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Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Nov 18, 2001

Booksellers looking for competitive edge online

E-commerce ventures have been flourishing in Japan, and they are expected to bring dramatic changes to the nation's traditional book distribution business.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2001

British firm eyes communications technology niche

After forming a partnership with a major Japanese electronics company, nCo Tec ventures Ltd., a venture capital firm based in Britain, is gearing up to promote European ventures involving communications technology in the Japanese market, according to George MacRitchie, a partner in nCo Tec.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2001

JT sees interim net profit grow 4.2%

Japan Tobacco Inc. said Thursday its consolidated net profit for the April-September first half of fiscal 2001 rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier to 35.63 billion yen, thanks to strong growth in its food business, increased volume in international tobacco sales and favorable foreign exchange rates....
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2001

Mitsubishi sees its operating profits climb

Mitsubishi Corp. said Thursday its group operating profits climbed 63.5 percent to 35.75 billion yen in the fiscal first half to Sept. 30 on the strength of robust earnings in its energy business and a weak yen.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2001

Ichiro helps Sky Perfect cut losses

Sky Perfect Communications Inc., operator of the Sky PerfecTV digital broadcasting service, said Wednesday it incurred a consolidated net loss of 4.64 billion yen in the first half of this business year, compared with a loss of 15.89 billion yen a year earlier.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2001

Ichiro helps Sky Perfect cut losses

Sky Perfect Communications Inc., operator of the Sky PerfecTV digital broadcasting service, said Wednesday it incurred a consolidated net loss of 4.64 billion yen in the first half of this business year, compared with a loss of 15.89 billion yen a year earlier.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2001

Hankyu Stores profits soar 1,042%

Hankyu Department Stores Inc. said Wednesday its consolidated net profit in the first half to Sept. 30 rose 1,042.2 percent to 1.59 billion yen due to large-scale cost cutting.
LIFE / Digital / SURFERSPUD
Nov 15, 2001

Mad about movies

www.apple.com/trailers/ It was only three years ago, wasn't it? The trailer for "Star Wars: Episode I" hit the Net and before you knew it, everyone with a modem and a hard drive was downloading the thing via a 28 Kbps connection. And telling you how it only took them 12 hours to do it. Well, now "Episode...
BUSINESS
Nov 11, 2001

Agency offering vacation in New York for 20,000 yen

OSAKA -- A discount travel agency based here will offer a package trip to New York for a mere 20,000 yen, which includes a donation of 3,000 yen for cleanup operations after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2001

U.S. Chamber of Commerce urges reforms push

The U.S. business community is urging Japan to pursue reforms that will help the economy and attract more American investment, the visiting chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Friday.
COMMUNITY
Nov 10, 2001

Welsh Society to sing its heart out for seeing dogs

Think Welsh and imagine small, dark, tough people with a passion for rugby and choral singing, the red dragon of the national flag, sunny daffodils (the national flower) and the green valleys of southern Wales. Yet here is Ursula Bartlett Imadegawa (known to friends as Ursula Bi) -- a blonde with green...
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2001

U.S. Chamber of Commerce urges reforms push

The U.S. business community is urging Japan to pursue reforms that will help the economy and attract more American investment, the visiting chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2001

Tobacco tax increase eyed

The ruling coalition is considering raising the tobacco tax 1 yen to 2 yen per cigarette in fiscal 2002 to help compensate for an expected shortfall in government revenues amid the prolonged economic slump, coalition officials said.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Nov 9, 2001

Successful firms have learned importance of patents

It was a big challenge for Canon Inc., one of Japan's top camera makers, to embark on the copy machine business in the late 1960s, as the market was dominated by the U.S. giant Xerox Corp.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2001

Marubeni's '01 outlook sours

In a dramatic reversal of fortune, Marubeni Corp. expects to post consolidated net losses of 105 billion yen for the 2001 business year after earlier projecting a 15 billion yen profit, company officials said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2001

DoCoMo strikes deal with Dutch firm on i-mode license

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Wednesday it has reached an accord with a Dutch firm to license its popular i-mode technology services to the Dutch telecommunications group for 10 years to Jan. 1, 2012.
JAPAN / STAGING A COMEBACK
Nov 8, 2001

Japanese firms urged to better protect patents

Having lost its edge as a mass-production base, Japan's future economic prosperity depends on its innovativeness in offering high value-added products and services.
BUSINESS
Nov 7, 2001

Moody's may downgrade Softbank

Moody's Investors Service Inc. said Tuesday it will review and may downgrade Softbank Corp's Ba3 senior unsecured long-term debt ratings.
BUSINESS
Nov 6, 2001

Cheap fiber row leads to probes abroad

The government plans to conduct on-the-spot investigations of South Korean and Taiwanese companies that are exporting polyester staple fiber to Japan at low prices, government officials said Monday.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2001

British unit of Nifco changes name

Elta Plastics Ltd., a British subsidiary of Nifco Inc., the leading industrial plastic fastener maker, changed its name to Nifco U.K. Ltd., effective Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2001

Sumitomo to build mall near USJ

OSAKA -- The group of companies led by trading giant Sumitomo Corp. plans to build a second shopping mall along the road linking Osaka's Universal Studios Japan theme park and the JR Universal City Station, possibly next year, group officials said Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2001

TSE starts new life as profit-seeking stock firm

The Tokyo Stock Exchange, formerly a membership organization, started operations as a stock company Thursday in a bid to improve its worldwide competitiveness.
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2001

Ford, Bridgestone consider thaw

Japanese tire maker Bridgestone Corp. and U.S. automaker Ford Motor Co. will probably open talks by the end of the year to mend soured ties stemming from wrangling over tire recalls, sources close to Bridgestone said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2001

Nomura teams up with U.S. bank

Nomura Holdings Inc., the parent firm of Nomura Securities Co., said Wednesday it has formed an alliance with U.S. investment bank Thomas Weisel Partners Group LLC to coordinate cross-border mergers and acquisitions activity between Japan and the United States.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 1, 2001

Kimono makers target the young

Mariko Moriwaki, 39, a Web editor at publisher Shogakukan Inc., draws a lot of attention from visitors to her office.
BUSINESS
Oct 31, 2001

ISID to tie up with Microsoft unit

Information Services International-Dentsu Ltd. said Tuesday it will form an alliance in the financial solution business with Microsoft Co., the Japanese unit of Microsoft Corp. of the United States.
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2001

Court issues injunction on DoCoMo spammer

In what is believed to be the first legal action against spamming on mobile phones in Japan, the Yokohama District Court has issued an injunction against a firm that is allegedly sending hundreds of thousands of unsolicited e-mail messages to customers of NTT DoCoMo Inc.
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2001

Nomura eyes tieup with U.S. bank

The Nomura Securities Co. group is negotiating a tieup with U.S. investment bank Thomas Weisel Partners LLC, the Japanese brokerage said Monday.

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