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BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2000

Ex-MITI official tapped as next Daiei chairman

Jiro Amagai, a former bureaucrat of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, is likely to become chairman of ailing supermarket chain operator Daiei Inc., sources at the company said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2000

Retail chains under siege

Conventional Japanese supermarket chains, which are suffering dwindling sales and being cold-shouldered by consumers, will be dealt another blow with the advance of foreign retail giants wielding aggressive business plans into the Japanese market.
EDITORIALS
Dec 6, 2000

Getting real on the Net

The Gallic gall. A French court has done the unthinkable. It has ruled that the French government has jurisdiction over cyberspace, or at least that part of the digital universe that overlaps with its physical borders.
JAPAN
Dec 6, 2000

Record number of travelers heading overseas

The number of Japanese traveling overseas during the New Year's holidays will hit a record high of 688,000, marking the first increase in four years, according to an estimate released Tuesday by Japan Travel Bureau Inc.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2000

Bridgestone head denies Firestone may go under

Bridgestone Corp. President Yoichiro Kaizaki on Tuesday dismissed a news report that its U.S. subsidiary, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc., may go bankrupt under massive damage claims sought against the U.S. unit over a tire recall scandal.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2000

FTC raids firms on suspicion of fixing prices for X-ray film

The Fair Trade Commission on Wednesday searched more than 30 branches of several medical product manufacturers on suspicion that they formed a price cartel for film for hospital X-ray machines.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Right On recalls fake-brand clothes

Right On Co. said Monday that some imported brand-name clothes sold at its outlets were allegedly fakes and that it has decided to recall them until Dec. 25.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2000

Railways brace for onslaught of holiday-season drunks

For most people, the end of the year is a time for making merry. For the nation's railroad employees, who have to deal with those merrymakers, it is a nightmare.
JAPAN
Nov 26, 2000

Chelsea Rinku Town's raison d'etre

IZUMISANO, Osaka Pref. -- With nearly half of the land yet awaiting a buyer, a 318-hectare plot known as Rinku Town just across the bay from Kansai International Airport can hardly be called a bustling shopping district.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2000

StarLink find sparks consumer fears, import chaos

The discovery of StarLink genetically modified corn in food for human consumption in Japan has caused concern among Japanese food and grain importers and aroused fears among consumers about food safety.
COMMUNITY
Nov 19, 2000

A woman with universal appeal

Ines Ligron was not pleased with The Japan Times. In particular, she was unhappy with an editorial suggesting that the winners of the Miss Universe contest are "celebrities of the fluffier variety."
JAPAN
Nov 17, 2000

Key panel suggests independence for DoCoMo

A subcommittee of a key government advisory panel on Thursday urged "effective independence" for NTT DoCoMo Inc. from its parent, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., if sufficient competition fails to form in the nation's telecommunications market.
JAPAN
Nov 16, 2000

Halls of power resound with ouster speculation

The corridors of power in Tokyo's Nagato-cho district on Wednesday resounded with speculation on the possible replacement of embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, currently in Brunei for a two-day summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2000

Chemical firms plan integration

Sumitomo Chemical Co. and Mitsui Chemicals Inc. -- Japan's No. 2 and No. 3 chemical manufacturers -- will integrate their management and possibly merge outright as early as the fall of next year, company sources said Saturday.
JAPAN
Nov 11, 2000

Women give each other boost at business forum

SASEBO, Nagasaki Pref. -- Female business leaders from 10 countries shared their experiences Friday and encouraged each other with the knowledge that their roles in business and society will be more important in the coming century.
EDITORIALS
Nov 9, 2000

Death from overwork still threatens

If employers in the private and public sectors are not prepared to take adequate steps to reduce the threat to life from excessive workloads, Japanese judges seem increasingly ready to remind them of their responsibility. The nation's courts are ruling with greater frequency in favor of the families...
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2000

Archaeological hoaxes spur history text rethink

Six publishers of high school history textbooks are considering revising entries in their books about Japan's earliest stoneware, following Sunday's disclosure that a leading archaeologist had fabricated his discoveries of such artifacts.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Nakagawa resigns; Fukuda steps in

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hidenao Nakagawa resigned Friday over scandals involving rightist connections and an extramarital affair, dealing a fresh political blow to embattled Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's administration.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2000

Adult smokers at record-low 32.9%

The proportion of Japanese adults who smoke has fallen to a record low for the fifth consecutive year, dropping to 32.9 percent from 33.6 percent last year, according to the latest survey by Japan Tobacco Inc.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2000

NTT unit to enter local-call market

NTT Communications Corp., the long-distance and international services arm of the NTT group, plans to enter the local-call market as early as May, company officials said Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 24, 2000

Seller of fake smokes avoids prison

The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a 51-year-old company executive to 21/2 years in prison, suspended for four years, for selling counterfeit cigarettes sold by Japan Tobacco Inc.
COMMENTARY
Oct 24, 2000

Executives must obey the law

In a recent major shareholder suit, the Osaka District Court ordered 11 former Daiwa Bank executives to pay a total of $775 million (about 83 billion yen) in compensation for the $1.1-billion loss the bank suffered from illegal bond trading by a former employee of its New York branch. The ruling has...
CULTURE / Books
Oct 17, 2000

A celebration of interracial marriages

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER?, by Brenda Lane Richardson. Wildcat Canyon Press/Circulus Publishing Group, Inc., 2000, Berkeley, Calif., $14.95. Brenda Richardson is an award-winning African-American writer and partner in a 16-year marriage to a Swedish-American Episcopalian priest. She set out nearly...
JAPAN
Oct 13, 2000

Accounting practices blamed for slump in Japanese films

The chief executive of a Tokyo financial management company launched in late September hopes her new business saves Japanese films from a long slump.
JAPAN
Oct 11, 2000

Chiyoda Life seeks court protection

Chiyoda Mutual Life Insurance Co. filed for court protection from creditors Monday with liabilities of 2.94 trillion yen -- the biggest failure in Japan's insurance industry since the war.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2000

Tokyo poised to lift ban on exterior train ads

How can Tokyo buses and streetcars make more money without attracting more passengers? One answer: advertising.
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2000

China's Zhu to talk with Japanese for the cameras

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji will appear on a special program to be aired by Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. during his six-day visit to Japan that begins Thursday, TBS officials said Saturday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 4, 2000

Banks must get better, not just bigger

The official debut last week of the Mizuho financial group is a fresh reminder of the large-scale bank mergers and tie-ups now in the works in Japan. The group brings together Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan under the umbrella of Mizuho Holdings Inc. Two years from now,...

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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