Search - 2012

 
 
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2008

Panel calls for direct producer contracts for Defense Ministry

A Defense Ministry internal panel considering procurement system reforms issued a report Friday urging that middlemen be bypassed and encouraging direct contracts with equipment manufacturers.
BUSINESS / Q&A
Mar 25, 2008

Is it throwing good money after bad to keep Shinginko Tokyo afloat?

Shinginko Tokyo, Japan's first bank created by a local government, was set up by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in April 2004 and started operations a year later to realize Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara's pet idea of supporting struggling small and medium-size companies in the capital. With many of...
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 20, 2008

Are Japan's leaders merely readers on climate change?

Japanese people often wrongly pronounce "l" as "r," or "r" as "l." So, "leader" can be pronounced as "reader."
JAPAN
Mar 17, 2008

G20 climate talks end divided

CHIBA — The Group of 20 environment and energy ministers vowed Sunday to continue their fight against global warming but fell short of reaching a consensus on a framework to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
JAPAN
Mar 16, 2008

World needs revolution in climate change: Blair

CHIBA — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday urged both developed and developing countries to break their stalemate and reach a global deal that will allow all major carbon dioxide emitters to take collective action on climate change.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2008

Toyota mulls investing in MHI regional jetliner

Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it may invest in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s project to build a regional jetliner that would be the first commercial aircraft produced domestically in around four decades.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2008

Kamakura farmers hit food-waste plan

KAMAKURA, Kanagawa Pref. — The truck farmers market in the center of this ancient capital has been an experiment on many fronts: It is a rare no-middleman link to consumers, engaging in a communal shared rotation of stalls and offering an ever-expanding bounty to please the city's worldly palates....
BUSINESS
Mar 5, 2008

National security justifies delay in TCI's J-Power stake: Amari

Trade minister Akira Amari defended the government's move to delay its decision on a U.K. hedge fund's bid to double its stake in the nation's biggest wholesale power producer, citing national security.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2008

Cambodia's revenge fiasco

BRUSSELS — Cambodia is currently witnessing the commencement of what is likely to become a grotesque farce. In July, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia will try four Khmer Rouge leaders, as well as the commandant of the infamous S21 Tuol Sleng prison, for crimes committed more than...
EDITORIALS
Mar 2, 2008

Education reform in reverse

The education ministry has unveiled drafts of revised courses of study for elementary and middle schools. The new courses of study will become effective in fiscal 2011 for elementary schools and in fiscal 2012 for middle schools. For the first time in 30 years, the drafts call for increasing the number...
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2008

Pfizer diverting drug development away from Japan

Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker, is diverting drug studies and tests from Japan as part of an industry push to avoid this nation's regulatory delays and higher costs.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2008

Honda chief upbeat on prospects for fuel-efficient vehicles in U.S. market

Despite growing worries over a recession in the United States, Honda Motor Co. President Takeo Fukui said Wednesday he is not pessimistic about the prospects for its biggest automobile market.
COMMENTARY
Feb 23, 2008

Vision of ROK-U.S. alliance

HONOLULU — The inauguration Monday of Lee Myung Bak as the Republic of Korea's new president will open the door for a revitalization of the ROK-U.S. alliance, a relationship that has been severely tested and strained in recent years as a result of policy differences and more fundamental "vision" differences...
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2008

TCI confident of green light to up stake in J-Power

Children's Investment Fund Management Ltd. is confident that Japan will allow it to double its stake in Electric Power Development Co., said John Ho, Asia chief of the U.K.-based activist fund.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2008

Shinginko Tokyo asks for more money

Troubled small and medium-size business lender Shinginko Tokyo said Wednesday it has asked the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for a capital injection of ¥40 billion to counter mounting losses from borrower defaults.
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2008

Inpex to increase spending on overseas oil, gas projects by 50%

Inpex Holdings Inc. will increase spending on overseas oil and natural gas projects by as much as 50 percent a year to keep pace with soaring material and engineering costs.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Feb 19, 2008

CO2 trading mirrors, but still smoke?

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, the world has been spewing out greenhouse gases that now threaten the global ecosystem. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 379.1 parts per million in 2005, or 35 percent higher than the estimated level before...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CLIMATE CHANGE SYMPOSIUM
Feb 18, 2008

Developing nations must be part of post-Kyoto Protocol framework

Developing nations need to play a "meaningful" role in the post-Kyoto Protocol international framework on climate change, even though it may be difficult for them to accept — at least in the near future — binding caps on their greenhouse gas emissions, James Bartis, a senior policy researcher for...
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2008

Nukaga, Xie agree food scare shouldn't hurt ties

Japan and China have agreed to cooperate on clarifying the cause of the recent contamination of "gyoza" dumplings and that such incidents should not hurt Sino-Japanese relations, Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga said Sunday.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’