Tag - houses

 
 

HOUSES

Japan Times
BUSINESS / INSIDER REPORT
Oct 10, 2018
Japan's supertraders — a brand unto themselves
This is the first part of a new series of reports written by industry specialists. The first 12 articles are about Japanese general trading companies, or sōgō shōsha.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2018
Japan's trading houses on the prowl as record earnings boost investment appetite
Domestic trading houses are scouting for assets as they enjoy their best profit outlook in six years, driven by higher prices for commodities from metals and coking coal to oil and natural gas.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 21, 2017
Rural areas woo city slickers to vacant properties in Japanese countryside
As working-age Japanese depart the countryside in droves, leaving behind graying populations, rural authorities are trying to counter the trend by turning idle real estate into homes for city dwellers seeking a quieter lifestyle.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 13, 2017
Reconstructing the Japanese house
After very successful runs in Rome and London, "The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945," an exhibition of maquettes, photographs, plans and drawings, is now in the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
Japan Times
JAPAN / KANSAI PERSPECTIVE
Sep 25, 2016
Kansai uses subsidies to fill empty homes, but persuading aging population to pull up stakes remains a challenge
Some central Japan prefectures and even cities like Kyoto and Nara are increasingly adopting measures to reduce the number of vacant homes, including via subsidies for owners.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2016
Mitsubishi says three years needed for shift away from loss-producing commodities
Japan's biggest-trading house has had its fill of commodities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2016
Energy rout fells Japan's venerated 'Big Three' trading giants
The energy price collapse is doing in Japan what the Great Depression and two world wars couldn't: put an end to a century of dominance by its three most prestigious companies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 7, 2016
Japan's trading houses trying to beat U.S. to Cuba
Japan's largest trading houses are positioning themselves in Cuba before any easing of U.S. sanctions, seeking opportunities in infrastructure, resources and automobiles as Havana emerges from near-isolation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 22, 2016
Japan's quake-affected homeowners face tense wait for safety inspections
A bright red paper with the word kiken (dangerous) printed in bold black letters is posted at the entrance of a house in the quake-hit town of Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, where 5,400 structures — half of the town's buildings — have been damaged.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2016
Commodity rout cuts ¥970 billion from Japan's major trading houses
The nation's biggest trading companies, stalwarts of the economy, expect to book combined writedowns of at least ¥970 billion ($8.6 billion) as ill-timed investments in commodities ranging from shale gas to copper mines erode profitability.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 24, 2016
Trading giant Mitsubishi projects first net loss since founding
Mitsubishi Corp., the nation's largest trading house, expects a net loss of ¥150 billion in fiscal 2015 — its first loss since it was established in 1954 and a setback from the ¥400.5 billion in net income logged the previous year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2016
Japan's trading houses face $13 billion hit on commodities misfire
A handful of companies that have dominated almost every kind of raw material business in Japan for decades may take as much as $13 billion in charges during the current fiscal year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2015
Kuroda effect seen as homebuyers choose fixed-rate mortgages
Homebuyers are starting to bet that the unprecedented monetary easing of Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda will cause interest rates to rise, even as inflation stagnates well below the official 2 percent inflation target.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / HOME TRUTHS
Oct 3, 2015
Don't be green about the charm of tatami
When we were thinking of buying a condominium, we visited several old danchi — apartments built by Japan's former public housing corporation — because they were cheap and, we thought, easy to renovate. One of the units we inspected had bedroom floors made of tatami mats, and we wondered if we could replace them with real wood floors. The realtor told us that we probably couldn't. The tatami was mandated by the condo's management association because it acted as soundproofing. In fact, he didn't think we'd be able to install real wood floors anywhere in the apartment, because other than tatami only a certain type of sound-proofed laminate flooring was allowed in the building.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Aug 31, 2015
Tokai thrill-seekers find haunted houses a scream
Fairground-style haunted houses where actors leap out at visitors are increasingly popular in the Tokai region. Many such facilities were set up for a limited period this summer.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2015
English-immersion share house offers cultural experience
On any given weekday some 15 to 20 residents of a four-story apartment building in the Tokyo suburb of Fuchu converge in the Scandinavian-style cafe-lounge at around 9 p.m. to converse in English.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
May 27, 2015
Law to allow razing of abandoned dwellings seen not going far enough
Tuesday's enforcement of a law allowing municipal governments to order the demolition of hazardous vacant houses has sparked concern among local groups and activists who say the legislation is not enough to address the growing problem.
EDITORIALS
May 25, 2015
The vacant housing problem
Rural flight and the rapid graying of the population is causing the number of vacant houses in Japan to soar.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 27, 2015
Writedowns put Japan's trading houses in tough spot
The country's top five trading houses have announced more than ¥570 billion in asset writedowns, or about half the net income the firms expect to report for last year. And that's probably not the end of it.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 6, 2015
Japan's traders call 2015 pivotal year as oil, yen aid growth
Japan's biggest trading houses are calling 2015 a pivotal year for the world's third-largest economy as cheap oil, easy money and a weaker yen promise to boost growth.

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