BUSINESS Bridgestone Corp. may have given about 150 million yen in bribes to government officials of countries in South East Asia and Central and South America, according to recently released results of the firm’s in-house inspection. [YOMIURI]

BUSINESS A company in the Aomori prefecture town of Takko, one of Japan’s top garlic producing regions, is testing the limits of good taste ahead of Valentine’s Day with an unusual product — garlic chocolate. [MAINICHI]

BUSINESS Japan’s national wealth as of the end of 2006 increased 2.9 percent from a year earlier to 2,716.6 trillion yen, up for the first time in nine years, due to higher land prices, the Cabinet Office said Friday. [KYODO]

BUSINESS In a bid to take the global lead in the production of NAND-type flash memory chips, widely used in cellphones and digital cameras, Toshiba Corp. will build a 700-billion-yen ($6.58 billion) plant in Iwate Prefecture, sources said. [ASAHI]

BUSINESS URL.TV Inc. has been slapped with back taxes as well as a ¥13.4 billion penalty for filing a false claim for a consumption tax refund for the year ended December 2006, tax authority sources said Sunday. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

STOCKS Tokyo stocks reversed earlier losses on Thursday, closing nearly 2 percent higher as upbeat earnings outlooks for Japanese automakers and a capital infusion for a major U.S. bond insurer lifted market sentiment. [KYODO]

BUSINESS Japanese industrial materials makers are increasingly shifting production to developing countries to evade their expensive obligations of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Japan. [ASAHI]

STOCKS Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index saw the end to a three-day rally and closed Monday after falling nearly 4 percent, tracing heavy equity falls across Asia amid concerns about the U.S. mortgage crisis.

BUSINESS Clouds are beginning to gather over this year’s labor-management pay-hike talks known as shunto, falling stock prices worldwide combine with worries about a slowdown in the global economy to hurt corporate earnings and make prospects for pay rises look less certain. [YOMIURI]

STOCKS Tokyo stocks staged a firm rally for the second straight trading session on Thursday, with the Nikkei index recovering the 13,000 line, as reports of a U.S. government-backed bailout package for bond insurers gave a boost to recently battered financial and real estate issues. [KYODO]

BUSINESS Electronics giant Sharp Corp. was warned that it was using a yakuza-linked construction company in the construction of a new LCD panel factory it is building in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. [MAINICHI]

BUSINESS A minor rebound Wednesday in stock markets will likely provide only temporary relief for export-oriented companies, which could spell big trouble for the overall economy in the long run. [ASAHI]

STOCKS Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda expressed concern over the impact a further plunge in global stocks could have on the Japanese economy during an interview with the BBC on Wednesday, a government official said. [KYODO]

STOCKS Tokyo stocks plunged more than 5.6 percent Tuesday with the Nikkei index closing well below 13,000 for the first time since mid-September 2005 on panic over a slowing global economy triggered by credit woes from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

BUSINESS A total of 522 NHK employees traded stocks over the past year, including two who did so on office time, according to an in-house investigation the broadcaster carried out in response to recent allegations of insider trading involving its employees. [YOMIURI]

STOCKS Key Japanese ministers said Tuesday the government will take no immediate action in the face of global stock downturns and the yen’s appreciation in the currency market, with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda reiterating that Japan’s economy is fundamentally firm. [KYODO]

BUSINESS Sanyo Electric Co. said Monday it will sell its troubled mobile phone operations to Kyocera Corp. [MAINICHI]

STOCKS Investors are shunning investment trust funds with mainly Japanese stock portfolios, while funds generally investing in overseas stocks are gaining popularity, according to a report by the Investment Trust Association. [YOMIURI]

BUSINESS NHK said Saturday that it will ask each of its 11,000 employees about their stock transactions — including whether they trade based on unpublished information obtained through their work — after two reporters and a director were accused Thursday of engaging in insider trading in 2007. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

BUSINESS The cute cuddly white cat from Sanrio Co., usually seen on toys and jewelry for girls and young women, will soon adorn shirts, bags, watches and other products targeting young men. [THE JAPAN TIMES]