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April 25, 2024
 

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Gareth Allan
For Gareth Allan's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2019
Mizuho's surprise $6.1 billion charge exemplifies risks for Japan banks seeking returns abroad
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. announced another round of losses Wednesday on its foreign-bond holdings as part of a surprise writedown that will severely curtail full-year profit, as Japanese banks' quest to secure yield by investing overseas continues to create turbulence.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2018
Mizuho Financial Group looks to attract creative thinkers in new hiring strategy
One of Japan's biggest banks is throwing away the cookie cutter when it comes to hiring fresh graduates.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 27, 2018
Mizuho's trust banking sector sets sights on $11 trillion held by Japan's well-heeled elderly
Mizuho Financial Group Inc.'s trust banking arm has its sights set on exactly where the wealth is in Japan: the $11 trillion held by the nation's elderly.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 15, 2018
Regional banks fight for inheritance to ensure their survival
Where there's a will, there's a way. That's what banks across Japan are counting on as they try to keep hold of the ¥50 trillion in wealth left by their customers each year when they die.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2018
Banks rush to turn Japan cashless before legal change attracts tech giants
Japanese banks, long content to foster the nation's love for cash, are now diving into digital payments thanks to a regulatory change that threatens to usher in new rivals.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 27, 2018
Japan's financial regulation shake-up seen as a game changer for banks
The Financial Services Agency is laying the groundwork for a regulatory overhaul that could lead to a shake-up in Japan's ¥1 quadrillion banking industry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2018
Japan's loyalty cards to provide early sneak peek at company profits
When shopping in Japan, a phrase you'll hear all the time is "Do you have a point card?" And the most common is the T-card, which can be used at hundreds of thousands of shops nationwide, from car accessory dealers to convenience stores.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2017
Alipay pursues Chinese tourists in hard-to-crack Japanese market
Alipay, a third-party mobile and online payment platform by Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd., is chasing Chinese tourists to Japan, where it's signing up a growing number of retailers and eyeing the long-term potential of the nation's $45 billion digital payments market.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2017
Tokyo pushes back on 'bizarre' death tax that deters expats
Considering a work stint in Japan? You'd better make it short, and you'd better stay alive.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 27, 2017
MUFG brokerage manager claims paternity harassment led to unpaid leave
Glen Wood, an equity sales manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., filed a harassment claim against the brokerage and asked a Tokyo court to order the firm to withdraw its decision to put him on unpaid leave.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2017
Small Japanese credit union outperforms mega-banks by lending to geisha and local startups
Kikuno Kashima, a Tokyo geisha, couldn't get a bank loan to open a club for her patrons and select guests until a tiny credit union agreed to lend her the money. Now she's part of a lending model that's doling out cash to startup companies and yielding surprisingly high profits in the process.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 31, 2017
Japan Post Bank poised to plow ¥100 billion into stocks
Japan Post Bank Co. plans to spend an initial ¥100 billion directly buying stocks — when it finds the right opportunities.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2017
In bid to go global, MUFG woos overseas talent
Andrew Mitola had never heard of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. until he met recruiters for the bank during his junior year of college.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2017
MUFG arms itself with ¥1 trillion war chest for acquisitions
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s trust banking arm is seeking acquisitions abroad and has ¥1 trillion to spend as it seeks to become one of the 15 biggest asset managers worldwide.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 12, 2017
Nation's regional banks facing choice of mergers or extinction
Hiroshi Iwama and Mitsunori Watanabe used to joke about merging their banks in central Japan. When the Bank of Japan introduced negative interest rates last year, things got serious.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2017
Japan's mega-banks vie for top role as backers of clean energy
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. are in a neck-and-neck race to be the biggest lead arrangers of lending to the renewable energy industry in the first half of the year, highlighting the more active financing role for Japanese banks in clean energy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2017
MUFG's drastic staff restructure set to cut 10,000 positions in 10 years
Japan's biggest bank is set to undergo the most dramatic reduction in head count since it was formed after the nation's banking crisis shook the industry almost 20 years ago.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2016
Tokyo startup looks to tap satellite images of nighttime neon to forecast GDP
Nowcast Inc., a Japanese financial research and technology startup, has developed a product that estimates economic growth in real time by using satellite images of nighttime lights.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 11, 2016
Robo-adviser startup eyes Japanese millennials' spare change
Like their peers overseas, Japan's millennials aren't known for squirreling away their money. Kazuhisa Shibayama is trying to change that, one coin at a time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2016
Fintech venture takes on hedge funds with earnings estimates derived from big data
A Japanese startup is entering the equity research business in a bid to challenge the dominance of securities firms by using computers to crunch vast troves of information and predict companies' earnings.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
Tokyo issues strong warning on yen intervention as currency dips further
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks during a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on the sidelines of IMF and G20 meetings in Washington last week.
Japan’s cannabis market growing rapidly amid regulatory shift
The legality of products that contain cannabinoids, a group of substances derived from the cannabis plant, has been somewhat murky in Japan.
North Korean animators may be involved in Japan anime production, report says
North Korean animators may be involved in the production of some Japanese and U.S. animated shows, according to a report by a website providing analysis on North Korea.
BOJ to hold rates with focus on hawkish signals to buoy yen
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda hasn’t ruled out responding to exchange rates with a policy move if the impact on prices is seen to be "non-negligible.”
New workers name Shohei Ohtani as 'dream boss' for two years running
Shohei Ohtani has been overwhelmingly voted as the “dream boss” for people who started working in April, according to a survey.
A craft beer crawl through Tokyo’s top bars, brewpubs and dives
If all you drink is Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin, you're depriving yourself of some of the best craft beer Tokyo has to offer — and there sure is a lot of it out there.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
Tsukiji 2030s: A stadium, culinary center and transportation hub
A computer-generated image shows redevelopment plans for the former site of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.
Hearing the impact of climate change in Okinawa, one bird call at a time
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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