Search - inc

 
 
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2003

Takenaka seeks smooth lending to smaller firms

Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka asked private-sector and government-affiliated lenders Monday to lend money to small and midsize firms to meet growing demand for funds as the yearend book-closing approaches.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2003

Ad firm Hakuhodo in Malaysia move

Advertising agency Hakuhodo Inc. said Friday it has agreed to acquire a 25 percent equity stake in Malaysian ad agency People & Rich-H Sdn. Bhd.
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2003

Bridgestone's profits surge 161%

Bridgestone Corp., Japan's biggest maker of automobile tires, said Friday that its group net profit in the business year through December 2002 surged 161 percent to 45.38 billion yen.
BUSINESS
Feb 19, 2003

Iwama to head Sapporo holding firm

Tatsushi Iwama, 63, president of Sapporo Breweries Ltd., will head a new holding company, tentatively called Sapporo Holdings Inc., to start up July 1, company officials said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2003

U.S. firm to buy up Nippon Conlux

Mars Inc., a leading U.S. maker of automated payment systems for vending machines, will buy all the shares of Nippon Conlux Co., a major Japanese producer of coin mechanisms and note validators, through a tender offer from Tuesday to March 13, company officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2003

Average monthly pay dropped 2.4% in 2002

Average monthly pay in all industries in 2002 fell 2.4 percent from the previous year to 343,480 yen, the government said in a revised report Monday.
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2003

Nisshin Fire, Tokio Marine to tie up

Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. will take a one-third stake in Nisshin Fire & Marine Insurance Co. by March 2005, the nonlife insurers said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 14, 2003

Toray Industries chief puts faith in technological research

Sadayuki Sakakibara, president of Toray Industries Inc., is confident there are researchers at his company who have the potential to win a Nobel Prize, just like Shimadzu Corp.'s Koichi Tanaka.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2003

Resona now sees loss of 185 billion yen in fiscal '02

Resona Holdings Inc. said Wednesday that it expects to post a group net loss of 185 billion yen for the current fiscal year, as it writes off more of its loans as losses.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2003

JT sees tobacco sales slide 4.9%

Japan Tobacco Inc. said Wednesday it sold 60 billion cigarettes nationwide during the quarter that ended Dec. 31, down 4.9 percent from a year earlier. The company attributed the decline to:
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2003

Mizuho unit to cut prime lending rate

Mizuho Corporate Bank, a unit of Mizuho Holdings Inc., said Monday it will cut its long-term prime lending rate by 0.1 percentage point to 1.55 percent per year, matching the record low marked in July 2001.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Feb 9, 2003

Golf: a sport that mirrors the nation

Forget indicators such as unemployment levels and interest rates; there's no simpler way to chart Japan's economic well-being than by tracing the ebb and flow of the popularity of golf.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Kansai forum focuses on tourism hope

KYOTO -- Kansai needs to wake up and exploit its economic potential as an attractive tourist destination and center for industrial innovation, local business leaders said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

Kadokawa to buy film concern Daiei

Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co. said Thursday one of its units will pay 1.44 billion yen to acquire the entire operations of film producer Daiei Co.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2003

New group to study accounting plan

A working group under a governmental advisory panel on financial affairs was inaugurated Thursday to examine a controversial proposal by Financial Services Minister Heizo Takenaka to change accounting rules that would force many major banks into capital shortfalls.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2003

Seiko to end set annual wage hikes

Electronics maker Seiko Epson Corp. will stop giving set annual wage increases based on age to all union members in April, company officials said Wednesday. The move is aimed at enhancing the company's international competitiveness by promoting merit-based raises and reducing overall labor costs.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2003

Toyota sees 93.9% net profit growth

Toyota Motor Corp. on Wednesday reported a group net profit of 216.1 billion yen for the October-December quarter, up 93.9 percent from the same period a year earlier on brisk sales at home and abroad.
BUSINESS
Feb 6, 2003

Matsushita missed boat on camera phones: exec

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. missed its goal of capturing 25 percent of Japan's cellular phone market because of its late introduction of camera phones, the head of the company's mobile communications unit said. Panasonic brand cell phones finished 2002 with less than 20 percent of the domestic...
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2003

Gunze plans to liquidate sales unit

Apparel maker Gunze Ltd. said Tuesday it will liquidate its sales arm, Gunze Sales Inc., on March 31 as part of organizational changes at the parent firm.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 5, 2003

Mitsubishi robot seen as family friend

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. unveiled a robot Tuesday that it claims will become a future house-sitter, caretaker, nurse and family friend.
BUSINESS
Feb 1, 2003

Bond buying spree expected to continue

The recent buying spree of Japanese government bonds that has pushed the key long-term interest rate to a record low will continue for at least several months, as an end to the deflationary trend is nowhere in sight, economists and analysts say.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2003

Mizuho turns to business partners in desperate effort to boost capital

Mizuho Holdings Inc. played its final trump card last week in a bid to get rid of nonperforming loans once and for all, turning to some of its largest business partners to raise an unprecedented 1 trillion yen to boost its capital base.
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2003

Weather-tied health tips advise high-tech crowd

Every morning, Akio Tanaka wakes up and reaches for his mobile phone to check on his health.
JAPAN
Jan 29, 2003

Prosecutors given case against USJ

OSAKA -- Police turned over to prosecutors Tuesday their case against the operator of movie theme park Universal Studios Japan and two park employees in connection with the suspected use of an illegal amount of explosives for fireworks.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2003

Ajinomoto to set up South Korea unit

Ajinomoto Co., Japan's largest seasoning maker, said Tuesday that it will set up a sales subsidiary in South Korea in March.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2003

No reprieve for Empress' home

The Tokyo District Court on Monday dismissed a plea by local residents for a provisional injunction to prevent the former home of Empress Michiko from being demolished.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2003

C&W IDC exec hands on challenge of making telecom regulations fairer

Changes in Japan's telecommunications industry over the past two years have been far-reaching and important, but much remains to be done to achieve a truly free and transparent market, according to Lisa Suits, outgoing vice president of the public policy division of Cable & Wireless IDC Inc.

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