Livedoor probed over suspected securities law violations
January 16, 2006Prosecutors raided the head office of Internet firm Livedoor Co. and its president's home Monday on suspicion that one of its subsidiaries was involved in illegal corporate practices in connection with a takeover of a publisher in 2004. Value Click Japan Inc., now called Livedoor Marketing Co. and 75 percent owned by Livedoor, said in October that year it would turn the publisher, Money Life, into a wholly-owned subsidiary through stock swaps. The prosecutors suspect the stock swaps were carried out inappropriately.
Tablets of taste-modifying 'miracle fruit' go on sale
January 16, 2006Tablets made from miracle fruit, which makes sour things taste sweet, went on sale Sunday online, the developer of the tablet technology said. Mitsuharu Shimamura, a 31-year-old horticulturist based in Chita, Aichi Prefecture, said that after a joint study with a Taiwan agricultural firm, he established the world's first technology to make tablets out of the tropical fruit, native to West Africa, which contains a sweet-inducing protein called miraculin.
Nov. industrial output revised slightly upward to 1.5% rise
January 16, 2006Japan's industrial output rose a seasonally adjusted 1.5 percent in November from the previous month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Monday, revising a preliminary 1.4 percent gain slightly upward with fresh data on steel vessels and boiler parts. The index of production at mines and factories registered 103.6 against the base of 100 in 2000, hitting the highest figure based on the year 2000 standards, which retrospectively apply to data from January 1998, according to METI.
Kirin Brewery names Managing Director Kato president
January 16, 2006Kirin Brewery Co.'s Managing Director Kazuyasu Kato will succeed Koichiro Aramaki as president once the appointment is approved at a board meeting to follow a shareholders meeting in late March, company officials said Monday. Aramaki, 66, is ceding the helm to the younger executive now that his diversification drive into pharmaceuticals and other areas of activity as well as effort to bolster the core beer and other alcoholic beverage business has born fruit, according to the officials.