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Anna Kitanaka
For Anna Kitanaka's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
BUSINESS / Markets
May 14, 2015
Biggest stock disconnect with JGB yields in 23 years reveals Kuroda's heavy hand
The weakest correlation between Japanese bond yields and stocks in 23 years is showing how dependent the nation's markets have become on central bank support.
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2015
Analyst examines double mystery: Why BOJ's stock rallies boost Japanese megabanks
Katsuhito Sasajima is looking into a double mystery. Why is the Bank of Japan's stock rising and why do the shares of the mega-banks usually follow?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 3, 2015
Japan bubble alert found in drug stock rally that won't quit
This year's Japanese stock rally has a surprise leader: pharmaceutical companies, which tend to lag behind the market when it gains.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 27, 2015
Megabank dividends lure funds from bonds
As Japan's sovereign bond yields languish near zero, the regular payouts to shareholders of the megabanks are starting to appeal to a wider group of investors.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 23, 2015
'Abenomics' divides Japan's stocks as small shares left behind
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to revive the nation's economy is leaving small companies behind.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2015
Improved 'competitiveness' key to wage hikes, labor chief says
Restoring industrial competitiveness is the key to fueling wage gains that the Abe government and the central bank are counting on to ensure inflation takes hold, according to labor minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 8, 2015
Record bearish stock bets reflect skepticism over Abenomics
Bearish bets on Japanese stocks have surged to a record level because foreign investors are increasingly skeptical that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will succeed in reviving the economy, according to financial services company Reorient Group Ltd.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2014
$617 billion 'fat finger' error raises concern over Tokyo trading controls
The unleashing of ¥67.78 trillion ($617 billion) of mistaken stock orders in Japan is reviving concern about the accountability of brokers overseeing trades in the world's second-biggest equity market.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 1, 2014
Investors still waiting for stock binge from GPIF
The world's largest retirement fund held back from plowing into Japanese equities last quarter, its investment results signaled, even as the market rebounded in anticipation of purchases.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2014
Man who named GPIF returns to fund, with new approach
The man who helped name the world's biggest pension pool is back as one of its money managers, and says the fund's new approach to buying stocks will rub off on other retirement investors.
BUSINESS
Jul 7, 2014
GPIF posts first quarterly loss since 2012 on sagging stock market
Japan's stock rout in the quarter through March spurred the first loss for the world's biggest pension fund in almost two years, just as it moves toward buying more equities.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 3, 2014
Firms woo female investors with goodies
When Chiho Higo started teaching stock trading at a Tokyo night school in 2008, there were often no female attendees. Now there are 50. One mother said she bought shares in a toymaker instead of toys for her child.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 7, 2014
Ex-pension fund overseer urges cut in Japan stocks
The government pension fund should cut domestic stocks to diversify risk, said Seki Obata, who was dropped from the organization's investment committee last month.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 22, 2014
GPIF shakes up investment panel with Abe picks
The government pension fund overhauled its investment committee, adding three members of a state panel that urged it to cut bonds, as the balance of power shifts at the world's biggest manager of retirement savings.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 18, 2014
Key adviser: GPIF should sell ¥25 trillion in JGBs
The world's largest retirement fund should seek to sell ¥25 trillion in Japanese government bonds as soon as possible, said the head of a panel that advised the government on overhauling pension investments.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 19, 2014
Merger of Jasdaq, Mothers, second section eyed
Japan Exchange Group Inc. will consider merging three smaller equity markets to simplify its exchange structure, a bourse official said.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 17, 2014
Massive GPIF should own $600 billion of stocks: panel
The world's biggest retirement fund should put half its $1.2 trillion of assets in stocks and increase its yearly return goal to 5 percent, according to the head of a panel advising lawmakers on overhauling public pensions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2013
Pension investment fund must ditch JGBs: Ito
The world's biggest retirement fund needs to cut bond holdings now because the Japanese government will follow an advisory panel's recommendation that the wealth manager seek higher returns, the panel's head said.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 25, 2013
Day traders creating, exploiting volatility
Sitting before a cluster of computer screens in an apartment with the drapes shut, it took Naoki Murakami seconds to make $3,500 betting $1 million that Tokyo Electric Power Co. shares would fall a fraction of a percent.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2010
Pair of Lehman Tokyo alumni chasing their dreams in movies
Adam Garrett went into the credit crisis an equity quant trader for Lehman Brothers Holdings in Tokyo. He came out Guy Orlebar, director, film financier and producer of "Future Fighters," a sci-fi action movie starring "Kill Bill's" Gordon Liu.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces