Toyota Motor Corp. is the leading Japanese company listed in a global ranking released Thursday by Forbes magazine.
Toyota moved up to 10th from last year's 12th in Forbes' "Global 2000" ranking, which sorts firms by sales, profits, assets and market value. U.S. financial services giant Citigroup remained at the top.
There were six Japanese businesses in the top 100.
Industry analysts said Toyota moved up partly because the yen's appreciation has pushed up its dollar-denominated sales and market value.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. was the second-highest listed Japanese company, in 28th place; followed by Honda Motor Co., in 41st; Nissan Motor Co., in 42nd; Tokyo Electric Power Co., in 62nd; and Sony Corp., in 77th.
Japan had 331 companies in the ranking of 2,000 corporations, the second-largest number behind 776 in the United States. Britain came third with 132.
The top five companies remained the same. Citigroup was followed by General Electric Co., American International Group Inc., ExxonMobil Corp. and Bank of America Corp.
Royal Dutch/Shell Group of the Netherlands and Britain was first among non-U.S. firms, placing sixth on the list.
Corolla regains title
The Toyota Corolla regained the title of best-selling car for the half-year through June with sales of 108,549 units, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Friday.
The Corolla last topped the half-year list in 2001 before slipping to second place in 2002. This time around, the Honda Fit subcompact came in second with sales of 107,401.
Sales of the Fit, the best-selling car through all of 2002, slipped 8.2 percent from a year earlier.
Toyota's Wish minivan, which went on the market in January, came in third with sales of 84,228 units.
In June alone, the Corolla retained the top spot for the second consecutive month, with 16,903 units.