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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.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

NTT to offer untimed Net access

Two local Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. group firms said Thursday that they will launch July 17 a full-scale flat-rate Internet connection service for integrated service digital network subscribers.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2000

Nippon Life's capital to be increased

Nomura Securities Co. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. plan to invest 180 billion yen in Nippon Life Insurance Co. to help the insurer beef up its capital base, sources familiar with the deal said Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2000

NTT calls for relaxing of law as prerequisite to bigger cuts

The law concerning the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. group should be revised to grant more freedom to its two local calling companies and the revision should be a prerequisite to any further cuts in the connection fees it charges other telecommunications firms, the NTT Corp. president said Wednesday....
JAPAN
Jun 15, 2000

DoCoMo i-mode crashes for more than two hours

Subscribers to NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s i-mode Internet service were denied access for more than two hours from late Tuesday to early Wednesday, the company said, despite an earlier announcement that the problems had been repaired.
BUSINESS
Jun 15, 2000

Convenience stores embrace e-commerce

Your average convenience store is a small shop with just 100 sq. meters of floor space.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2000

Nonaka demands faster cuts in NTT fees

Hiromu Nonaka, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, called on NTT Corp. Monday to quickly reduce the interconnection fees it charges other carriers to access its network.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2000

Smaller, more mobile PS one to slowly replace PlayStation

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. will launch a new portable game console in July called PS one, which will gradually replace its mainstay PlayStation video game consoles, SCE President Ken Kutaragi announced on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2000

Exports help boost auto parts makers' sales 4.5%

Auto parts makers' combined sales rose 4.5 percent to 9.768 trillion yen on a consolidated basis in the 1999 business year, the Japan Auto Parts Association said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jun 8, 2000

Dentsu to pay off dead worker's parents

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, plans to offer an out-of-court settlement to a deceased employee's parents, who sued the firm claiming their son's suicide was caused by overwork, according to lawyers for the parents.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2000

Lucent, Fujitsu tie up on Asian network

Fujitsu Ltd., a major Japanese computer maker, and Lucent Technologies Inc. of the United States said Tuesday that they have reached a basic agreement to jointly develop a new communications infrastructure in Asia.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Jun 6, 2000

Diplomat to a bygone era

A DIPLOMAT IN JAPAN, by Ernest Satow. New York/Tokyo: ICG Muse, Inc., 2000, 424 pp., 1,300 yen. This is a welcome reissue of the long-out-of-print 1921 edition of Ernest Satow's memoirs. Its contents are indicated in his original subtitle: "The inner history of the critical years in the evolution of...
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2000

U.S. utilities target mammoth Japanese market

KANSAS CITY, Kansas -- U.S. utilities are paying close attention to Japan's $150 billion electricity market, where rates are high, monolithic utilities unready for competition and rival competitors virtually nonexistent.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2000

Ultrasound machines are breaking all barriers

A new class of miniaturized, all-digital ultrasound devices is about to be introduced in Japan by SonoSite Inc., promising to improve patient care and dramatically cut costs for medical facilities nationwide.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2000
Jun 3, 2000

Ruling coalition awaits voters' judgment at polls

The coming Lower House election will give voters their first chance to express their support, or lack thereof, for the tripartite coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party.
BUSINESS
Jun 2, 2000

Sony to license PlayStation2, increase semiconductor output

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. said Thursday it will invest 125 billion yen to expand its production capacity for semiconductors, mainly for its PlayStation2 game console.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2000

Unclear rules hinder day trading in Japan

Hajime Mabuchi is an early riser. After sobering up in a hot Jacuzzi at his home in a Seattle suburb, he takes some vitamins and drives to a nearby Starbucks coffee shop. He arrives at 6 a.m.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

DoCoMo mulling stake in U.S. mobile carrier

NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest mobile phone group, is negotiating to take a 10 percent to 20 percent equity stake in VoiceStream Wireless Corp., a U.S. mobile phone carrier, for several hundred billion yen, sources familiar with the deal said Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 31, 2000

MHI, Hitachi enter alliance on steel

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. said Tuesday that they have reached an agreement to integrate their steelmaking machinery operations, a move that would create the world's second-largest manufacturer of such equipment.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2000

Palmtops to be fourth pillar of Sony's electronics lineup

Sony Corp. said Monday that it will make palmtop mobile personal computer terminals a major part of its electronics product lineup.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past