For Masumi Suga's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Imagine the weight of 24 elephants bearing down on a tiny spot the size of a postage stamp. That's how much pressure Nippon Steel Corp.'s strongest metal can withstand. The firm is pushing the envelope in order to stay relevant as the auto industry, its ...
The worst product quality scandal in Kobe Steel Ltd.'s 112-year history has reignited speculation it could be broken up for sale or merged with a rival. The top Japanese makers of the key metal used in everything from cars to girders have all chosen to ...
Behind the scandal engulfing Kobe Steel Ltd. over the falsification of data for some of the materials it supplied is a harsh reality for Japanese steel companies: the need to provide higher and higher quality metals to compete. Kobe Steel rocked Japan's industrial economy with ...
Revelations renew concerns about the integrity of Japanese manufacturers, and follow scandals involving rupturing Takata air bags and unauthorized inspections at Nissan.
Stone tablets were one of the earliest writing tools used by man before paper. One entrepreneur now plans to take things full circle by making paper out of stone. Nobuyoshi Yamasaki's venture TBM Co. makes paper from limestone, a rock it proclaims is "almost inexhaustible." ...
Convincing teenagers in Japan that working for a giant 116-year-old manufacturer is a sexy career choice seems like a tough sell. It's even more difficult if the target audience can't figure out the company's name. That's the challenge for Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. ...
The nation's biggest printing company is funding a startup that makes paper out of rock, in a bid to diversify into new materials and as environmental concerns push companies to seek more sustainable products. Toppan Printing Co., the nation's largest by sales, will form an ...
A difficult year just keeps getting tougher for Japan's steelmakers, raising the possibility that the world's second-biggest producer could join the ranks of nations that have raised trade barriers to cheaper imports. Forced to contend with an unprecedented glut of metal on export markets, and ...
As deep as 1,600 meters under water and 1,500 km from Tokyo, work has begun on the new hunting ground for metals in Japan, a country so devoid of natural resources that most of what it needs has to be imported. As the nation depleted ...
Japan's biggest steel maker is top of the pile no more, as a resurgent yen hands a competitive advantage to overseas rivals amid an unprecedented global glut. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. has been overtaken as the world's most valuable producer by Europe's ArcelorMittal ...
