National | FOCUS Aug 7, 2020
Travel during the Bon holiday? Japan can’t get a straight answer
With national and local officials giving conflicting signals over the risk of making trips, the holiday threatens to boost the spread of the pandemic.
Grace Huang
For Grace Huang's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Business / Economy Jul 27, 2020
Pandemic forces digital change on Japanese companies
The coronavirus pandemic may be a drag on economies across the globe, but in Japan it’s bringing long-overdue changes in work habits and tools. About 90 percent of refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co.’s nonmanufacturing employees have worked from home. Department store chain Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. ...
Business / Corporate Jun 12, 2020
Shiseido looks to China's online model for post-pandemic growth
Measures to control the virus have melted away social norms like putting on makeup in the morning or spritzing on perfume before a night out.
Business May 21, 2020
No pause in coronavirus trial for Avigan, Japan's lead researcher says
The lead researcher in the coronavirus trial for flu drug Avigan says it’s too early to make a call on whether it works and shrugged off negative reports about the interim results, saying patients are still being enrolled. The final results of the trial for ...
Business / Tech Jan 17, 2020
Toshiba touts PC algorithm that's faster than a supercomputer
It's a tantalizing prospect for traders whose success often hinges on microseconds: a desktop PC algorithm that crunches market data faster than today's most advanced supercomputers. Toshiba Corp. says it has the technology to make such rapid-fire calculations a reality — not quite quantum computing, ...
Business Nov 1, 2019
For Akiyoshi Koji, Asahi's bold dealmaker, beer remains at heart of global growth strategy
The biggest dealmaker in Japan this year has one thing on his mind: beer, and then more beer — more than $20 billion worth of it in the past four years, to be precise. Never mind that people around the globe are drinking less, with ...
Business / Corporate Sep 4, 2019
Billionaire Uniqlo founder Tadashi Yanai wants a woman to succeed him
Tadashi Yanai, Fast Retailing Co.’s 70-year-old billionaire founder, said he would prefer to be succeeded by a woman, adding it would be better for Asia’s largest retailer. "The job is more suitable for a woman," Yanai, the chief executive officer behind clothing giant Uniqlo, said ...
Entertainment News Feb 27, 2018
SMAP star's Instagram foray reflects weakening grip of Japan TV ads
Shingo Katori commanded the adoration of millions of fans across Asia as a member of SMAP, one of Japan's most successful boy bands. After decades as a ubiquitous TV presence, he finally decided in November it was time to get an Instagram account. A small ...
Business / Corporate Oct 19, 2017
WPP alliance dead with or without Bain deal, Asatsu-DK CEO says
Asatsu-DK Inc.'s chief executive officer said he is determined to sever an alliance with top stockholder WPP PLC, seven months after the world's largest advertising agency called on share owners to vote him out. CEO and President Shinichi Ueno said in an interview that the ...
Business / Corporate Sep 25, 2017
Asahi sets ambitious goals for expansion in Europe and the U.S., as domestic demand wanes
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd. will ramp up sales of its top-selling Super Dry beer in Europe with local production aided by faster integration of last year's $11 billion purchase of brands from Anheuser-Busch InBev NV. Japan's largest brewer will produce Super Dry in Padua, Italy, ...