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November 09, 2025
 

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Hideki Suzuki
"She has a good vision,” says Masahiro Kihara, CEO of Mizuho Financial Group, referring to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's pro-growth policies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 4, 2025
Mizuho's CEO says he sees policy tailwinds from Takaichi and BOJ
Masahiro Kihara said Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had "good vision," referring to her policy initiatives, while the central bank has "room for another hike or two.”
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama speaks at a news conference in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Oct 27, 2025
Japan’s first female finance chief is a veteran on banking policy
Satsuki Katayama joined the Finance Ministry in 1982 and reached a higher position in the influential Budget Bureau than any woman before her.
A former MUFG Bank deputy branch manager was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday for stealing cash and valuables from customers’ safe-deposit boxes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 6, 2025
Ex-MUFG banker given nine years in prison for safe-deposit box theft
Yukari Yamazaki had been indicted for stealing about ¥390 million worth of property including cash and gold bars.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is strengthening its focus on business catering to the rich, as a bullish Japanese stock market and recovering real estate prices have pushed up the number of such clients in recent years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2025
MUFG is hiring more bankers in Japan wealth management push
MUFG is targeting clients with at least ¥300 million in total assets. The bank estimates that about 300,000 of its account holders fit that description.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is considering increasing its stake in Jefferies Financial Group as the Japanese lender deepens ties with the U.S. investment bank.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 19, 2025
Sumitomo Mitsui mulls raising stake in Jefferies to 20%
The two firms are also in discussions to merge parts of their equities businesses in Japan, potentially through the establishment of a joint venture.
Mizuho Financial Group plans to deepen ties between its banking and securities units in Asia and Europe in order to boost revenues, according to Yutaka Nanjo, head of global investment banking at Mizuho Securities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 2, 2025
Mizuho plans more dealmaking to become top Asia investment bank
Japan’s third-largest financial group is seeking to replicate the headways it has made in the U.S., where it far outranks its Japanese peers.
Rakuten Bank CEO Tomotaka Torin is interviewed in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2025
Rakuten Bank to refrain from JGB buying as more rate hikes seen
"We’re not going for any aggressive buying of JGBs until we’ve seen at least another rate hike or two,” CEO Tomotaka Torin said in an interview.
A wave of corporate governance and capital policy reforms in Japan has led to an increase in buyouts by investment funds, management and founders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2025
Japanese liquor maker Yomeishu is said to consider going private
A wave of corporate governance and capital policy reforms in Japan has led to an increase in buyouts by investment funds, management and founders.
Hironori Kamezawa, chief executive officer of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, speaks during an interview at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2025
BOJ rate hike in September or October is 'desirable,' MUFG chief says
Such a hike is ideal in the face of strong inflation in the country.
Mizuho Financial Group now expects net income to reach a record ¥1.02 trillion ($6.9 billion) in the year ending March 31, up from ¥940 billion projected earlier, it said Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2025
Mizuho and Sumitomo see strong results as Japan banks beat estimates
Japan’s three biggest banks in May predicted another year of record profits, even as the nation’s export-driven economy was at risk from U.S. tariff threats.
Japanese companies are rushing to protect their employees and brace operations in the Middle East for the fallout from U.S. strikes on Iran.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025
Japan’s banks pull staff from Middle East after U.S. strikes Iran
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has started to pull staff out of locations including Dubai, and halted unnecessary travel in and out of the region.
The Japanese Bankers Association said Thursday that it has revised its sample agreement to explicitly prohibit the storage of cash in safe-deposit boxes.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2025
Japanese banks set to ban storage of cash in safe-deposit boxes
In recent months, incidents came to light in which workers at major lenders allegedly stole client valuables held in such boxes.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking will be one of the funding sources for a wealth management joint venture by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and SBI Holdings.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2025
Sumitomo Mitsui and SBI to launch wealth management joint venture
Policymakers in Japan are encouraging individual investors to put more of their money in riskier assets such as equities.
Mizuho Financial Group forecast on Thursday that its net income will likely climb 6.1% to ¥940 billion ($6.5 billion) in the year that started in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2025
Mizuho anticipates record earnings in fiscal 2025 despite tariff dent
Japan's third-largest lender indicated that uncertainty in global trade has led to a more conservative outlook as U.S. tariff measures make business planning less predictable.
Net income is likely to reach ¥2 trillion ($13.7 billion) for the 12 months ending March, up 7.5% from ¥1.86 trillion in the previous fiscal year, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2025
MUFG expects record profit and joins rivals in buying back shares
Net income is likely to reach ¥2 trillion for the 12 months ending March, up 7.5% from ¥1.86 trillion in the previous fiscal year.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s clients are becoming cautious about making deals and investments amid uncertainties over U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2025
Sumitomo Mitsui braces for tariff fallout with more buffers
Japan’s second-largest lender expects net income to climb about 10% to ¥1.3 trillion in the year that started in April.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking is in talks to provide corporate client data to Fujitsu to run through the IT company’s multimodal machine learning tools to make business forecasts.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 3, 2025
SMBC and Fujitsu to partner on AI-driven forecasting services
The move would be a rare instance of a Japanese bank allowing another company access to sensitive customer data.
Masamichi Koike, head of global markets business at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, says the Bank of Japan is likely to increase the policy rate to 1% this year as long as the U.S. economy doesn’t falter.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2025
Sumitomo Mitsui markets head sees BOJ rate at 30-year high
The Bank of Japan is likely to increase the policy rate to 1% this year from the current 0.5% as long as the U.S. economy doesn’t falter, said Masamichi Koike.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has walked away from the banking industry’s largest climate alliance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 20, 2025
MUFG leaves climate group as Japanese banks join Wall Street exits
MUFG follows Tokyo-based rivals Nomura Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in leaving the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a spokesperson said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
Japan’s SMFG joins Wall Street in exiting net zero banking group
Japan’s second-largest bank has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
The Toyota buyout is a major test for Japan’s reforms
Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor, speaks during a media preview at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 29. Minority investors are challenging the carmaker's bid to take affiliate Toyota Industries Corp. private.
New satellite images suggest 'mass graves' in Sudan's El-Fasher
A general view of a berm construction in Kinin Village near El-Fasher.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
High-speed rail is expensive and difficult, but seen as a key to growth
Achal Khare, former managing director at India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation, gives a presentation during the IHRA Forum 2025 in Tokyo on Oct. 23.
Takaichi calls for the updating of Japan's economic security law
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to a panel on promoting economic security in Japan on Friday.
These are the hottest lower-division rikishi to watch right now
Fukazaki (right) grapples with Enho at the IG Arena in Nagoya on July 13.
Across borders and screens, Tokyo film festival finds humanity in migration
“Mother Bhumi” takes place in a multiethnic rice-farming community where Chinese, Thai and Malay lineages intertwine.
Takaichi’s balancing act: Supporting Taiwan and stabilizing China ties
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi shakes hands with Lin Hsin-i, Taiwan’s presidential adviser, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Saturday in this image posted to Takaichi's official X account.
From 1973 to 2025: A Japanese American skater’s long ride to recognition
Judi Oyama at Winchester Skatepark in San Jose, California, in January 1979. The Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee and Guinness World Record holder still skates and hopes to inspire older women.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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