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August 21, 2025
 

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Hideki Suzuki
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.
A 7-Eleven convenience store, operated by Seven & I Holdings, in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2025
Seven & I buyout talks stall over management control
The founding Ito family and Itochu have yet to reach consensus on the composition of the board of the post-buyout entity, sources said.
The scramble to take Fuji Soft private is rooted in the value of the software company’s trove of human resources and real estate.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2025
KKR wins control of $4.4 billion Fuji Soft after Bain clash
KKR aims to acquire the remaining shares in the software company through a squeeze-out process.
The consortium proposing to take Seven & I Holdings private has tapped Citigroup and Bank of America for financing, adding to a growing group of players in the potentially record-breaking management buyout bid, people familiar with the matter said.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2025
Seven & I consortium to tap Bank of America and Citi for financing
The two U.S. banks’ role in the bid would be to refinance the debt of Seven & I’s U.S. unit.
MUFG virtually reached its full-year profit goal with a quarter to spare, earning a record ¥1.749 trillion in the first nine months.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025
MUFG profit soars in bumper earnings season for Japan banks
Japanese banks are benefiting from rising interest rates following more than a decade of ultra-easy monetary policy.
Japanese banks are enjoying bumper earnings as they begin to benefit from rising interest rates following more than a decade of ultraeasy monetary policy.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2025
Sumitomo Mitsui profit beats estimates as rate hikes bolster earnings
Net income at Japan’s second-largest bank rose 54% from a year earlier to ¥410.8 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, calculations show.
KKR is discussing investing several hundred billion yen for an equity stake in the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2025
KKR considers joining Seven & I management buyout after Apollo
The U.S. firm is discussing investing several hundred billion yen for an equity stake in the operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores.
JICA to designate four Japanese cities as 'hometowns' for African nations
The Japanese flag (left) with the flag of the African Union
Osaka fire kills two firefighters and leaves four injured
Firefighters work at the scene of a fire in the Dotonbori district in the city of Osaka on Monday.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
Two Japanese nationals shot dead in Manila
Commuters cross the street through traffic in Manila.
A factory town in crisis shows Japan’s fading manufacturing era
Nissan workers walk outside its Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Nissan plans to shut the plant by the end of fiscal 2027.
Tokyo crowned No.1 'workation' spot
Workations were a burgeoning trend in the corporate world for years before the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged it.
Candidates preparing to make final pitches for Sawamura Award
Hawks pitcher Livan Moinelo has a 1.13 ERA in 19 starts this season.
Winning warship bid gives Japan confidence boost as Tokyo eyes more exports
Australia’s decision to select Japan's upgraded Mogami-class warship, seen in this computer-generated image, has been “well received across Japanese industry," a Defense Ministry official said.
In Paris, chefs Chizuko Kimura and Kei Kobayashi make their mark
Chef Kei Kobayashi is France's only Japanese chef with three Michelin stars.
In preserving Japanese hospitality, ‘details are everything’
Beniya Mukayu, a traditional "ryokan" inn located in Ishikawa Prefecture, considers itself at "the heart of onsen towns, local residents, farmers, fishermen, sake brewers and artisans" — all of which need new, sustainable methods of serving visitors to survive into the future.

Podcast

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

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers
By Tomoko Otake

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