Search - 2000

 
 
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2001

Tokyo department store sales slide

Sales at department stores in Tokyo came to 178.02 billion yen in October, down 1.5 percent for the first year-on-year drop in five months, the Japan Department Stores Association said Thursday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2001

Keidanren, Nikkeiren choose Okuda to lead merged lobbies

The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren) and the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (Nikkeiren) announced Monday that Nikkeiren Chairman Hiroshi Okuda will head the new business organization that will arise from the merger of the two groups in spring.
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2001

DoCoMo's interim group net profit dives

Suffering from huge appraisal losses on an overseas investment, cellular operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Wednesday its group net profit in the first half of fiscal 2001 plunged to 103.8 billion yen, down 52.2 percent from a year earlier.
BUSINESS
Nov 8, 2001

DoCoMo's interim group net profit dives

Suffering from huge appraisal losses on an overseas investment, cellular operator NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Wednesday its group net profit in the first half of fiscal 2001 plunged to 103.8 billion yen, down 52.2 percent from a year earlier.
JAPAN / JOB JITTERS
Nov 6, 2001

Growing pool of temps faces full-time work, part-time pay

When her part-time contract was up for renewal in September 2000, Michiko's boss made clear the degree of negotiating power she had.
JAPAN
Nov 6, 2001

Nuclear institutes probed over waste disposal

The Board of Audit is investigating two nuclear research institutes over waste-disposal failures at their facilities, sources familiar with the case said Monday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 4, 2001

NGOs poised to invigorate Korean politics

SEOUL -- Nongovernmental organizations and local political autonomy have both contributed greatly to the advancement of democracy in South Korea. Both have been instrumental in checking centralized political power, bringing political decision-making closer to the people and increasing the political awareness...
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / VINELAND
Nov 4, 2001

The quiet return of Riesling

Wine and hemlines are both susceptible to the whims of fashion. In recent years, the Riesling grape suffered from a dowdy reputation. During the big red wine boom of the '90s, it was shunned as a pale wallflower.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2001

Takebe hits back at criticism from Washington over WTO

Farm minister Tsutomu Takebe rebuked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on Friday for criticizing Japan's "narrow minded" attitude toward the launch of a new round of trade liberalization negotiations under the World Trade Organization.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2001

Reform of public entities wins little ministry support

Government ministries and agencies are showing little enthusiasm for abolishing or reducing the amount of subsidies to public corporations under their jurisdiction, according to their individual reform plans released Friday.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2001

Takebe hits back at criticism from Washington over WTO

Farm minister Tsutomu Takebe rebuked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick on Friday for criticizing Japan's "narrow minded" attitude toward the launch of a new round of trade liberalization negotiations under the World Trade Organization.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2001

Reform of public entities wins little ministry support

Government ministries and agencies are showing little enthusiasm for abolishing or reducing the amount of subsidies to public corporations under their jurisdiction, according to their individual reform plans released Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2001

NPA sees rise in crimestied to dating Web sites

The number of crimes linked with Internet dating sites has more than tripled in the first half of this year compared with all of last year, according to a National Police Agency report released Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 2, 2001

U.S. courts move forward on POW claims

A ruling by a California judge late last month is a major defeat for U.S. State Department and Japanese government officials who argued that former American POW slave laborers cannot sue Japanese firms for compensation because of the 1951 Peace Treaty, and a major victory for the ex-POWs and their growing...
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2001

Barring Afghans from Japan reeks of hypocrisy: refugee support groups

Japan has fueled protests from refugee support groups by sharply reducing the number of Afghans allowed into the country since the fall of 2000, according to government officials and aid workers.
JAPAN
Oct 27, 2001

Kin of Fujimori's alleged victims urges justice

A woman whose husband and son were killed by Peru's military under former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori said Friday that Tokyo should help bring to justice the disgraced president, who is now living in Japan.
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2001

DaimlerChrysler to take advantage of present Asian alliances

MAKUHARI, Chiba Pref. -- After establishing a strong foothold in the European and North American markets, DaimlerChrysler AG is ready to increase its presence in Asia by taking advantage of its alliance with Japanese and South Korean partners, according to executives of the German-American auto giant....
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 26, 2001

Swallows claim fifth Japan Series

The Yakult Swallows flew off with their fifth championship on Thursday.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2001

Shaky bridges across the language gap

POESIE YAPONESIA: A Bilingual Anthology, edited by Taylor Mignon and Hillel Wright. Printed Matter Press, 2000, pp. 200, $20 (paper) For some reason, I had expected "Poesie Yaponesia" to be a collection of poems by longtime, English-speaking residents of Japan, each given in two versions, Japanese...
BUSINESS
Oct 19, 2001

Mazda set to log group profit

Mazda Motor Corp. reversed its earlier projection of losses Thursday, saying it likely turned a group profit for the April-September first half of this year due to restructuring efforts.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2001

Bankruptcy rush simmering: Teikoku Databank expert

Katsuyuki Kumagai has witnessed an abundance of corporate bankruptcies during his 17-year tenure at a credit research firm.
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2001

Havel lauds Nippon Foundation

Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel has honored Yohei Sasakawa, president of the Nippon Foundation, for the foundation's involvement over the past five years in Forum 2000, foundation officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2001

AIDS forum urges bold, massive efforts

Experts from global institutions, governments and nongovernmental organizations at a recent international symposium in Tokyo called for a worldwide political and social commitment, supported by sufficient financial aid, to combat AIDS, calling it one of the biggest threats to mankind in the new century....
JAPAN
Oct 8, 2001

Children's center provides haven for teenagers

Teenage boys with long dyed hair and guitar cases saunter into the lounge, passing a group of high school students playing mah-jongg. By 5 p.m., teenagers have taken over this "jidokan," or children's center, in Suginami Ward, Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2001

Consumer finance industry in danger, S&P warns

Standard & Poor's Corp. said Monday that the record-high number of bankruptcies and intensifying competition are threatening the profitability of Japan's consumer finance industry.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2001

Bonuses log first rise in three years

The average summer bonus paid out to employees at the nation's top 276 companies rose 2.86 percent in 2000 from the previous year to 783,113 yen, according to a recent survey compiled by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
JAPAN
Sep 19, 2001

Public housing strategy at the crossroads

National housing policy is set for change with the reformist Koizumi Cabinet having launched a political battle to abolish or privatize all unprofitable semigovernmental corporations.
BUSINESS
Sep 18, 2001

NTT likely to take 550 billion yen loss over Verio

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. may book a latent loss of up to 550 billion yen this business year due to the depreciated value of Verio Inc., its U.S. Internet wholesale service subsidiary, NTT sources said Monday.

Longform

Japan's growing ranks of centenarians are redefining what it means to live in a super-aging society.
What comes after 100?