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BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2006

MOS turns green, stops putting burgers in plastic bags

In a move aimed at conserving energy, MOS Food Services Inc. announced Thursday that it will stop giving customers plastic bags to carry their purchases in by July 1, saving an estimated 352 kiloliters of petroleum annually.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2006

ChuoAoyama loses 70 listed clients

More than 70 publicly traded companies have announced plans to stop using ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers as their auditors in the wake of a window-dressing scandal at the accounting firm.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2006

Vodafone logs 69.4% profit fall on high sales, customer retention costs

Vodafone K.K., which was purchased in April by Internet investor Softbank Corp., said Tuesday its net profit fell by 69.4 percent to 49.5 billion yen on sales of 1.47 trillion yen in fiscal 2005 due to higher sales promotion costs associated with attracting subscribers to its 3G phone service.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2006

NEC close to tieup with TI, Matsushita

Developing or procuring key components for mobile phone handsets are major reasons NEC Corp. will collaborate with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Texas Instruments Inc. in the mobile phone business, NEC President Kaoru Yano said Monday.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2006

Firms plan Jakarta interactive shows

Sumitomo Corp. and Fuji Television Network Inc. said Monday they will jointly produce TV programs for Indonesian audiences in which viewers can participate by using the text messaging services of their cell phones.
JAPAN
May 28, 2006

Cigarette price hikes approved

The Finance Ministry has authorized applications by Japan Tobacco Inc. and two other tobacco makers to raise list prices on their products, effective July 1.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2006

AIG insurer pair in Japan to merge

U.S. insurer American International Group Inc., will merge next year 2007 in a bid to reinforce their competitive edge, sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2006

FSA orders Sompo suspension

The Financial Services Agency on Thursday ordered Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. to suspend most of its operations for two weeks at all of its offices nationwide for illegal sales practices.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2006

Japan Post net profit at 1.9 trillion yen, up 56%

Japan Post announced Wednesday it brought in a whopping net profit of 1.93 trillion yen in the fiscal year that ended March 31, up 56 percent from the year before, thanks to the robust performance of its postal savings business.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2006

ANA to resume Narita-O'Hare service in the fall

All Nippon Airways Co. said Wednesday that it will resume flights between Tokyo and Chicago's O'Hare airport in October as part of its overseas expansion plan in the coming years.
BUSINESS
May 25, 2006

Crecia to increase wholesale prices

Crecia Corp. said Wednesday it will raise wholesale prices for its facial tissue and other household paper products by around 25 percent on July 18 due to surging crude oil prices.
JAPAN
May 24, 2006

Engineering officials held over bid-rigging

Seven senior officials from seven major engineering companies were arrested Tuesday over their alleged involvement in fixing bids for sewage and sludge plant projects financed by local governments, investigative sources said.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2006

Sompo facing partial suspension

The Financial Services Agency is set to partially suspend Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. from business for about a month over unlawful sales practices that surfaced earlier this year, FSA sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 23, 2006

Daihatsu drops Otaka as auditor

Daihatsu Motor Co. said Monday it will name Hiroyuki Watanabe, senior technical executive at Toyota Motor Corp., as its new corporate auditor, dropping a plan to select former Toyota Motor North America Inc. President Hideaki Otaka, who has resigned over a sexual harassment scandal.
COMMENTARY
May 22, 2006

Japan keeps blowing smoke

This year's slogan adopted by the World Health Organization for No Tobacco Day (May 31) is "Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise." Since the framework convention on tobacco control came into effect in February 2005, the antismoking movement has become an irreversible global trend.
JAPAN
May 20, 2006

Opus Dei revels in chance to explain itself

Inc., the film's distributor for Japan, is putting the film on 863 screens nationwide and hopes to make 10 billion yen at the box office, which translates into 8 million viewers. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," released in December 2002 in Japan, is currently the highest-grossing foreign...
JAPAN
May 20, 2006

Corporate social responsibility seen gaining favor in Japan, experts say

Growing awareness of corporate social responsibility was praised as favorable progress for Japan at a symposium in Tokyo earlier this week.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2006

Millea Holdings to swap stock to get Nisshin Fire

Millea Holdings Inc. plans to make midsize nonlife insurer Nisshin Fire & Marine Insurance Co. a wholly owned subsidiary by the end of the year by acquiring all of its outstanding shares in a stock swap, Millea Holdings sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Cho warns domestic automakers about fallout from success in U.S.

Japanese automakers should be careful of possibly sparking trade friction with the United States due to their growing strength in the American market, the new chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Softbank, Vodafone set up firm

Softbank Corp. and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC, which recently sold its Japanese subsidiary to Softbank, announced Thursday that they are setting up a joint venture to develop and procure mobile phone handsets, software and digital content.
JAPAN
May 17, 2006

Reduce NHK channels, reorganize NTT: panel

An advisory panel to communications minister Heizo Takenaka proposed Tuesday that NHK user fees be lowered by reducing the number of the public broadcaster's channels.

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