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July 06, 2025
 

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Nao Sano
The Government Pension Investment Fund suffered a loss in the January-March quarter as a global trade war due to higher U.S. tariffs hurt equities and the outlook for interest-rate cuts dragged down the dollar against the yen.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2025
GPIF logs $61 billion loss as weak dollar hits overseas assets
The pension fund incurred losses on all four of its asset classes in the January-March period, the first time this has occurred since July-September 2022.
Tokio Marine has made a string of big acquisitions in the U.S. in recent years to make up for limited growth prospects at home.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 24, 2025
Tokio Marine hunts for deals abroad and sees room for growth in U.S.
The insurer has the capacity for more deals overseas after generating record profits by selling shareholdings worth tens of billions of dollars.
Japanese pension funds are moving to appoint chief investment officers with expertise to improve risk management and help make more effective market deals.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2025
Japanese pension funds holding $400 billion hire their first CIOs
Until recently, senior administrators often with limited experience doing deals in financial markets were responsible for making investment decisions.
New buyers are entering the market for Japanese government bonds and amplifying volatility, said Dai-ichi Life CEO Tetsuya Kikuta in an interview.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 27, 2025
Dai-Ichi Life sees falling volatility in JGB market
New buyers are entering the market for Japanese government bonds and amplifying volatility, Chief Executive Officer Tetsuya Kikuta said in an interview.
The Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo. Paper losses on Japanese bonds held by the company expanded to about ¥1.386 trillion ($9.7 billion) in the year ended March, compared with ¥161.4 billion a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 26, 2025
Japan's biggest life insurers post $60 billion in unrealized bond losses
The paper losses on their domestic bond holdings in the last fiscal year underscore the risks they face as interest rates climb.
Nippon Life Insurance will stop the practice of temporarily sending employees to work in sales departments of other companies, such as banks, judging that the arrangements may distort fair competition.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 16, 2025
Nippon Life to stop sending staff to sales departments at banks
Critics have said the practice has led to misconduct, in addition to reducing competition.
Nippon Life Insurance is diversifying its investments to enhance yields, although it’s a tricky time to invest with U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war fueling global market volatility.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2025
Japan’s biggest insurer weighs riskier overseas CLO investments
Japan’s biggest life insurer is considering taking on a little more risk with its investments in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), as it looks for ways to eke out better returns abroad.
MUFG Bank, a unit of the nation’s biggest banking group, is among firms that recently scrapped a clerical job category that consisted almost exclusively of women, a sign that the financial sector is finally getting more serious about reducing gender inequalities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2025
Top Japanese firms scrap employment system that held women back
Abandoning the clerical job category may increase opportunities for women to advance to more senior positions.
MS&AD forecasts that net profit for its North American operations will reach ¥166 billion in the fiscal year ended in March, a 3.5fold increase from the previous fiscal year.
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2025
Insurer MS&AD plans to invest $5 billion to double U.S. profits
The Tokyo-based casualty insurer has the highest market share in Asia among global firms, but it’s No. 3 among Japanese peers in North America.
The Government Pension Investment Fund will have Kazuto Uchida, a former Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group economist, as its new head on April 1.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 25, 2025
Japan names former MUFG economist to lead huge pension fund
Bond market veteran Kazuto Uchida will take over from current President Masataka Miyazono on April 1 for a five-year term to manage one of the world’s largest pension funds.
"It is an expanding field. We need more people,” said Kaoru Onishi, head of the global product division at Nissay Asset Management.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 6, 2025
Nissay Asset ramps up hiring as alternative investment booms
Japanese asset managers are trying to boost returns at a time when policymakers are encouraging households to shift their savings to investments.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a spokesperson said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
Japan’s SMFG joins Wall Street in exiting net zero banking group
Japan’s second-largest bank has decided to withdraw from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance.
In recent years, Japanese life insurers have increasingly entered contracts in which assets underwritten by reinsurance companies are invested to obtain higher returns.
BUSINESS
Mar 3, 2025
Japan’s FSA said to examine life insurers’ reinsurance risks
The Financial Services Agency is asking life insurers about the scale of the practice and the type of contracts they have in place.
Tokio Marine Holdings and other large non-life insurers are facing pressure to sell cross-held shares to improve their governance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 17, 2025
Japan insurers sell $11 billion cross-held shares ahead of plans
The insurers are facing pressure to improve their governance after regulators fined them for coordinating adjustments in insurance fees in advance for companies.
The stock of Nomura Holdings climbed as much as 7.7% to ¥1,077 in Tokyo on Thursday morning, the highest level since October 2008.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2025
Nomura soars to 16-year high as profit jump cements recovery
The stock climbed as much as 7.7% to ¥1,077 in Tokyo on Thursday morning, the highest level since October 2008.
Japan has lagged far behind other advanced economies on lists of female representation in positions of authority, and ranks 118th among 146 nations in the World Economic Forum’s gender equity rankings.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 28, 2025
JPMorgan AM Japan appoints Komatsu as first female CEO
Japan has lagged far behind other advanced economies on lists of female representation in positions of authority.
Nippon Life Insurance will establish a new headquarters division in late March to manage its foreign businesses, and its overseas insurance and asset management departments will be absorbed into that organization, people familiar with the matter have said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2025
Nippon Life to revamp overseas business operations after acquisitions
Japan’s biggest life insurer will establish a new headquarters division in late March to manage its foreign businesses, and absorb related departments into that organization.
Fuji TV is losing more advertisers following allegations about inappropriate behavior by a celebrity host and questions about its handling of the case.
JAPAN
Jan 19, 2025
Fuji TV loses more advertisers amid inquiry into host’s behavior
Insurance firm Dai-ichi Life Insurance and telecommunications company NTT East have decided to suspend ads on the major broadcaster.
Dai-ichi Life Insurance sold about ¥500 billion of Japanese government notes, mainly 20- to 40-year bonds, in the fiscal first half that ended in September.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 6, 2025
Dai-ichi Life takes ¥140 billion loss selling off long bonds
The insurer sold about ¥500 billion of Japanese government notes, mainly 20- to 40-year bonds, in the fiscal first half ended September.
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 4, 2025
Meiji Yasuda girds to be more daring in global M&A hunt
The firm’s ambitions reflect bold moves also being made by many of its local rivals, all hunting for growth outside of the country.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
U.S. military apologizes over Okinawa sexual assault case
Col. Neil Owens (right), chief of staff for the 3rd Marine Division, bows in apology at the Okinawa Prefectural Government office in Naha on Thursday.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

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