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Nao Sano
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2017
Scandals seen shredding Japan Inc.'s once revered image for quality
Kobe Steel Ltd. raises fresh concern about the integrity of Japanese manufacturers after disclosing it falsified data on aluminum used in products ranging from cars to bullet trains.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Oct 5, 2017
Carlos Ghosn's protege faces first crisis with 'shocking' Nissan Japan recall
Carlos Ghosn, one of the auto industry's most celebrated turnaround artists, saved Nissan Motor Co. by managing himself out of numerous tight spots. Now his hand-picked successor faces a big test of his own, just six-months into his tenure as Nissan's chief executive officer.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2017
FSA shakes up asset-management firms with cheap funds to get individuals to move cash into stocks
An outspoken regulator has unleashed an unusual tactic to shake up Japan's asset-management industry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 31, 2017
How a rice lover's robot revolutionized the modern sushi industry
Kisaku Suzuki, creator of the world's first sushi robot, once ran a company that made candy-wrapping machines. And he was angry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2017
Hedge fund crusade stymied as Japan Inc. clings to cross-shareholdings
Hedge fund manager Seth Fischer has a powerful ally as he campaigns for Japanese companies to sell their stakes in each others' businesses: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2017
Ex-Nomura salesman exiled in Chicago goes hostile at tiny Japan firms
From downtown Chicago, a former Nomura Holdings Inc. salesman is taking activist investing to Japan's smaller listed firms, betting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's corporate governance overhaul is trickling down to less-covered parts of the market.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2017
Nomura's India fund approaches ¥400 billion as Japan bets on Modi
The land of Abenomics is betting on "Modinomics."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2017
Hiroichi Yagi: An unusual manager defies peers in Japan's ¥97 trillion pension world
In the ¥97 trillion world of Japan Inc. employee pension funds, he's known as the unusual idealist who's long danced to his own tune.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 26, 2017
Why ex-Goldman trader shunned hedge funds for a Japan broker
As the biggest earthquake ever recorded in Japan rocked the Roppongi Hills skyscraper in central Tokyo, Makoto Yamada put on his helmet, dropped to his knees, and traded.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 25, 2017
Maverick Beji Sasaki picks a fight with Fujitsu to push takeovers, turnarounds of undervalued firm
Beji Sasaki, a maverick businessman who first challenged Tokyo's status quo four decades ago, says his bidding war with the $13 billion computer giant Fujitsu Ltd. is just the start of his plan to use takeovers to change Japan Inc.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2017
Oasis CEO ups pressure on Panasonic for better PanaHome deal
Oasis Management Co.'s Seth Fischer has increased his pressure on Panasonic Corp. to sweeten its offer for listed subsidiary PanaHome Corp., calling the transaction a test case of whether Japan's corporate governance overhaul is working.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2017
Hedge fund Renaissance picks winner with hot firm V Technology
V Technology Co., a small Japanese supplier to display makers, added a surprising new shareholder last June: Renaissance Technologies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2016
Boardroom ghosts suddenly under scrutiny at Japanese firms
For as far back as people can remember, they've been there in boardrooms across Japan, the lingering ghosts of past regimes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 5, 2016
In land of negative rates, Kyushu Railway dangles dividend
In Japan, where bonds can yield less than zero percent, a bullet train operator planning a ¥392 billion ($3.8 billion) share sale is promising investors dividend returns that would beat most of the nation's stocks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2016
From bit actor ‘bum’ to managing $2.7 billion Japanese fund
Takahiro Kusakari went from being a self-described bum getting by on bit-part acting roles in Tokyo to calling the shots at a $2.7 billion stock fund.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2016
The Tinder for Japan's aging CEOs posts a 1,170% stock gain
When Masao Takeuchi signed away the company he'd spent 25 years building from scratch, one of his biggest feelings was relief.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2016
Tokyo professor's medicine-making molecules bring new tool to pharma
When he realized he was not going to make it as a guitarist, Hiroaki Suga set out to find the origin of life, and ended up creating a new way to develop medicines.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2016
Cookpad's maverick founder stirs recipe for unrest
A spat is rocking one of Japan's most popular Internet companies after the founder moved to kick out the board, enraging staff and sending shares tumbling.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 11, 2016
A Tokyo stock picker watches his nation age
It's an early weekday morning in Tokyo and the Japanese pub is already filled with a boisterous clientele, mostly pensioners. Sitting among them is Kengo Kuzuhara, taking notes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 6, 2016
Japan's CEOs: underpaid and underwhelming
Atsushi Saito says Japanese corporate heads are underpaid and shun bold decisions for fear of missing out on cushy adviser roles after they retire.

Longform

Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free