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April 24, 2024
 

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Aya Wagatsuma
For Aya Wagatsuma's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Activist investor Oasis Management says shares in Kao have the potential to rise by more than 70% from recent levels.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 4, 2024
Kao shares jump as activist investor Oasis calls for improved performance
Kao has "significantly underperformed” its competitors in sales growth, margins, return on equity and stock performance, Oasis said in a statement.
An electronic stock board in Tokyo on Thursday. Signs that deflation has ended are driving investors to bet ever more on Japan’s economic growth.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 23, 2024
Japan’s stock boom gets broader support than just exporters
Signs that deflation has ended are driving investors to bet ever more on Japan’s economic growth.
Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024
Warren Buffett endorses Japan trading firms in letter, boosting shares
Buffett’s letter to stakeholders said that the five trading companies have reduced the number of their outstanding shares at "attractive” prices.
Pedestrians look at an electronic board displaying the Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on a street in the Japanese capital on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 24, 2024
Record-high Nikkei’s rise just getting started on foreign demand
Investors and strategists are also watching for a broadening of equities gains that may take the wider Topix index to an all-time high this year.
Teamshares, an American startup, is bringing its employee ownership succession model to Japan in its first overseas foray to offer employees path to buy small businesses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2024
MUFJ-backed startup gives employees route to take over small firms
The Teamshares model could help 2.45 million small business owners who will be 70 or over by 2025, almost half of whom have yet to identify a successor.
A Uniqlo store in Shanghai, China. The clothing chain's operator Fast Retailing announced last year that it expected to open 80 stores in China and roughly 60 new stores each year in Southeast Asia, India and the Australian region.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2024
Fast Retailing’s peer-beating 48% jump may extend on global push
Uniqlo owner has become one of the top performers among 10 other clothing companies worldwide that have a market value exceeding $10 billion.
A screen displays the Nikkei 225 Stock Average figure on the trading floor at the Nomura Securities headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 13, 2024
Tokyo stocks find their mojo as bubble-era highs draw nearer
The roaring start to 2024 looks to be on far more solid ground than last time stocks reached these levels as investors bet the country is escaping deflation.
Small-cap shares listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are undervalued because many don’t have enough information in English, according to a top-performing Japanese small-cap fund.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2023
Top Japan fund bets on English disclosure to lift small-cap shares
An improvement in transparency may help revive foreign demand that drove Japan’s stock market to multi-decade highs earlier this year.
Fundamentals bode well for financial firms amid speculation the Bank of Japan will move toward ending negative rates, with banks and insurers among the best performers on the Topix, climbing more than 30% since the start of April.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 11, 2023
Buffett watchers tout Japan financial firms as next value play
The famed U.S. investor is known for taking long-term stakes in companies with low valuations, which many Japanese insurers and banks have.
The Nasdaq market site in New York. Dozens of Japanese startups are preparing to list on the Nasdaq in the next few years.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 2, 2023
Nasdaq helps Japan startups escape risk-averse home market
An unprecedented number of entrepreneurs turn away from an aging, risk-averse home market.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 11, 2023
Japanese companies drive stock split boom, outperforming the market
More than 80 firms have announced stock splits so far in 2023 — almost double the pace of a year earlier and the most for the period in five years.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 6, 2023
Japan IPOs top Asia for gains as global investment continues
The nation's top performance comes as it boasts a stock market that has soared to levels unseen in more than three decades.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
May 19, 2023
Japan stocks extend rally as Nikkei 225 hovers at 1990 high
The Nikkei stock index advanced as much as 1.2% to 30,924.57, putting the blue-chip gauge at the highest intraday level since August 1990.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 20, 2023
Goldman Japan fund joins growing bullish chorus on chip stocks
Chip stocks have gained this year as interest in ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence services has brightened sentiment for high-end semiconductor producers
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 16, 2023
The Japanese venture capital star bagging 35% returns mining science papers for gold
Tomotaka Goji, a bureaucrat-turned-technology guru, has his sights set on transforming Japan's startup culture.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 2, 2022
World Cup stocks rise in Tokyo as Japan upsets Spain to advance
Shares of CyberAgent, which is broadcasting all the games for free in Japan on its Abema streaming service, jumped as much as 7.3%.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 16, 2022
Tokyo Stock Exchange's active ETF push faces hurdles as investors flee
The development is the latest effort by the exchange operator to enhance the market's global status by introducing investor-friendly reforms.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 13, 2022
Goldman’s womenomics stocks languish in inflation-scared Japan
The gauge of companies most exposed to rising female employment and consumption has slumped just over 24% from its high last September.
'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.
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.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
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.
Hybrid work takes root in Japan, survey finds
A dealer works in the trading room at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo on March 28. An overwhelming majority of respondents who currently work remotely in some capacity say they wish to continue to do so.
Shohei Ohtani signs deal with sports technology company Rapsodo
Shohei Ohtani has been appointed as the new technology ambassador for Rapsodo, the company announced Monday.
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.
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.

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

Leading Japan’s sustainability from Tokyo
Leading Japan’s sustainability from Tokyo

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