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COMMENTARY / World
Jun 12, 2006

Arms race widening in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia's return to prosperity since the financial crisis of 1997 has brought a regionwide splurge on new weapons. Most Southeast Asian countries are, indeed, now busily modernizing their armed forces. So far, most have done so without compromising their autonomy in security matters. But with...
EDITORIALS
Jun 11, 2006

Whither the newspaper?

What does the future hold for newspapers? It all depends on what you think a newspaper is and where on the planet you are standing. If you are a literal-minded type who considers the concept inseparable from actual newsprint and your view is restricted to, say, North America or Japan or Australia or...
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

REIT value swells 63% to surpass 4 trillion yen

The aggregate value of land owned by real estate investment trusts totaled 4.03 trillion yen at the end of March, up a sharp 63 percent from a year earlier, attesting to the solid growth of the REIT market, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry reported Friday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 10, 2006

Dream Technologies' revival tied to Murakami

Late last October, while everyone was watching Rakuten Inc. make a surprise bid to integrate with Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc., Yoshiaki Murakami launched a new investment plan.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2006

Intolerance to the arts is growing in India

MADRAS, India -- The recent anger against director Ron Howard's latest film, "The Da Vinci Code," reminds us that intolerance against artistic freedom is growing in a world that we thought was past caring about such issues.
BUSINESS
Jun 9, 2006

Skylark to carry out largest MBO in Japan history

Family-style restaurant chain Skylark Co. announced Thursday its management will buy all outstanding company shares to become private, making it the largest management buyout bid in Japanese history.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2006

Mitsui, Shochiku plan content service

Trading house Mitsui & Co. and movie producer Shochiku Co. said Tuesday they have formed a business alliance for content-downloading services for mobile phones and personal computers.
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2006

Sony has high hopes for its first digital SLR

Sony Corp. on Tuesday unveiled its first digital single lens reflex camera, the Alpha DSLR-A100, in its first product rollout since acquiring the Konica Minolta Group's digital SLR division earlier this year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2006

Nissan and Suzuki seal mutual car-supply deal

Nissan Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp. announced Friday they will expand their existing partnership by supplying minicars, minivans and pickup trucks to each other both at home and abroad.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2006

Sompo Japan chief resigns; 6.5 million yen error revealed

The president of Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. resigned Friday to take responsibility for the firm's misconduct that resulted in a business suspension order, while the insurer announced it mistakenly collected 6.5 million yen in premiums due to a clerical error.
BUSINESS
Jun 1, 2006

MHI wins Iceland power plant order

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Mitsubishi Corp. (UK) PLC and German partner Balcke-Duerr GmbH have been awarded a turnkey contract to build two 40-megawatt geothermal power plants for Reykjavik Energy, an electric utility owned by Iceland's capital city, Mitsubishi Heavy said Wednesday.
JAPAN
May 31, 2006

Patrollers see green, deliverers red under new law

Patrollers see green, deliverers red under new law
JAPAN
May 30, 2006

McDonald's gets labor union

for the first time in the 35 years since the Japanese unit of the U.S. fast-food giant started operations, the nation's largest labor union group said Monday. The union, with about 200 initial members including outlet managers, notified the management of its establishment, said the Japanese Trade Union...
BUSINESS
May 30, 2006

All major life insurers had better financial health in '05

The nation's nine major life insurers had financial improvements in fiscal 2005 due mainly to appraisal gains on stockholdings.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2006

Diversity will be key to survival for 21st century businesses, Ghosn says

OSAKA -- Businesses that want to survive in the 21st century will have to embrace diversity in a practical way, with clear goals for hiring more women and using talented young people and older workers, Nissan Motor Co. chief Carlos Ghosn said Friday.
JAPAN
May 27, 2006

Huser sues 14 cities over screenings

Condominium developer Huser Ltd. sued 14 municipalities for 9.6 billion yen on Friday at the Tokyo District Court for allegedly failing to properly check the quake-proofing data of its condominium complexes before authorizing their safety.
JAPAN
May 26, 2006

Canon exits film cameras amid digital dominance

Following in the footsteps of camera giants Nikon Corp. and Konika Minolta Holdings Inc., Canon Inc. will stop developing new film-based camera products because of the shrinking analogue market and dramatically growing digital demand, the company's president said Thursday.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
May 26, 2006

Making a song and dance about human rights

Amnesty International began over four decades ago, when British lawyer Peter Benenson wrote to The Observer newspaper campaigning for worldwide protests about the rights of forgotten prisoners. Benenson had heard about the case of two Portuguese students sentenced to seven years imprisonment simply for...
JAPAN
May 25, 2006

Consulting firm chief quizzed in quake scandal

Police questioned the head of a Tokyo-based consulting company on a voluntary basis Wednesday over a fraud case involving a hotel in Nara Prefecture built with fake earthquake-safety data, investigation sources said.
JAPAN
May 24, 2006

Engineering officials held over bid-rigging

Seven senior officials from seven major engineering companies were arrested Tuesday over their alleged involvement in fixing bids for sewage and sludge plant projects financed by local governments, investigative sources said.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2006

One-time gains lift major banks but long-term strategies still needed

Buoyed by a wide-ranging business recovery and a massive one-time gain caused by reductions in loan-loss reserves, the nation's top banking groups have reported record-breaking profits for the 2005 business year ended in March.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2006

Banks OK for now but long-term strategy needed

Buoyed by a wide-ranging recovery and a massive one-time gain caused by reductions in loan-loss reserves, the nation's top banking groups have reported record-breaking profits for the 2005 business year ended in March.
JAPAN
May 20, 2006

Opus Dei revels in chance to explain itself

Inc., the film's distributor for Japan, is putting the film on 863 screens nationwide and hopes to make 10 billion yen at the box office, which translates into 8 million viewers. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," released in December 2002 in Japan, is currently the highest-grossing foreign...
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Cho warns domestic automakers about fallout from success in U.S.

Japanese automakers should be careful of possibly sparking trade friction with the United States due to their growing strength in the American market, the new chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Thursday.
BUSINESS
May 19, 2006

Publishers find silver lining in coloring books for the elderly

For many people, coloring conjures up fond memories of childhood -- books scattered across the table, engrossed in one's work, clutching crayons until one's hands ached.

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