Search - inc

 
 
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 26, 2003

First, dump the zombie debtors

JAPANESE PHOENIX: The Long Road to Economic Revival, by Richard Katz. M.E. Sharpe: Armonk, NY, 2003, 351 pp., $24.95 (paper) As Japan limps further into a second decade of recession, optimists about its future economic prospects are thin on the ground. In this provocative and thoughtful study, Richard...
BUSINESS
Jan 25, 2003

Cerberus, SMFG vie for controlling stake in Aozora

The number of contenders for a controlling stake in Aozora Bank was effectively trimmed Friday to two -- U.S. private equity fund Cerberus K.K. and the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2003

Resona turns to Asian bank for help in recapitalization

OSAKA -- Resona Holdings Inc., the holding firm for Daiwa Bank and Asahi Bank, has asked the Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia to help it recapitalize, company officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2003

Kodansha and Random House tie up

Kodansha Ltd. and U.S.-based Random House Inc. announced Thursday they have agreed to forge a joint venture aimed at publishing books in Japanese.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2003

UFJ, Chinese bank in loan alliance

UFJ Bank said Thursday it has agreed to forge a loan alliance with China Merchants Bank in an effort to expand the supply of yuan funds to Japanese companies operating in China.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2003

MMC may expand production in North America

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. President Rolf Eckrodt said Thursday the carmaker is considering expanding its production capacity in North America and will come up with a plan in the next few weeks.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2003

Mizuho group plots huge fundraising effort as losses jump to 1.9 trillion yen

The Mizuho Financial Group said Tuesday its fiscal 2002 losses will hit 1.9 trillion yen, a nine-fold jump from estimates issued in November, after its two banks swallow more than 2 trillion yen in loan-loss provisions.
BUSINESS
Jan 21, 2003

Yahoo eyes new Web site service

Yahoo Japan Corp., the Japan unit of U.S. Internet portal Yahoo Inc., plans to launch a Web site creation service targeting companies and municipalities, company officials said Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2003

Empress' home issue goes to court

A group of people opposed to the razing of Empress Michiko's former home filed a provisional injunction Friday with the Tokyo District Court, requesting that the government halt the demolition.
BUSINESS
Jan 18, 2003

Hazama to split into building, real estate companies Oct. 1

Struggling contractor Hazama Corp. released on Friday a three-year reconstruction plan under which it will split itself into two firms, while its president expressed a willingness to conduct management integration with other unspecified builders.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2003

Empress' former home under siege

Work to demolish Empress Michiko's former home in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, began Thursday morning, despite strong opposition from local residents that delayed the work by one day.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2003

Protesters delay demolition of Empress' former home

A group of protesters prevented laborers dispatched by the Finance Ministry from starting demolition work Wednesday on the former home of Empress Michiko in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2003

Survey exposes school quake fears

Fewer than half of Japan's school buildings are quake-resistant, according to a Cabinet Office study released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2003

Columbia looks for early retirees

Columbia Music Entertainment Inc., a music and visual content provider, said Wednesday it will solicit early retirement applications from 110 members of its group workforce of roughly 800.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2003

DoCoMo to link FOMA with PCs via videophone

NTT DoCoMo Inc. will begin a trial service as early as February to allow subscribers to its FOMA third-generation mobile phone system to communicate with personal computer users on videophones, sources close to the company said Saturday.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2003

Asahi Mutual may abandon tieup plans

Struggling Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. may scrap plans to team up with nonlife insurer Millea Holdings Inc. in 2004, Asahi officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2003

Aozora chief angry over allegation

Aozora Bank confirmed a media report Thursday that it provided customer information to U.S. investment fund Cerberus Group, one of its top shareholders, on request between January and February 2002.
JAPAN
Jan 8, 2003

Four firms are urged to stop paying off gangsters

Police have urged Tokyo Electric Power Co., Nippon Steel Corp., NKK Corp. and Toppan Printing Co. to cut off long-standing transactions with firms linked to a major underworld syndicate that officials suspect effectively amounted to payoffs, sources said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2003

Seven-Eleven to sell 500 yen DVDs

DVDs featuring Warner Brothers cartoons will be available for 500 yen each at 200 outlets of Seven-Eleven Japan Co. in Saitama Prefecture starting later this month, Japan's largest convenience-store chain operator said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 7, 2003

Hitachi completes buyout of IBM's hard-disk unit

Hitachi Ltd. announced Monday that it has completed the purchase of IBM Corp.'s hard-disk drive operation and launched the new HDD business unit Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc.
JAPAN
Jan 4, 2003

Commuter airlines growing with new slots, niche routes

The commuter airline business in Japan has expanded in the past few years, with more people traveling from city to city on planes that carry around 100 passengers or less.
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2003

New university to join bioscience race

KYOTO -- Although the government is aware that bio-related businesses are important for revitalizing the economy, this field has yet to develop in Japan at the level seen in other countries.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 28, 2002

Japan being led into war again, this time by U.S.

For years, ever since leaving Doshisha University, Shinpei Ishii worked for TV Man Union Inc. Then in 1989, tired of kowtowing to authority and wanting to write and speak out freely, he went freelance. It was a good move. He won an award for a program made for NTV and acclaim for literary translations,...
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 16, 2002

The thorny topic of 'office flowers'

Nowadays the term "OL (office lady)" is seen as semiderogatory (about time, too), and some companies have trashed it completely and started using simply jyosei shain (women employees). This is to differentiate them from sogoshoku (general worker), which is not gender-specific but is used to describe...
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Dec 12, 2002

New on DVD: a family-friendly list

Christmas blockbuster movies don't only show up in theaters. Most of America's big box-office hits are timed to be released in the summer and roll into stores on DVD and VHS cassette just in time for the Christmas shopping season.

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