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Tomoko Yamazaki
For Tomoko Yamazaki's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2016
Japan's biggest bank urges BOJ to weigh side effects of negative-rate policy
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s main lending unit has urged the Bank of Japan to consider the side effects of negative interest rates at next week's meeting, saying the policy will continue to squeeze lending income.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 30, 2014
To boost economy, recruiting stay-at-home dads
Manabu Tsukagoshi, a Tokyo-based consultant, took a month of paternity leave after his second child was born. That prompted his wife, a homemaker, to get a full-time job in the financial industry.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 27, 2013
'Abenomics' turns Japanese hedge funds into world's best performers
Japanese hedge funds are heading for record returns this year as investors bet that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic policies will succeed in reviving the world's third-largest economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2013
Tokio Marine targets ASEAN for expansion abroad
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., the nation's second-largest nonlife insurer, is seeking to expand in Southeast Asia as Japan's shrinking population erodes its domestic market.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 28, 2012
Home purchases rise ahead of tax increase
Record low mortgage rates and the prospect of a consumption tax hike that will add the price of a new Toyota Corolla to the cost of an average home spurred Sumiko Morigaki into action.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2010
JAL may spark major revamp in pension finance
Japan Airlines Corp.'s $25.5 billion bankruptcy may be the impetus for such companies as Hitachi Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's biggest private employers, to shore up their deficit-ridden pension plans.
BUSINESS
Sep 30, 2009
New fund bets on 'anime' character
Music Securities Inc., a music production and fund management firm, will start a fund investing in products from the animated series "Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro" featuring a one-eyed demon boy who lives in a graveyard.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2009
TCI learned the hard way via J-Power play
It was a crisp day in November 2005 when hedge fund manager John Ho entered Electric Power Development Co.'s headquarters in Tokyo, betting Japan's corporate attitudes were ripe for change.
BUSINESS
Apr 9, 2009
Japan's hedge funds sparkle with 'hidden jewels'
Hideki Wakabayashi sat through 500 meetings with company executives before settling on the stocks that produced a 13 percent advance last year for the long-short equity hedge fund he runs at Tokyo-based Finnowave Investments.
BUSINESS
Mar 17, 2009
Firms face call for outside directors
The government may require publicly traded companies to hire outside directors to enhance corporate governance standards as the Nikkei average trades near two-decade lows.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 1, 2008
Hedge funds troll for Japan's wealthiest
The city of Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, has been home to the nation's industrial titans since samurai ruled the land more than a century ago. Now it is a feeding ground for hedge funds tapping the wealth of new multimillionaires like Kunihisa Sagami.
BUSINESS
Nov 26, 2008
Hedge funds to draw interest as industry weathers storm: Credit Suisse
Japan's hedge-fund industry, dominated by so-called long-short funds that bet on rising and falling stock prices, will attract capital on signs they are starting to outperform their peers, Credit Suisse Group AG said.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2008
Japan's insurers look abroad as profits fall
Slowing premium growth may force Japan's insurance companies to seek more takeovers abroad to counter declining profits in the world's most rapidly aging country.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 26, 2008
Unhappy shareholders start gunning for underperforming managers
A year ago, executives at publicly traded companies defeated all 85 proposals put forward at general shareholders' meetings by investors seeking higher returns. Shareholders are going after the managers themselves this year.
BUSINESS
May 10, 2008
Japan still good place to invest: Nikko Asset
Despite the possibility that the government may block a hedge fund's bid to increase its stake in a power utility, Japan remains an attractive place to invest because of low valuations, Nikko Asset Management Co.'s president said recently.
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2008
Private equity deals still flow amid credit crisis
Japan's private equity market will see a "steady flow" of transactions even as rising funding costs cripple deals elsewhere, said the cofounder of the nation's largest buyout fund.
BUSINESS
Sep 29, 2007
Stricter law forces companies to tighten funds pitch
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. are among Japanese financial companies being forced to tighten marketing of mutual funds as a law to protect individual investors comes into effect next week.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2007
Hedge fund numbers, assets mushroom as stocks languish
Hiromichi Tsuyukubo ran the best-performing fund in Japan at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., an arm of the nation's biggest lender. Then, after six years, he decided to join a hedge fund.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world