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Yuko Takeo
For Yuko Takeo's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Feb 28, 2016
Japan Inc. slowly shedding LGBT taboos but bias laws still lag
Yusuke Kitamura hid his sexuality from colleagues for most of his career. It was only after joining one of Japan's oldest brokerages last year that he could tell them he was gay.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2016
Japanese investors in no mood for bargains amid banking rout
The nation's cheapest stocks are proving anything but bargains.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 21, 2016
Mizuho to sideline old boys' network in next CEO selection vote
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is doing away with the kind of opaque leadership selection process that's common in the nation, vowing to ensure its next chief executive is chosen openly and fairly.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 15, 2016
Japan's small-caps doing well while big exporters get a bruising
Amid the wreckage of Japan's stock market in 2016 lies a surprise: Smaller companies are posting their best relative performance on record.
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.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Dec 21, 2015
BOJ's ¥300 billion plan to buy nonexistent ETFs puzzles market
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda has a new plan. He's going to buy ¥300 billion ($2.5 billion) of something that doesn't exist.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 27, 2015
Stock market fallout from Murakami probe seen limited
Japan stock watchers say the fallout from an investigation of Yoshiaki Murakami for market manipulation will be limited.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 19, 2015
Move to improve Japanese corporate governance devolves into compliance game
One day, Japan's biggest overhaul of rules for companies in decades will make them more efficient. Right now it's making things worse.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2015
All aboard Tokyo's yellow Hato Bus as China tourists surge
London isn't the only city with an iconic bus.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 7, 2015
Death of 'jobs for life' fuels 4,955% surge at Tokyo firm
The breakdown of Japan's lifetime employment model has been good news at least for the operator of one of the country's largest jobs websites.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 25, 2015
Part-time traders join pros in mass exodus from Japan stocks
Whether part-time or professional, Japan's stock investors are heading for the exits.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2015
New business code seen spurring stock buybacks
Prime minister Shinzo Abe has engineered a way the nation's companies can dump ¥34.1 trillion ($273 billion) of stock, and share prices will keep rising.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jul 29, 2015
Japanese firms cling onto shareholding 'poison pills,' snubbing Abe's governance push
As Japan gives more say to investors, companies are clinging to a tool that has the opposite effect.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 8, 2015
The pond scum that may one day fuel planes
The future of Japan's biofuel industry may be pond scum. Or more specifically, green algae that's swirling around in tanks on a tropical Okinawan island.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2015
Shouting at Japan CEOs is still a losing strategy, Fidelity says
Foreign activists returning to Japan amid a push for better governance will get no further than they did the last time by shouting for change.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2015
Japan's budget king turns to robots to revive bubble-era theme park
Light shows and pirate rides helped Hideo Sawada pull a bankrupt theme park in Kyushu back to profitability.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 24, 2015
'Pink flower' stocks aim to change attitudes toward women
Japan's use of the stock market to change companies' attitudes toward women is showing signs it's working. As an investment strategy, it has been less of a success.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 4, 2015
Chinese desire for fancy toilet seats spurs 1,400% rally in Laox shares
Thousand-dollar rice cookers and toilet seats that know when you enter the room.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 22, 2015
Ramen dividends: Holders of some firms' shares fancy 'yutai' gifts
Many stock investors collect dividends. Hiroto Kiritani, however, collects melons. And ramen noodles, McDonald's hamburgers, the clothes on his back, anything, really, that Japanese companies send him, gratis, just for owning their stock.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 10, 2015
Robots and foreigners are the answer as Japan's population ages, says investor Sawakami
As Japan's population ages and slowly declines, bring in the robots and foreigners.

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