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BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2012

JFE-IHI ship merger aims for ¥500 billion in sales

JFE Holdings Inc. and IHI Corp. will seek to increase sales of their combined shipbuilding units by about 30 percent in five years to fend off competition from South Korean and Chinese rivals.
COMMENTARY
Nov 22, 2011

Beijing girds for universal suffrage elections

In 1994, the last British Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, quoted a former colonial official as saying: "The Chinese style is not to rig elections, but they do like to know the result before they're held."
COMMENTARY
Nov 16, 2011

Methane time bomb is ticking

Scientific research shows that the need for resolute action to curb global warming from fossil fuel burning is become increasingly urgent. Yet policymakers in Japan and many other countries find it more difficult to take the necessary measures because they are costly and unpopular with many voters.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2011

Sumitomo Electric eyes EVs, hybrids

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. plans to sell a sodium-ion battery it is working on to makers of electric and hybrid cars, expanding its horizons beyond commercial-vehicle fleet operators.
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2011

Mitsubishi, DBJ eye another health care fund

Healthcare Management Partners Inc., a venture between Mitsubishi Corp. and Development Bank of Japan Inc., may plan a second fund on expectations that demand for medical services will rise in the world's most rapidly aging nation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 21, 2011

"Nakanoshima Collections: Osaka City Museum of Modern Art & The National Museum of Art, Osaka"

Osaka City is in the process of building a new modern art museum — to be unveiled in 2017 — in Nakanoshima 4-chome, the same area as the National Museum of Art, Osaka. The two museums will face each other, giving them the opportunity to organize joint exhibitions and art events.
BUSINESS
Oct 21, 2011

ANA to use Dreamliner to tap overseas markets

All Nippon Airways Co. is targeting overseas customers as competition in the domestic market intensifies, the airline's president, Shinichiro Ito, said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2011

Nissan bets on Infiniti in China

Nissan Motor Co. plans to quadruple Infiniti's share of the Chinese luxury-auto market within five years as it rushes to make up a "ridiculous" amount of time lost to Volkswagen AG's Audi and Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2011

Nissan targets 8% share of global market in six years

Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn said Monday the automaker aims to achieve a global market share of 8 percent by the business year ending in March 2017 by focusing on rapidly expanding emerging markets.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2011

Mitsubishi Estate targets 17% gain in operating profit by March 2014

Mitsubishi Estate Co. is targeting an increase of 17 percent in operating profit in three years as it redevelops buildings in central Tokyo and expands overseas.
BUSINESS
Apr 20, 2011

Bicycle sales triple as 3/11 haunts Tokyoites

Tokyo residents haunted by the memory of how the March 11 earthquake shut the world's busiest subway system are returning to bicycle travel, tripling the sales of retailer Asahi Co. in the area last month.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2011

Nippon Steel to invest in Thai plant

Nippon Steel Corp., Japan's largest steelmaker, said Monday it will invest $300 million in Thailand to produce high-grade steel used in automobiles to meet rising demand in the largest auto market in Southeast Asia.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 4, 2011

Kansai region wonders: Could it happen here?

TSURUGA, Fukui Pref. — On a hillside overlooking Tsuruga, about a dozen children and their mothers are enjoying the day at At Home, the Fukui Atomic Energy Science Museum. Inside, kids rush to play free arcade-style games spread across the two-floor facility. Some feature the latest computer graphics...
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2011

JR West taps low bond yields to refinance loans

West Japan Railway Co., starting the nation's newest bullet train service this week, is slashing interest costs by using the world's lowest bond yields to refinance government loans.
EDITORIALS
Jan 31, 2011

Shoring up the 'basic' pension

The government is trying to reform both the social welfare system and the tax system as Japan's financial condition deteriorate. Before discussing overall changes, it must strengthen the "basic" portion of pensions.
BUSINESS
Jan 26, 2011

Inpex has debt-cost advantage over China

Japan, surpassed by China as the world's second-largest economy, has one advantage in competing with its neighbor for natural resources: lower borrowing costs.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2011

Shiseido plans 15% annual China growth

Cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. is seeking to increase sales in China by 15 percent or more every year as rising incomes in the world's fastest-growing major economy spur demand for consumer products.
COMMENTARY
Jan 13, 2011

China's military challenge

SINGAPORE — Will China's development of new weapons counter the dominance of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region — in space, at sea and, most recently, in the air?
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2010

Fears growing over land grabs

When the news first broke in June that a Hong Kong-based investor had two years earlier purchased more than 50 hectares of forest in Kucchan, near the Niseko ski resort in Hokkaido, shock waves ran through local residents.
BUSINESS / YEN FOR LIVING
Oct 1, 2010

Japan's toilet business flush with success

Asia loves the Washlet. In fact, some people can't leave home without it.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2010

Failings of Indian infrastructure

NEW DELHI — New Delhi at last has its proud defining modern monument at the very point of entry to India — a massive, sparkling new Terminal 3, which alone is the sixth-largest airport in the world. Remarkably, too, it was built on time, in three years by a public-private partnership, and on a $3...

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years