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Yuko Takeo
For Yuko Takeo's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2018
Convenience-store squeeze shows deflationary dilemma facing Bank of Japan
Takanori Sakai works the graveyard shift four nights a week at the FamilyMart store he owns in Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, because he can't afford the higher pay employees demand these days.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2018
'Herbivore' investor Haruhiro Nakano takes on lions of Japanese finance
In a tiny, windowless meeting room high above the streets of Tokyo, Haruhiro Nakano starts to cry. The rail-thin, 54-year-old fund manager, who looks like a faded former J-pop star, has just shared his investing pitch, which sounds so deceptively simple you may not appreciate just how radical it is: Japanese workers, Nakano says, should invest for retirement using the capital markets rather than letting more than $8.6 trillion fester in bank accounts.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2018
Fukushima's premium sake wins worldwide acclaim, as brewers eye global markets in prefecture's push for recovery
In an area of Japan still decimated by nuclear disaster, sake is offering cause for hope.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2017
Big data, bullet trains and defense deepen India-Japan strategic ties
Many of the cargo containers passing through India's busiest port in Mumbai have a small piece of Japan Inc. attached: Devices from NEC Corp. that can be tracked as the containers rumble through the interior of Asia's third-largest economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 30, 2017
Sharing-economy boom slow to take off in Japan at just 0.005% of GDP
Feel like sharing? Japan might not be your place.
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 / Markets
Jul 20, 2017
Stock exchange chief Kiyota turns surprise critic of BOJ's 'distorting' ETF purchases
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's policies have a surprise new critic: the head of Japan's stock exchange.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 14, 2017
After initial foray, Japan's pension fund plans to buy even more socially responsible assets
The world's largest pension fund aims to boost and broaden its socially responsible assets after buying them for the first time this year.
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 / 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 / Markets
Apr 6, 2017
Japan's pension fund, the world's biggest, faces yen risk as Trump rally fades
The world's biggest pension may find that when it comes to returns on its $1.3 trillion in assets, Donald Trump giveth and taketh away.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 28, 2017
Decoupling is hard to do for Japanese stocks still tied to the yen
Japan's stock market is again showing itself handcuffed to U.S. growth prospects and its own currency.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 2, 2017
Japan's business gift culture says it with orchids
In Japanese business celebrations, there's one thing you'll almost always see: orchids.
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
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.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Aug 1, 2016
Pension fund's huge ¥5.3 trillion loss tied to management's passive investing
Friday was a big day for the world's largest pension fund, which posted its worst annual loss since the financial crisis and disclosed individual equity holdings for the first time. The two may be connected.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 21, 2016
Traders chasing Pokemon now battle over Nintendo's value
After investors pushed up Nintendo Co. shares with a fervor only matched by gamers chasing Pikachu, traders are now locking horns over how much the high-flying stock is worth.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 26, 2016
The whispered numbers that tip off Japan traders have suddenly become taboo
For years, it's been one of the Tokyo stock market's biggest open secrets: By the time companies reveal their earnings to the public, the most plugged-in traders have known the numbers for weeks.
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 / Companies
Apr 1, 2016
Ex-missionary hedge fund boss has faith sun will shine on Fukushima and its investors
The region hit by the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl has a new backer.

Longform

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