun 20, 2004

Vast budget fuels huge arms industry

Deep in the heart of Aichi Prefecture is the headquarters of an engineering company founded 100 years ago to make textile looms. Having borne the name Howa Machinery, Ltd. since 1945, today its products range from window frames to road-sweepers -- but it also derives around 12 percent of its business...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 20, 2004

Talent agencies enjoy the biggest laugh

Yoshimoto Kogyo, one of the biggest talent agencies in Japan, recently announced that it plans to build a new 1,000-seat comedy theater in Shinjuku. The company already operates a 458-seat theater in the Shinjuku Lumine building, and like that one the new venue will present only Yoshimoto acts. The company's...
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2004

MHI, Hitachi to merge air conditioner divisions

Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. said Thursday they have agreed to integrate their commercial-use air conditioning and refrigeration equipment businesses on April 1.
Features
Jun 13, 2004

Momentum building toward a transformed Japan

The "lost decade" story of teetering banks, an imploding Nikkei and skyrocketing unemployment has been overdone, and overlooks many interesting and dynamic developments. Too much of what is happening in contemporary Japan cannot be explained by media images of social gridlock and economic stagnation....
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2004

Ashikaga Bank plans to cut 15% of workforce

Ashikaga Bank, now under temporary state control, said Friday it will eliminate 15 percent of its workforce by the end of fiscal 2006 as part of its new business improvement program.
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2004

Sumitomo close to tieup accord with Promise

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. is close to reaching an agreement with moneylender Promise Co. to form a capital and business alliance, sources close to the deal said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 26, 2004

Cosmo Oil tried to punish whistle-blower

Cosmo Oil Co. tried to punish an employee who in late April blew the whistle in connection with a leak of personal customer data, sources said Tuesday.
JAPAN
May 25, 2004

Wrangling over new Kobe airport rumbles on

OSAKA -- Tension over the future of airports in the Kansai region boiled over recently, with politicians and business leaders in Kobe and Osaka engaging in public skirmishes with the central government and with each other.
COMMENTARY
May 24, 2004

Blowing smoke on tobacco

The government has begun belated efforts to restrict smoking in Japan, which has long been a smokers' haven. In May 2003, the government enacted the Health Promotion Law to reduce exposure to passive smoking. In March it signed the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control --...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
May 22, 2004

Queen of Orlane turns 70 (but who'd know it)

In 1960, Reiko B. Lyster answered a "help wanted" classified ad placed in this paper by Max Factor. She had no particular interest in working for a cosmetics company, but (having helped Marlon Brando on a film set just the year previously) the job as a translator appealed.
BUSINESS
May 15, 2004

NTT logs record profit; outlook seems less rosy

NTT Corp. said Friday its net profit jumped 2.8-fold to a record 643.86 billion yen for the year through March, helped by strong earnings at its mobile phone unit, NTT DoCoMo Inc.
JAPAN
May 13, 2004

Obituary: Masami Tashiro

Masami Tashiro, managing director of Keizai Koho Center, the public relations arm of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), died of liver cancer Wednesday. He was 55.
BUSINESS
May 13, 2004

Japan to seek better tax deals with Asia

Japan will propose revising tax pacts with other Asian economies at a meeting this weekend, hoping that lower levies will boost cross-border business and investment, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 11, 2004

Struggling Daiei adapts stores to suit local shoppers' needs

Debt-ridden Daiei Inc. has begun adapting its stores to suit the needs of local shoppers.
EDITORIALS
May 4, 2004

Google-eyed on Wall Street

The announcement that Google, the company that created the No. 1 Internet search engine, is about to go public has investors the world over in a lather. While the fever recalls the heady days of the Internet bubble, the clamor surrounding the offering speaks to a deeper hunger: a desire for markets to...
BUSINESS / JAPANESE PERSPECTIVES
Apr 26, 2004

Antimonopoly Law must be reformed to fit 21st century

The Fair Trade Commission is contemplating making a revision to the Antimonopoly Law in hopes of being able to submit a bill to the Diet, which is now in session. However, the contents of the revision are still up in the air.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Apr 24, 2004

The Catch in publishing posters, cards, calendars

Meeting Frances Koston in May 2003 after a gap of years, she presented me with a clutch of postcards bearing beautifully printed images of early hand-tinted Japanese photographs. Just last month she came up with a collection of greeting cards of century-old textile prints, again originating in Japan....
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2004

Repercussions for MMC could be terminal: analysts

The sudden decision by DaimlerChrysler AG to halt further financial support to ailing Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has forced the Japanese automaker to drastically reconsider its restructuring program, analysts said.
JAPAN / TALKING SHOP
Apr 19, 2004

Samsung exec taps Japan insights to cut through the verbiage

Kim Jong Shin learned Japanese while hauling fish to market part time, stewing in hot springs and touring 350 historical sites in all 47 prefectures.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2004

Ito-Yokado trumped by Aeon

Ito-Yokado Co. lost its position as Japan's No. 1 retailer to Aeon Co. in terms of group sales in the year that ended Feb. 29.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Apr 6, 2004

Otaku proud of it

I wouldn't be offended if someone called me an otaku," says Koichi Nakayasu, ". . . because I am."
EDITORIALS
Apr 3, 2004

Nurturing the sprouts of recovery

Japan's economic recovery, supported chiefly by large, export-oriented manufacturers, is spreading to other sectors, according to the Bank of Japan's quarterly survey on business sentiment. However, it is premature to conclude that the economy is headed for a self-sustaining recovery led by domestic...
BUSINESS
Apr 2, 2004

Casio, Hitachi launch belated mobile venture

Casio Computer Co. and Hitachi Ltd. launched a mobile-phone joint venture Thursday in another marriage between high-tech heavyweights pursuing cost effectiveness in a cutthroat market.
JAPAN / SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
Apr 1, 2004

Private universities feel heat from company-run upstarts

Already struggling to keep student numbers up amid an ever-shrinking pool of high school graduates, private universities now face a new threat -- stock exchange-listed companies entering the fray of running institutions of higher learning.
Events
Mar 31, 2004

South Korean economy bedeviled by serious woes: writers

While Japan's economy may finally be bidding farewell to the "lost decade" of the stagnant 1990s, growth in South Korea, once noted for its rapid recovery after the 1997 Asian crisis, is slowing down amid serious problems like mounting household debts.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo