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April 24, 2024
 

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Kevin Buckland
For Kevin Buckland's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
A monitor showing the Nikkei index on Thursday
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 21, 2024
Nikkei scales record high; yen rebounds as Fed out-doves BOJ
The Nikkei marked a record closing high of 40,815.66, up more than 2% on the day, after also setting a fresh all-time intraday peak of 40,823.32.
The Nikkei stock average rose above 36,570 Monday morning, a level not seen since February 1990.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 22, 2024
Japan's Nikkei scales 34-year peak on Wall Street record
The S&P 500 posted its first record-high close in two years, as AI fever drove big gains for chip shares and other heavyweight tech stocks.
The Nikkei stock average temporarily rose above the 36,000 mark in Tokyo trading Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 15, 2024
Nikkei hits 34-year peak above 36,000 as shippers rally
The index finished the day nearly 1% higher at 35,901.73, after touching the highest since February 1990 at 36,008.23.
A monitor in Tokyo shows the Nikkei stock average briefly rising by over 700 points on Friday morning.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 12, 2024
Nikkei posts 34-year high, best week in 22 months
The rise was driven both by receding bets on an early exit from the Bank of Japan's stimulus and sheer momentum as foreign investors returned.
Japanese stock markets have already rallied to around their highest since 1990, with consumer and financial stocks outperforming domestic indexes.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Nov 21, 2023
Japan's inflation comeback prompts investors to tear up playbooks
Investors are tearing up their playbooks to focus on expected higher interest rates, more generous dividends and a revival in consumer spending.
Nippon Life Insurance will focus purchases on 30-year JGBs, with the current yield of above 1.8% "good in terms of absolute level," a representative for the insurer said at a recent briefing.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 27, 2023
Japan's life insurers to boost JGB buying but wary of policy shift
Nippon Life, Dai-Ichi Life and Meiji Yasuda Life were among those who said they aimed to buy the longest-dated JGBs amid the highest yields in a decade.
The Bank of Japan intervened in the Japanese government bond (JGB) market on Friday for the fifth time this month after the 10-year yield rose to a fresh decade high.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 20, 2023
Bank of Japan intervenes as 10-year JGB yield hits fresh decade peak
The benchmark JGB yield climbed to 0.845% right at the start of the trading day, its highest since July 2013, after revisiting peaks the previous day.
The yen's slide to the cusp of ¥150 per dollar has put investors on high alert for the risk of intervention.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 29, 2023
Yen intervention a hard sell even as 'red line' beckons
To make even a ripple in the $5 trillion currency market, the BOJ would need to draw down massive amounts of dollar reserves.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Aug 16, 2023
As yen enters intervention range, Japan's policymakers hold fire
With Japan now reaping some benefits from a weaker currency, intervention may not come as quickly as it did last year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 4, 2022
Japan's five-year bond yield scales zero on tighter policy expectation
Stubbornly hot inflation and more hawkishness from other major central banks has spurred bets that the Bank of Japan will need to tighten policy soon.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 24, 2019
Toyota banking on Olympic halo to keep hydrogen dream alive
Buses may not be the most glamorous mode of transport, but at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games they will represent Toyota Motor Corp.'s best bet for wider acceptance of hydrogen power — technology so far eclipsed by electric vehicles.
BUSINESS
Sep 24, 2019
Why Asia's biggest economies are backing hydrogen fuel cell cars
Japan, China and South Korea have set ambitious targets to put millions of hydrogen-powered vehicles on their roads by the end of the next decade at a cost of billions of dollars.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2019
SoftBank's giant debt burden looks worse than it actually is, analysts say
As SoftBank Group Corp. continues its transformation into a giant investment fund, some analysts are increasingly watching a metric more familiar to lenders as they judge its creditworthiness. And by that gauge, they say, its massive debt pile looks manageable.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 8, 2019
In Japan, China and U.S., scientists work feverishly for a breakthrough on powerful batteries for EVs
To deliver an electric vehicle that's cheaper, safer and capable of traveling over 800 km on a single charge, the auto industry needs a breakthrough in battery technology.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 27, 2018
Does Toyota dream of robotic housekeepers?
Toyota Motor Corp. has sold enough cars to put one outside every Japanese home. Now it wants to put robots inside those homes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Dec 6, 2018
Takeda downgrade looms after shareholders approve Shire deal
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. shareholders' approval of the $62 billion (about ¥7 trillion) acquisition of Shire PLC is good news for its bosses' ambitions to build a global drug giant — but bad news for its credit ratings.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2018
Plowing millions into Uber, Toyota prepares for a future with fewer privately owned cars
Toyota Motor Corp., Asia's biggest carmaker, is preparing for a potential future where people don't buy cars.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 16, 2018
Toyota's only female executive says her mission has always been to 'speak her mind'
Chika Kako is a rarity in Toyota Motor Corp.'s upper echelons.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 14, 2018
Custom cars dazzle at Tokyo's ride-pimping extravaganza
It's Japan's biggest custom-car show. The Tokyo Auto Salon has hundreds of exhibitors — from automotive titans like Toyota and Mercedes to tire makers, tool makers and toy makers — who all want to show you how to tune up, dress up, or otherwise pimp your ride.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 21, 2017
Toyota to U.S. workers: Made-in-Japan Camrys are more profitable
Toyota Motor Corp. issued an unsettling warning to Kentucky workers building its top-selling Camry sedan: Cut costs now or face an uncertain future.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
Japan’s cannabis market growing rapidly amid regulatory shift
The legality of products that contain cannabinoids, a group of substances derived from the cannabis plant, has been somewhat murky in Japan.
An AI star seeks to bring self-driving cars to Japan by 2030
Japanese startup Turing plans to unveil a self-driving car with at least 30 minutes’ driving range next year and develop a fully autonomous car by 2030.
Tokyo issues strong warning on yen intervention as currency dips further
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks during a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on the sidelines of IMF and G20 meetings in Washington last week.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
A craft beer crawl through Tokyo’s top bars, brewpubs and dives
If all you drink is Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin, you're depriving yourself of some of the best craft beer Tokyo has to offer — and there sure is a lot of it out there.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
Tsukiji 2030s: A stadium, culinary center and transportation hub
A computer-generated image shows redevelopment plans for the former site of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.
Hearing the impact of climate change in Okinawa, one bird call at a time
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Leading Japan’s sustainability from Tokyo
Leading Japan’s sustainability from Tokyo

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