search

 
 
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Man admits pulling scam to get PCs

A former employee of a Toshiba Corp. affiliate has been arrested on suspicion of swindling two clients out of 230 personal computers worth some 50 million yen, police officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Horie never led to believe accounting was illicit: defense

Former Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie's lawyers conceded Wednesday the Internet firm may have been guilty of some accounting fraud but argued that Horie was not guilty on the grounds that he believed the firm's accounting practices were legal, sources said.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

TBS probed on Abe shot in show

The government is investigating a TV program by Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. on the wartime Japanese germ warfare unit because it includes footage in which a photo of Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe appears in the background, in a storeroom, officials said Wednesday.
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jul 27, 2006

U.S. experts urge Japan to embrace transition to postindustrial economy

See related story: Is Japan about to ride an M&A wave, or flounder in just a ripple?
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2006

Bun maker unfazed by Fukuda exit

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda's exit from the race to succeed Junichiro Koizumi as Liberal Democratic Party president may have surprised the political arena, but it hasn't upended plans by a Tokyo souvenir maker to turn a profit on the upcoming election.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

'Harry Potter' translator's spell fails on tax office

Tax authorities believe Yuko Matsuoka, the Japanese translator of the global best-seller "Harry Potter" series, failed to declare 3.5 billion yen in income in the three years to 2004, sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

Nippon Life gets reprimand from FSA on policy problem

The Financial Services Agency said Wednesday it has reprimanded Nippon Life Insurance Co. for improper cancellation of its insurance policies and has given it a business-improvement order.
BUSINESS / U.S. BUSINESS SCHOOL SYMPOSIUM
Jul 27, 2006

Is Japan about to ride an M&A wave, or flounder in just a ripple?

See related story: U.S. experts urge Japan to embrace transition to postindustrial economy
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

Amazon Japan to launch online shopping mall

Major online book retailer Amazon Japan K.K. is approaching retailers in preparation for opening an online shopping mall, company officials said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Koizumi unveils Africa medical research award

The government has formally announced an award named after scientist Hideyo Noguchi to honor medical researchers and personnel working for Africa, with the first presentation scheduled for 2008.
COMMENTARY
Jul 27, 2006

Pols undermining Britain's civil service

LONDON -- The British civil service has prided itself on being politically neutral in providing unbiased advice to ministers. It has also largely avoided being corrupted by political cronyism. Sadly these traditions are being undermined by British politicians.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / NEW ART SEEN
Jul 27, 2006

Finally hitting the local

It occurred to me recently that in the more than five years I've been covering contemporary art for The Japan Times, I've never once written about the gallery I visit most frequently -- The Konica Minolta Gallery in Shinjuku.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

State, civil servant must pay for forced tweezing

The Tokyo District Court ordered the state and a health ministry employee Wednesday to pay a combined 550,000 yen in damages to a woman who was forced to pluck the whiskers from a coworker's face.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 27, 2006

The design of light itself

Light can have a strong effect on people -- about 5 percent of the world's population is reckoned to suffer from a form of depression called seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which has been linked to sunlight deprivation.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

Exports, imports hit record high

Japan's exports and imports both hit record highs in the first half of 2006, while its customs-cleared trade surplus with the United States reached its highest level in 20 years, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Jul 27, 2006

Harm in delayed action

The recent revelation that 21 people have died of carbon-monoxide poisoning caused by malfunctioning gas water heaters points to a lack of awareness and slow action on the part of the parties involved -- the manufacturer and its parent company, Paloma Industries Ltd. and Paloma Co., the Ministry of Economy,...
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

U.S. beef ban on its way to being lifted Thursday; first batch already on ice

A Liberal Democratic Party policy panel gave the go-ahead Wednesday to lift the import ban on U.S. beef, with official government approval expected the following day.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

Hokuetsu materials costs take 33% bite out of profit

Hokuetsu Paper Mills Ltd., the target of a takeover bid by Japan's largest papermaker, Oji Paper Co., said Wednesday its group net profit fell to 746 million yen in the April-June quarter, down 33 percent from the same period a year ago.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / THE SECOND ROOM
Jul 27, 2006

Psychedelic radar 07.27

TPE Open Air Summer Festival: July 28-30
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

No-permit cadaver dissections probed

A 47-year-old former assistant at Jikei University School of Medicine in Tokyo is suspected of allowing vocational school students to dissect cadavers without a permit, the Metropolitan Police Department said Tuesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 27, 2006

The revenge of the Red Demon

Playwright, actor and director Hideki Noda has been the undisputed leader of the Japanese contemporary theater world for 30 years. In that time he has written, directed and often acted in more than 60 plays in Japan -- all of them hits or superhits among his mushrooming fanbase. In fact, Noda has been...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Obituary: Koichi Yaguchi

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Koichi Yaguchi died of throat cancer Tuesday at a hospital in Tokyo, his family said. He was 86.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

Matsushita profit up 7% on flat TVs

Profit at electronics giant Matsushita, maker of the Panasonic brand, rose 7 percent in the April-June quarter on higher sales of digital audiovisual products and aggressive cost-cutting, the company said Wednesday.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Online trading was hobby of Nikkei ad man

A Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. employee fired Tuesday after his arrest on suspicion of insider trading has told investigators that stock trading was his hobby and that he placed Internet orders from home and work -- sometimes at a rate of 100 or more per day -- sources said Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 27, 2006

Honda quarterly profit up 30%

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday its profit jumped 29.6 percent in the April-June quarter as the nation's No. 3 automaker expanded overseas production to keep up with booming demand.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2006

Ethanol latest bid to boost Okinawa

OSAKA -- In May, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and trade minister Toshihiro Nikai to discuss Okinawa's future.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell