Search - inc

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2000

Japan, U.S. execs start annual talks

Top business executives from Japan and the United States will begin their annual meeting today in Tokyo to discuss bilateral and multilateral trade issues, electronic commerce and information technology, conference officials said Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 7, 2000

Man arrested for allegedly conspiring to sell fake cigarettes

Police have arrested a 66-year-old real estate company employee for allegedly conspiring to sell counterfeit Mild Seven Lights and Seven Stars, both popular cigarette brands sold by Japan Tobacco Inc., police said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jul 5, 2000

'Tankan' results dismissed

Many business leaders Tuesday dismissed the seemingly encouraging results of the Bank of Japan's quarterly survey of business confidence as insufficient for ending the central bank's "zero-interest-rate" policy.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2000

Snow lied after milk-poisoning case

OSAKA -- Officials of Snow Brand Milk Products Co. on Tuesday said that a valve at an Osaka production facility found to be contaminated with a toxin-causing bacteria was used almost every day, and not rarely as it had claimed Saturday.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2000

20% in Diet received pensions in 1999

One in five Diet members received pensions from their earlier jobs, on top of their 24.03 million yen basic salary as legislators, according to the report on lawmakers' 1999 income released Monday.
JAPAN
Jul 2, 2000

The 'island' village among giants

Though it's one of Tokyo's busiest school districts, the area around JR Yoyogi Station lacks the lively atmosphere that marks other teenage haunts.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2000

G8 participants to receive i-mode

NTT DoCoMo Inc. will loan out for free a total of 600 i-mode Net-capable mobile phones and beepers to journalists and delegates participating in the July 21-23 Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, the company said Friday.
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2000

Mazda to combine 37 minicar units

Mazda Motor Corp. said Friday that it will consolidate its 37 local wholesale subsidiaries for minicars into one by the end of this year as part of its restructuring drive.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2000

Marubeni and Tokyo Gas plan optical-fiber alliance

Trading firm Marubeni Corp. and Tokyo Gas Co. announced Thursday that they will form a business alliance to build next-generation broadband, fiber-optic networks using Tokyo Gas's underground pipes in urban business areas.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2000

Drop in DoCoMo stake feasible: NTT

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. may reduce its stake in cellular unit NTT DoCoMo Inc. but will not permit its ownership to drop below 50 percent, NTT executives said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

Taisho gets 4.5 billion yen lifeline

The financially ailing Taisho Life Insurance Co. said Wednesday that it has avoided possible collapse by securing a pledge of 4.5 billion yen in fresh capital through outside funding.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

Car firms' exports rose 1.9% in May

Japan's 11 automakers exported 314,602 cars, trucks and buses in May, up 1.9 percent from the same month the previous year, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

Nikkei claims heavy dealing linked to SQ fixation day

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. said Wednesday that a special quotation fixation day was a major factor behind the heavy trading of specific issues during the two days before the announcement of a change in the benchmark Nikkei stock average's components in April, denying a report linking the deals to...
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2000

NTT breakup fails to level playing field

Nearly a year after the splitup of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., the big experiment is coming under scrutiny as questions are raised over whether its new profile has actually made a difference.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2000

Biggest cable TV firms to integrate on Sept. 1

Compiled from wire services Jupiter Telecommunications Co., Japan's largest cable television operator, and its rival, Titus Communications Corp., the second-largest, announced Tuesday that they have agreed to effectively merge on Sept. 1 through a stock swap scheme.
BUSINESS
Jun 28, 2000

Sharp prepares new PDA to compete with Palm's

In response to increasing competition in the personal digital assistant market, Sharp Corp. will introduce a new version of its Zaurus hand-held computer to the domestic market on July 14, the company announced Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2000

SESC probes possible insider trading over Nikkei reshuffle

The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission has apparently begun investigations over possible insider trading in connection with the April reshuffle of the benchmark Nikkei Stock Average's components, industry sources said Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2000

Amex out to change 'stereotypes' of card users

American Express International is trying to change the widely held perception in Japan that only affluent customers use American Express, and only for overseas travel.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 27, 2000

Art, enlightenment and empire

THE IDEALS OF THE EAST, by Okakura Kakuzo. Tokyo: ICG Muse Inc., 2000, 250 pp., 1,300 yen.
JAPAN
Jun 26, 2000

Tobacco scam included sales

A 58-year-old company president arrested Saturday for possessing thousands of packs of counterfeit cigarettes in apparent violation of the Trademark Law is also suspected of marketing the tobacco in violation of the Tobacco Business Law, police sources said Sunday.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2000

Hitachi pays up in U.S. chip dispute

Hitachi Ltd. said Friday it has settled a semiconductor patent dispute with U.S. chip maker Rambus Inc. by agreeing to pay a licensing fee to Rambus for the use of its technology.
BUSINESS
Jun 22, 2000

Japanese women: the new faces of small business

Most people would assume that to start a business you need plenty of time and money, or at least experience working in a relevant field. But an increasing number of Japanese women are proving this assumption wrong by setting up their own companies based on little more than a good idea and the will to...
BUSINESS
Jun 21, 2000

Sogo may sell prime Osaka store to rival

OSAKA -- Sogo Co., a financially strapped department store chain, is in talks with longtime rival Mitsukoshi Ltd. on selling its flagship store in a prime Osaka shopping district, sources close to the talks said Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2000

68 packs of fake JT cigarettes found

Japan Tobacco Inc. said Monday that at least 68 forgeries of two popular cigarette brands have been found in Ibaraki, Saitama and Gunma prefectures.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2000

Milan bombing suspect files libel suit in Japan

A 52-year-old man wanted by Italian authorities for his alleged involvement in the deadly 1969 bombing of a Milan bank filed a defamation suit Friday with the Tokyo District Court against two newspapers and two magazine publishers.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

401(k)-type plans to appear online

man. Yamaguchi played a key role last September in the introduction of a new type of pension -- similar to the 401(k) plans used in the United States -- at Pasona Inc., the major temporary-staff agency in Tokyo where he works.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2000

All regional telecoms plan to invest in PNJ

Seven regional telecommunications carriers plan to invest in PNJ Communications, a Tokyo-based data communications services firm, bringing all 10 of the nation's regional carriers on board, industry sources said Friday.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

HIV-positive man sues police for not hiring him

A man in his 20s filed a suit Thursday with the Tokyo District Court against the metropolitan government, claiming the Metropolitan Police Department refused to hire him after finding out he is HIV-positive.
JAPAN
Jun 16, 2000

Sumitomo halts sales of rubber gloves with hormone disrupters

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. said Thursday that it will stop selling vinyl chloride gloves for use in preparing food, in response to a warning Wednesday by the Health and Welfare Ministry that the gloves contain hormone disrupters.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

Comsn cuts jobs due to profit decline

Major home-care service provider Comsn Co. announced Thursday that it plans to cut about 1,000 jobs, or about one-quarter of its workforce, due to weaker-than-expected earnings from services covered by the newly launched public nursing-care insurance.

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