Search - sales

 
 
BUSINESS
Nov 23, 2005

Major insurers profit thanks to fewer disasters

The nation's six major nonlife insurers reported higher first-half net profits from a year ago thanks to a decline in natural disasters, according to parent-only earnings reports released Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 22, 2005

MFG sees sharp rise in net profit

Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the country's second-largest banking group by assets, said Monday its group net profit for the first half of fiscal 2005 through September rose 44.7 percent from a year earlier, as the economic recovery boosted the financial health of its corporate borrowers.
LIFE / Language
Nov 22, 2005

TV shows confront decline of Japanese language

Beginning this fall, four of the major commercial television networks began broadcasting variety programs aimed at rehabilitating Japanese television viewers' inability to correctly utilize their native language. Why the sudden flood of kokugo (national language) programs?
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2005

Jinbo-cho sellers share book info database

Jinbo-cho, Japan's mecca for book lovers, is undergoing a quiet transformation that will change the way people browse for books.
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design / COUNTER CULTURE
Nov 18, 2005

Trying very hard to be trendy

Building a brand spanking new store from the foundations up is usually the preserve of European luxury brands, but down in Harajuku, a huge new concrete monolith called Tokyo Hipsters Club is an exception to the rule.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2005

Murakami fund may still hold 6.5% stake in TBS: sources

An investment fund led by Yoshiaki Murakami notified Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. earlier this month that it still holds a 6.5 percent stake in the TV broadcaster, sources said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Nov 15, 2005

Braking illicit drug use

Police statistics show that the number of people taken into police custody on narcotics-related charges is on the decrease. Still, optimism about drug use in Japan is not warranted, as recent arrests or indictments have involved a former lawmaker and members of the Self-Defense Forces.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 15, 2005

What's your approach to starting a cross-cultural romance?

Krystle Hara Exchange student, 20 I don't have a line. But I've got, "Do you like anime?" a few times. Something that tends to work for me is when a guy says "I speak English," because it makes choosing which language you are going to speak in less awkward.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2005

Seibu Railway provided 400 million yen to ultranationalist through land deals

Seibu Railway Co. provided 400 million yen to a former high-ranking member of an ultranationalist group in the six years to 2003 via a string of transactions involving land in Kanagawa Prefecture, sources said Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Nov 11, 2005

World Cup tickets used to lure fans

In a bid to lure fans to the upcoming World Club Championship, the Japan Football Association is offering punters who attend the Dec. 11-18 tournament the chance to win tickets for next year's World Cup finals in Germany.
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2005

NTT's sales, profits fall on stiffer competition

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. said Wednesday its group net profit in the April-September period fell 4.0 percent from a year earlier to 330.73 billion, yen hit by the continuing slide in fixed-line voice communications.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 9, 2005

Valentine's future remains undecided

Based on job offers, Bobby Valentine has just as good a chance to be with the Chiba Lotte Marines next season as he does with the Los Angeles Dodgers or any other club his name has been linked to in recent weeks.
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2005

Tsutaya operator triples net profit to 3.28 billion yen

Culture Convenience Club Co. said its first-half net profit more than tripled to 3.28 billion, yen thanks to strong revenue growth from rental DVD movies.
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2005

Poverty fight using wristband sales finds skeptics

The "whiteband" movement in Japan to eradicate poverty in developing countries, using celebrities in a tieup with a public relations company, has had some unexpected results, with misunderstandings and allegations about how the money raised is being used.
EDITORIALS
Nov 6, 2005

Fishing for 'interesting individuals'

Tired of the same old liberal causes? Here's one you might not have heard of: "Fish," according to a spokeswoman for the Fish Empathy Project, "are interesting individuals who deserve our respect and compassion." Not since the British poet Rupert Brooke wrote about "each secret fishy hope or fear" way...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / PERSONALITY PROFILE
Nov 5, 2005

Beverly Nakamura

"Although Japan gives the impression of being a rich country, there is still need out there. Everything cannot be covered. The International Ladies Benevolent Society tries to fill the cracks that get overlooked. ILBS still means a great deal to a lot of people and institutions. I am proud to be part...
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2005

Wal-Mart exec named Seiyu CEO

Struggling supermarket operator Seiyu Ltd. on Wednesday named Ed Kolodzieski, chief operating officer of Wal-Mart International, as its next CEO, underlining greater control of the company by the world's largest retailer.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / NAME OF THE GAME
Nov 2, 2005

Once-lovable prince goes medieval

Like any other entertainment medium, it isn't hard to point out certain qualities that suggest whether a game was developed in Japan or abroad. Japanese games tend to be very character driven, boast a more artistic visual style and are often a part of a long-standing series. ("Final Fantasy XII" rings...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 1, 2005

How will you save money after the consumption-tax hike?

Isabell Handler Student, 29 I go shopping in sales, but don't go shopping very much and eat the lunch specials. I don't spend a lot of money, but I try to buy high quality goods, like leather shoes, not like the plastic ones that you can buy in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Nov 1, 2005

MHI to sell two-cycle gas engines

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is ready to start marketing new two-cycle, multipurpose gasoline engines, it said Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 30, 2005

Gun control loses yet again

LONDON -- Last Sunday in Brazil, a country with the second-highest rate of gun deaths on the planet, almost two-thirds of Brazilians voted against a total ban on the sale of firearms. Explain that.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2005

Tokyo CPI edges down again

The key gauge of consumer prices in Tokyo fell 0.3 percent in October from a year earlier, marking a 73rd consecutive monthly decline, the government said Friday.
BUSINESS
Oct 28, 2005

Sony's quarterly net profit slumps amid flat sales, struggling TV unit

Sony Corp. said Thursday that its operating profit rose 52 percent to 65.9 billion yen in the three months through September, boosted by a large windfall generated by a change in its pension scheme.

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