Search - 2004

 
 
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2003

Increase in overtime boosts average monthly salaries

The average monthly wage, including overtime pay, stood at 277,003 yen in January, up 0.2 percent from a year earlier, marking the first rise in 25 months, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Monday in a preliminary report.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2003

Softbank in Yahoo Japan selloff

In an effort to bankroll its broadband business, Softbank Corp. announced Monday it will offload around 17 percent of its group stake in Yahoo Japan Corp.
BUSINESS
Mar 1, 2003

Pension plan could lead to sales tax hike

The Liberal Democratic Party's committee on public pension reform will study the possibility of raising the 5 percent consumption tax as a means to finance a proposed increase in the government's contribution to the national pension program, the panel's head said Friday.
JAPAN
Mar 1, 2003

Japan to rethink KEDO program

Japan is reconsidering its commitment to building light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea now that Pyongyang has reactivated nuclear facilities linked to its weapons development program in violation of a 1994 accord.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2003

Group urges sales tax hike, public works cuts

The government should hike the sales tax and cut public spending over the next eight years in an attempt to balance the national budget, an influential business organization said Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2003

Yamaguchi fraud appeal rejected

The Tokyo High Court on Tuesday trimmed six months off former Labor Minister Toshio Yamaguchi's four-year prison sentence for fraud and embezzlement.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 26, 2003

Shibui to miss Nagoya Marathon

Yoko Shibui, who injured her left knee while training in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, will miss the upcoming Nagoya Marathon, sponsors said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2003

Toyota, Fuji Heavy tie up on G-Book network service

Toyota Motor Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. said Monday they have reached a basic agreement under which Fuji Heavy will install Toyota's G-Book wireless information terminals in its Subaru vehicles in Japan beginning in 2004.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2003

New Narita operator to be quieter, greener

The proposed new operator of Narita airport may be faced with strict measures for environmental conservation and noise reduction.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 22, 2003

Shibui uncertain for Nagoya race

Yoko Shibui, who finished third at last October's Chicago Marathon, has injured herself while training in Kunming in southwestern China and returned to Japan a week earlier than expected for treatment, coach Hideo Suzuki said Friday.
COMMENTARY / WASHINGTON UPDATE
Feb 22, 2003

Antiwar fever rises as the economy sinks

WASHINGTON -- Two big questions have dominated Washington this week. When will this horrible, cold winter end? And when will the war in Iraq begin? While they are different subjects with different consequences, they are getting about equal time in the capital's conversation content.
JAPAN
Feb 21, 2003

LDP approves farm groups handling rice production

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Thursday approved an amendment to the Staple Food Law that would end decades of government control of rice output by fiscal 2008 and put farm groups in charge of production, officials said.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2003

Keidanren calls for hike in sales tax

Senior members of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) called for a hike in the consumption tax in a meeting Thursday with New Komeito executives.
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 20, 2003

The real story on Beckham and the boot

LONDON -- Imagine if the boot was on the other foot -- and in this case the phrase could hardly be more appropriate.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2003

Patent screening costs to double

The fee for applying for a patent screening will double next year, according to a plan released Tuesday by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2003

Businesses told of fossil fuel tax plan

Environment Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Tuesday officially told the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) of the ministry's plans to introduce a tax on fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gases.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2003

JUSEC accepting applications for Fulbright program

The Japan-United States Educational Commission has started accepting applications for its Fulbright Grant Program for the year beginning July 2004.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 16, 2003

A world of fashion at your fingertips

Whether they're designers in search of inspiration, wardrobe masters or mistresses in the theater or movies, students, or just lovers of beautiful things, those interested in the history of women's clothing no longer have to beat a path to Kyoto to see the world's largest private collection of fashion...
BUSINESS
Feb 15, 2003

Toyota to sell Lexus on domestic market

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it will introduce its Lexus luxury brand on the domestic market.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 15, 2003

Few hawks in Southeast Asia

SINGAPORE -- As the world awaits the outcome of another report by United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq, and perhaps a second resolution (following U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441), war drums are beating ever louder in the United States, Britain and some allied nations.
JAPAN
Feb 15, 2003

Osaka to build world's largest planetarium theater screen

OSAKA -- The city of Osaka has unveiled a plan to build the world's largest "all-sky" screen at the Osaka Science Museum's planetarium theater to project celestial movements and simulate space travel.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2003

Promotion of nuclear power should be national policy: LDP

A Liberal Democratic Party policymaking panel agreed Thursday that the government should promote nuclear power as a national policy.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2003

MMC pursues performance-linked wages

The union and management of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have agreed to replace the seniority-based wage structure with a performance-based system, sources close to the talks said Thursday.
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2003

Oma landowners block J-Power reactor plan

The semigovernmental Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power) said Monday it will move the site of a planned nuclear reactor in Oma, Aomori Prefecture, because it could not persuade landowners to sell their property.
EDITORIALS
Feb 9, 2003

Newer, smarter sentinels

There is no new thing under the sun, said the quotable author of Ecclesiastes a few thousand years ago. Won over by its pith and poetry, we have always regarded that statement as self-evidently true. Lately, though, we have begun to wonder if the exact opposite isn't the case. Sometimes it seems as if...

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building