Search - 2003

 
 
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2004

Mitsubishi Fuso admits defect may send truck wheels flying

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. acknowledged Thursday that some of its large vehicles have design flaws that could cause the wheels to come off, as in an accident that killed a woman in 2002.
JAPAN
Mar 12, 2004

Chinese being frozen out of student visa process

Things are looking pretty grim for Chinese students who have their sights set on pursuing their Japanese language studies here.
JAPAN
Mar 5, 2004

Illegal access of computers last year hit record level

Police in 2003 investigated a record 145 suspected violations of a law banning illegal access to computer networks, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Mar 5, 2004

Opportunity for mutual prosperity

In the not so distant future, China probably will eclipse the United States as Japan's largest trading partner. That could happen before 2008 when Beijing hosts the Summer Olympics. Setting the pace of China's economic growth is investment in infrastructure, whose momentum is expected to increase in...
SOCCER / J. League
Feb 27, 2004

Marinos striker Kubo honored

Yokohama F. Marinos and Japan striker Tatsuhiko Kubo on Thursday was named 2003 Footballer of the Year in a poll of Japanese soccer writers.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2004

Brisk Chinese demand spurring Japan's economy

Brisk demand for Japanese goods in China is becoming a major driving force for Japan's economy, helping the nation as it struggles to shake off more than a decade of stagnation.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2004

Digital subscriber lines top for access

The greatest number of respondents to a government survey released Friday accessed the Internet in 2003 using digital subscriber line services, such as asymmetrical digital subscriber line services.
EDITORIALS
Feb 20, 2004

GDP growth belies strong recovery

Japan's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 7 percent in the last quarter of 2003, with export-oriented large manufacturers providing the main thrust of growth. Whether this will lead to a broad and enduring recovery remains to be seen, however. The export boom will fizzle out if overseas demand...
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2004

Struggling Seiyu blames 7 billion yen loss on cold weather

Supermarket operator Seiyu Ltd. said Tuesday its group net loss for the 10 months ending in December came to 7 billion yen, blaming the red ink on the unseasonably cold summer.
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2004

Cell phone shipments top 50 million

Some 52.2 million mobile phone handsets were shipped domestically in 2003, up 27 percent from a year earlier.
JAPAN
Feb 12, 2004

Supplies from China's Daqing oil field halted

The supply of crude oil to Japan from China's huge Daqing oil field has been halted since January and is unlikely to resume due to increasing demand for energy in China.
JAPAN
Feb 6, 2004

Serious crimes linked to online dating up 37%

Serious crimes, including murder, robbery and rape, linked to online dating sites rose 37 percent in 2003 from the year before to 137 cases, the National Police Agency said in a report Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 3, 2004

Electronic toll system users on rise

The Electronic Toll Collection system, introduced in 2001 to collect highway fees without drivers having to stop, is gaining in popularity due to discounts for installing the system and reduced fees for users.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2004

Tokyo CPI continues slide into record 52nd month

The key gauge of consumer prices in Tokyo in January slipped 0.3 percent from a year earlier for a record 52nd consecutive month of decline.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2004

7.15 trillion yen spent on intervention this month

Japan spent 7.15 trillion yen on currency-market intervention in January, marking a new single-month record, Finance Ministry data showed Friday.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2004

Industrial output posts first rise in three years

Industrial production rose 3.2 percent in 2003 for the first increase in three years, due partly to steady demand for mobile phones and other digital home appliances, the government said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2004

Market rebound sends Nomura's profit soaring

Nomura Holdings Inc. said Thursday its group pretax profit for the nine months to Dec. 31 soared 217.3 percent from a year earlier to 189.18 billion yen amid the stock market recovery.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2004

Camera sales boost Canon earnings

Canon Inc. on Thursday said its net profit grew 45 percent in 2003, buoyed by robust digital camera sales and a cost-cutting drive.
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2004

Oddly, Japan keeps tariffs intact as it gropes for beef

Japan's suspension of U.S. beef imports has created a strange contradiction: As the government searches for alternate sources of beef, it imposes tariffs that help keep overseas beef out.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 29, 2004

Currency intervention raises eyebrows

Japan's repeated attempts to check the dollar's fall against the yen by intervening in the currency market is raising concerns among some economists.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language
Jan 29, 2004

Japan is learning to love (and loving to learn) Chinese

Every day, it seems, more and more Japanese want to communicate -- in Chinese. One million Japanese, says Web magazine ChinaGate, are learning Mandarin and other Chinese dialects. At Japanese universities and schools, Mandarin has overtaken French and German to become the most popular language after...
EDITORIALS
Jan 27, 2004

Defuse the debt bomb

Japan's public debt continues to swell ominously, yet there is no reassuring long-term scenario for deficit reduction. The government's latest medium-term outlook for economic and fiscal reform amounts to a tacit admission that the balanced budget is, at best, a distant goal.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2004

Kao expects record pretax profit

Kao Corp. said Thursday it expects to generate a record pretax profit in fiscal 2003 for the 23rd consecutive year.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jan 21, 2004

'Daimajin' quits Mariners

Kazuhiro Sasaki said Tuesday he has decided to leave the Seattle Mariners to stay home in Japan with his family.
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Jan 20, 2004

Planning for your financial future in Japan

I am looking for some pension and retirement information in Japan. Even though I am only 34, I am thinking about the financial situation in the future. I am Swiss, but have spent the past few years abroad, so I have to count on foreign retirement support.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jan 18, 2004

Cop on the steppes, cults in the subways

THE MONGOLIA CONNECTION, by Scott Christiansen. Hong Kong: Asia 2000 Ltd., 2003, 406 pp., $18 (paper). THE SONG OF SARIN, by Stew Magnuson. Xlibris Corp., 2003, 430 pp., $24.99 (paper). One of the tried-and-true techniques used in police procedural mysteries -- but even more often in so-called "buddy...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Jan 18, 2004

Millions in quest for 'miracle cures'

Cocoa isn't exactly the No. 1 drink of choice in Japan, but late in 1995 you would have been hard pressed to find any at all in stores. That wasn't because of a contamination scare or anything -- but because shoppers were clamoring to get their hands on the stuff.

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