Search - 2002

 
 
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2005

MFG sees sharp rise in net profit

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the country's second-largest banking group by assets, said Monday its group net profit for the first half of fiscal 2005 through September rose 44.7 percent from a year earlier, as the economic recovery boosted the financial health of its corporate borrowers.
JAPAN
Nov 20, 2005

Liquor retailer group a big political donor

The political arm of a scandal-hit association of liquor retailers made at least 210 million yen in political donations in the five years to 2004, it was learned Saturday.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2005

AC Real Estate files in year's biggest failure

AC Real Estate Corp., set up to dispose of the nonperforming real estate holdings of ailing general contractor Fujita Corp., has filed for court protection from creditors with liabilities of some 352.6 billion yen, company officials said Wednesday, making it the year's largest corporate failure.
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2005

Rightist's murder sentence upheld

The Supreme Court has upheld a rightist group leader's life sentence for the 2002 murder of Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Koki Ishii, sources said Wednesday.
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Nov 8, 2005

Speed trap

It must have taken him by surprise. Kenji Kobayashi, former member of the House of Representatives from the Democratic Party of Japan had just lost his seat a week previous.
JAPAN
Nov 5, 2005

Inoguchi wants more money for kids

the low birthrate, so (the government) needs to reinforce measures" to tackle the problem, Kuniko Inoguchi, 53, a former professor of international politics at Sophia University, said in an interview Wednesday. "If the birthrate keeps falling, we will not be able to support our aging society." Japan's...
JAPAN
Oct 29, 2005

Nonpartisan panel established to study new war memorial

Senior lawmakers from the ruling coalition and the Democratic Party of Japan on Friday launched a nonpartisan panel to study the feasibility of establishing a new war memorial to bridge the rift between Japan and its neighbors over Yasukuni Shrine.
JAPAN
Oct 16, 2005

Bureaucrats face stricter study rules

The National Personnel Authority has decided to pursue a regulation requiring young career bureaucrats who study abroad at government expense to return the money if they quit within five years of returning home.
EDITORIALS
Oct 14, 2005

Nuclear program raises issues

The Atomic Energy Commission is expected to adopt a long-term nuclear program by the end of the month. In its draft, the commission has stated its desire to continue its policy of establishing a nuclear-fuel cycle that reprocesses all the spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium for future use as nuclear...
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2005

From national security to human security

The suffering and death inflicted by last December's tsunami and Hurricane Katrina shows the need to reframe security in human terms.
COMMENTARY
Oct 10, 2005

No 'Koizumi power' in Europe

PARIS -- As the London Economist wrote, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's "Revolution" was a "very Japanese" one indeed. What European politician today could dream of calling a general election designed to punish Parliament for having rejected his legislation and being rewarded with an electoral victory?...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 8, 2005

Giant new store gives Akihabara a wakeup call

The mammoth outlet opened by Yodobashi Camera Co. in Tokyo's Akihabara district in mid-September appears to have become a catalyst for change in an area renowned for its cut-throat retail electronics competition.
BUSINESS
Oct 7, 2005

Nissan surpasses global sales expansion target

Nissan Motor Co. said Thursday its global vehicle sales in the year to September surpassed its medium-term target to reach 3,671,000 units, prompting President Carlos Ghosn to declare the firm's revival process completed.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2005

Australia gets tough on terror

SYDNEY -- Tough new laws enforcing preventive detention of suspected terrorists will soon drastically change the laid-back response that Australia has so far allowed to the growing world threat of terrorism. But even before new laws start, the wails of protests from civil-liberty groups are deafening....
JAPAN
Oct 4, 2005

Three ChuoAoyama CPAs face trial for fraud

Prosecutors charged three ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers accountants Monday with falsifying Kanebo Ltd. accounting reports in conspiracy with the ailing cosmetics firm's executives in fiscal 2001 and 2002.
JAPAN
Oct 2, 2005

Telecom exec wanted over share-price scam

A former executive of a failed telecommunications firm has been placed on the nationwide wanted list on suspicion of announcing an unrealistic mobile phone service to raise the stock price of its parent company, investigative sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 30, 2005

FTC expects Japan Highway to sue execs for collusion damages

The Fair Trade Commission said Thursday 45 domestic bridge-builders rigged bids for 260 billion yen worth of state and Japan Highway Public Corp. contracts from 2002 to 2004.
JAPAN
Sep 29, 2005

Tokyo High Court rejects Turkish Kurd's appeal for asylum

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by a Kurdish asylum seeker to revoke a Justice Ministry decision to deny him refugee status.
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Sep 25, 2005

Carp may bring in ex-player Brown to try and revive club

Hiroshima Carp manager Koji Yamamoto has announced he will be stepping down at the end of this season, and press reports have indicated the leading candidate to replace him is former Carp infielder-outfielder Marty Brown.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Sep 22, 2005

A troubadour comes to town

Though England's The Soft Boys weren't a hugely popular band when they first made records in the late 1970s, their jangly, psychedelic rock songs stood out among the punk that was considered the vanguard at the time. Eventually, they proved to be almost as influential, especially on 1980s guitar bands...
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2005

Itoham admits role in pork import scam

Major meat processor Itoham Foods Inc. admitted Friday to being involved in a meat importer's evasion of some 940 million yen in customs duties on pork imported from Europe in 2002 and 2003 as the firm's fraud trial opened before the Tokyo District Court.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Sep 10, 2005

Just 14 more mountains to climb for jackpot 100

Some long-term visitors to Japan choose to count the days. Others make the decision to suck every drop of juice out of the opportunity. Take Ginger Vaughn, for example. She falls most definitely into the latter category -- and all power to her facial and calf muscles!
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Sep 9, 2005

Hail Vouvray, Aristocrat of the wine world

Just as The Aristocrats is the dirty joke that comedians tell each other after the punters have gone home, Vouvray is the tipple of choice among sommeliers once the ties have come off at the end of the evening.
BUSINESS
Sep 6, 2005

Insurer errors may top 100,000

Sompo Japan Insurance Inc., one of Japan's six biggest nonlife insurers, said Monday it failed to make payouts totaling 920 million yen in 27,296 cases between July 2002 and last June.

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