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JAPAN
Apr 1, 2003

New correctional reform panel launched

Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama announced Monday the inauguration of a special panel tasked with discussing correctional reform.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2003

Millea Insurance companies finally announce merger

After a series of false starts, the companies of the Millea Insurance Group on Friday officially announced their merger, which will take place in October 2004.
BUSINESS
Mar 29, 2003

McDonald's Holdings flips top manager posts

said Friday that managers from its U.S. parent now hold two of the top three positions on its board, signaling a shift in the power dynamics at the country's largest fast food chain. The shakeup, approved at a general shareholders' meeting, comes in the wake of the announcement this month that founder...
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2003

'Dick Tracy' wristwatch phone on the way

NTT DoCoMo Inc. will soon start selling a Dick Tracy-style mobile phone that's wearable like a wristwatch and snaps off to become a regular handset.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2003

Firms told to return state subsidies

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday it has ordered three companies to return fraudulently obtained government subsidies.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2003

Lawson unveils banking tieup

Lawson Inc. will begin providing limited banking services at some of its convenience stores in July in cooperation with Hokuriku Bank, the two firms said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2003

Five Wal-Mart execs join Seiyu's board

Struggling supermarket chain Seiyu Ltd. said Wednesday that five representatives of Wal-Mart Store Inc. have joined its board of directors, formalizing the U.S. retail giant's involvement in Seiyu's management.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2003

Raising access fees would hurt NTT as well as rivals: telecom expert

A fierce battle is raging within the telecom sector over whether the access fees charged by NTT firms for use of their telephone infrastructure should be raised.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 26, 2003

New BOJ team moves to stabilize financial system, quiet politicians

The Bank of Japan decided Tuesday to expand its purchases of banks' stockholdings by 50 percent to 3 trillion yen, a move calculated to help banks weather declines in share prices and to quiet some politicians.
JAPAN
Mar 22, 2003

Nikkei sacks editor for defamation

Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc., publisher of the Nikkei business daily, said Friday it has dismissed an editor involved in a case that pitted him against its president over management.
JAPAN
Mar 21, 2003

Gap unit collared for 16.8 billion yen in tax evasion

Gap International BV, a subsidiary of U.S. casual wear maker Gap Inc., failed to report around 16.8 billion yen in income from Gap's Japan subsidiary, sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 18, 2003

Japan Post customers to have greater choice of ATM access

Customers of Japan Post will be able to do their banking at convenience stores under a tieup between the public postal corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and IY Bank, sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Mar 15, 2003

DoCoMo mulls lower call charges

NTT DoCoMo Inc. is considering lowering charges for calls made from fixed-line telephones to its mobile phones, the company's president said Friday.
BUSINESS / INTERNATIONAL RATIONALE
Mar 15, 2003

Multilateral alliance good for ANA, but JAL isn't convinced

All Nippon Airways Co. President Yoji Ohashi could hardly contain his joy last month when he witnessed the entry of Asiana Airlines Inc., South Korea's No. 2 carrier, into Star Alliance, the world's largest airline coalition.
JAPAN
Mar 14, 2003

Japan Tobacco strikes back with smoking salons

With the stock market hitting 20-year lows and the economic outlook getting worse, Japan's smokers have even more excuses to light up. Yet, in a country which has long been tolerant of tobacco use, a growing antismoking trend has made life for addicts more difficult.
EDITORIALS
Mar 14, 2003

Wage system headed for change

Corporate restructuring in Japan is creating inexorable pressure to implement wage restraints. This is evident in increasing efforts to change the traditional seniority-based wage system. Even more significant, these moves are apparent even among companies that are doing well despite the prolonged economic...
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2003

Ripplewood eyes Huis Ten Bosch

U.S. investment fund Ripplewood Holdings LLC expressed interest Wednesday in investing in the failed Huis Ten Bosch theme park in Nagasaki Prefecture. Ripplewood President Timothy Collins said in an interview with Kyodo News that such an investment might present a good business opportunity as his firm...
BUSINESS
Mar 12, 2003

Cerberus pegged as Aozora stake buyer

U.S. investment fund Cerberus Group is likely to win the bid for the 48.8 percent stake Softbank Corp. holds in Aozora Bank, sources close to the deal said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2003

Mizuho unit to cut lending rate

Mizuho Corporate Bank said Monday it will cut its long-term prime lending rate by 0.05 percentage point to a record low 1.5 percent per year.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2003

Hitachi latest firm planning to adopt merit-pay system

In a move that may affect the entire manufacturing industry, Hitachi Ltd. plans to introduce a new pay system based entirely on job performance and abolish seniority-based annual pay hikes.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2003

Mizuho ups capital base target

The Mizuho Financial Group expects to pad its capital base by 1.2 trillion yen through the issuance of preferred shares, up from the initially planned 1 trillion yen, as more domestic corporate investors than expected have offered to buy shares, Mizuho sources said Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2003

UFJ spearheads bid to save small firms

The UFJ group, the nation's fourth-largest lender, will team up with financial services company Orix Corp., trading company Marubeni Corp. and others to set up a fund aimed at turning around small and medium-size firms, UFJ officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2003

Nippon Steel changes fiscal 2002 forecast to 45 billion yen loss

Nippon Steel Corp. forecasts a consolidated net loss of 45 billion yen for fiscal 2002 after absorbing losses of 142 billion yen, including one-time costs for restructuring a subsidiary, the world's third-largest steel maker said Thursday.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2003

Ezoe: portrait of a fall from grace

Just prior to his arrest in 1989 and amid mounting public criticism of his alleged bribe-paying, Recruit Co. founder Hiromasa Ezoe thought he'd "rather die" than be detained, according to sources close to him.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2003

Sega downplays Microsoft's pursuit

Sega Corp. on Monday dismissed a report that Microsoft Corp. and Electronic Arts Inc. may try to acquire the Japanese video game software developer.
BUSINESS
Mar 4, 2003

Hikari Tsushin hikes loss forecast

Hikari Tsushin Inc. said Monday it expects a consolidated net loss of 4.4 billion yen for the year to March 31, well up from an earlier projected loss of 400 million yen.
JAPAN
Mar 4, 2003

Obituary: Jiro Ikushima

Jiro Ikushima, a pioneer of hard-boiled fiction in Japan, died Sunday night of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital, his family said Monday. He was 70.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past