Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2003

Auto giants increase production in first half

Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. increased global vehicle production in the first half of fiscal 2003 to meet growing overseas demand.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2003

Leopalace21 to buy into Dia Kensetsu

Apartment rental service Leopalace21 Corp. will purchase a 37.25 percent stake in Dia Kensetsu Co. to help revive the troubled condominium builder, the two companies said Friday.
BUSINESS
Oct 24, 2003

Kanebo, Kao plan cosmetics tieup

Kao Corp. and Kanebo Ltd. said Thursday they have agreed to integrate their cosmetics businesses by the end of March 2007.
JAPAN
Oct 23, 2003

Nobel laureate wants research facility built -- now

Masatoshi Koshiba, the astrophysicist who won the 2002 Nobel Prize, said Wednesday he has urged a government panel to reconsider its recommendation not to fund an advanced physics research facility.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2003

GM chasing bigger slice of Asia mart

General Motors Corp. wants a bigger piece of rapidly growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region and will strongly promote cooperation with its three Japanese partners, a top GM executive said Monday in Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Oct 20, 2003

'Swing vote' could usher in two-party system for Japan

A brewing political drama could open the way for a two-party system in Japan. Already the ruling and opposition parties are bracing for the Nov. 9 general election in which a transfer of power between two major parties looms as a real possibility for the first time since the end of World War II.
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2003

Japan set to lend Iraq $3.5 billion

Japan will provide Iraq with $3.5 billion in loans over the three years from 2005, which -- along with a $1.5 billion grant for 2004 announced earlier -- will bring total Japanese aid to Iraq to $5 billion, government sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Oct 17, 2003

Japan eyes World Heritage listing for Shiretoko Peninsula

The Environment Ministry decided Thursday to recommend the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido for the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) World Heritage List of 2004.
BUSINESS
Oct 16, 2003

BOJ holds off buying banks' shares

The Bank of Japan said Wednesday its purchases of shares from commercial banks stood at 1.84 trillion yen as of Oct. 10, unchanged from Sept. 30.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2003

Rotary meet to eye poverty, health

OSAKA -- Poverty and public health issues will be tackled during the International Rotary Convention here in May, the head of Rotary International said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2003

Public pension funding increase may be phased in

The government might increase its share of the public pension burden in phases, not all at once next year as promised, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2003

LDP has last laugh as reform plan crumbles

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi compromised with his Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday and agreed to leave the timing of the privatization of the nation's postal services ambiguous in the party's campaign policy.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Oct 9, 2003

Primaries and polls

WASHINGTON -- Here we are less than four months away from the actual start of the 2004 presidential race. Delegates will begin to be selected in late January. The preliminary season is in its final stage. The third quarter of 2003 proved to be reasonably decisive for the Democrats.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 8, 2003

Sato to replace Villeneuve at BAR

British American Racing announced Tuesday that Japanese driver Takuma Sato will complete the 2004 driver lineup alongside Jenson Button.
EDITORIALS
Oct 7, 2003

The EU studies Pandora's box

The march toward a larger, more integrated Europe took another step forward last weekend with the opening of the intergovernmental conference (IGC) that will approve the new European constitution. The drafting of the document has been an unprecedented exercise in democracy for the European Union. That...
COMMENTARY
Oct 7, 2003

Japan's diplomatic needs

In his second Cabinet reshuffle, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi retained both Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba. This promises continuity in Japan's foreign and defense policy, at least for the next three years in which Koizumi is likely to serve as...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2003

Fertility experts urge health insurance help

In response to the increasingly serious problem of Japan's falling birthrate, patients and medical professionals involved in fertility treatment are calling for the cost of treatment to be covered by national health insurance.
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2003

Outsourcing perceived as rural revival measure

In a bid to reinvigorate the nation's fragile rural economies, the government will review legal barriers that prevent the outsourcing of local administrative services to the private sector, economic and fiscal policy minister Heizo Takenaka said Friday.
COMMENTARY
Oct 4, 2003

Angst builds over next round with North

Japanese diplomacy appears to be in a lull with the situation in Asia centered on the problem with North Korea. Immediately after the six-nation talks were held in the first half of September, reports from Moscow suggested that the next round of six-nation talks would take place in Beijing in early November....
MORE SPORTS
Oct 4, 2003

World Cup schedule decided

The schedule for November's volleyball World Cup has been decided with host Japan's women to take on Argentina in the first match while the men are set to meet Egypt, tournament organizers said Friday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 3, 2003

Saving a Japanese monument

Japan still has an entry on the World Monuments Fund's biennial "watch list" of the planet's 100 most endangered cultural sites, according to the 2004 update released last week. It is time to ensure that the historic port town of Tomonoura, which was first included in the 2002 list, is not on it two...
JAPAN
Oct 3, 2003

Job security Rengo's No. 1 priority

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) presented a policy plan to its members Thursday that focuses on ensuring job security at annual wage talks with employers instead of demanding a uniform wage increase.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2003

Japan-South Korea FTA talks urged

A bilateral study group said Thursday that Japan and South Korea should launch full-scale negotiations over a free-trade agreement, according to Japanese officials.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Oct 3, 2003

England could use experience, skill of McManaman in lineup

LONDON -- When Sven-Goran Eriksson names the England squad this weekend for the decisive Euro 2004 qualifying tie in Turkey on Oct. 11 it is a safe bet that Steve McManaman will not be included.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2003

Nissan, Renault ink joint parts deal

Nissan Motor Co. and French car maker Renault SA said Wednesday they will boost joint parts procurement to 70 percent of purchases from 43 percent in January 2004.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2003

Fast consumer-level IPv6 module developed

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Wednesday it has developed an Internet Protocol Version 6 module that achieves what it describes as the industry's first data communications of 100 megabits per second for networked consumer electronics.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2003

Sakaguchi suggests consumption tax hike

Everyone knows it's coming, but nobody talks about it in public.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past