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Economic losses in Japan stemming from workers' mental or physical disorders, linked to lower labor productivity, represent about 1% of the country's nominal gross domestic product for 2024.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2025

Annual economic losses from workers' health issues reach ¥7.6 trillion

The losses, linked to lower labor productivity, represent about 1% of the country's nominal gross domestic product for 2024.
Shareholders enter a venue of Honda's annual general meeting in Tokyo on Thursday. Companies are seeking to build shareholder support as activists inundate them with an unprecedented number of proposals.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025

Japanese companies offer gifts to boost their ranks of loyal retail investors

A survey by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank showed 11% of firms gave out gifts at shareholder meetings in 2024, up from 4% in 2021.
Taiyo Holdings Chief Executive Officer Eiji Sato
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025

Japan activist clout shown in shareholder rejection of Taiyo CEO

Voting out a company’s CEO candidate, something that doesn’t happen often in Japan, is another sign of how activist investors are pushing to change company policies.
Japanese companies are rushing to protect their employees and brace operations in the Middle East for the fallout from U.S. strikes on Iran.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025

Japan’s banks pull staff from Middle East after U.S. strikes Iran

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has started to pull staff out of locations including Dubai, and halted unnecessary travel in and out of the region.
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.
A large banner against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on the ground in St. Mark's Square, ahead of the expected wedding of Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, in Venice, Italy, on Monday
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2025

Jeff Bezos's gala wedding in Venice draws criticism from locals and activists

Some Venetians see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city long overrun with tourism and depopulating.
A teller sorts U.S. banknotes inside the cashier's booth at a foreign exchange bureau in downtown Nairobi in 2024.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 24, 2025

Under shadow of Trump warning, Africa pioneers non-dollar payment systems

The move by Africa to create payments systems that do not rely on the greenback mirrors a push by China to develop financial systems independent of Western institutions.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator (left), meets with Nippon Steel Chairman and CEO Eiji Hashimoto.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2025

Japan needs a big, beautiful trade deal with the United States

A creative solution along the lines of the U.S. Steel "golden share" has been suggested.
The building housing the headquarters of Daiwa Securities Group in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 25, 2025

Daiwa plans $690 million real estate fund as Japan market booms

Daiwa will target Japanese rental housing and hotels, assets that tend to be better insulated from inflation compared with other sectors, at a time when consumer prices are rising.
A worker moves a shipping container at Felixstowe port in Felixstowe, U.K.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 25, 2025

Pressure for Trump trade deals ramps up with two weeks to go

As of July 9, exporting nations without a bilateral accord in place will face Trump’s so-called "Liberation Day” tariffs that are much higher than the current baseline 10% level.
In addition to prepaid transportation integrated circuit (IC) cards, such as Suica and Pasmo, a growing number of railway operators are introducing contactless credit card payments.
BUSINESS
Jun 29, 2025

Railway firms diversify ticket gate access methods

A growing number of railway operators are introducing contactless credit card payments.
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani arrives for a news conference at Astoria Park in New York on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 26, 2025

Wealthy fear ‘hot commie summer’ after Democrat outsider wins mayoral primary

Voters across racially and economically diverse neighborhoods embraced Zohran Mamdani, shocking the Democratic establishment.
Pat Gelsinger (left), former Intel CEO and general partner at Playground Global, and Peter Barrett, co-founder and general partner of Playground, in Tokyo on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025

Former Intel CEO Gelsinger has some advice for Japan's Rapidus

He encourages the chipmaker to distinguish itself in some way from TSMC.
Major department stores are doing their best to cater to foreign customers, but it’s unclear if it will lead to more sales.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025

Department stores' tax-free sales drop as tourists' shopping patterns change

Greater foreign tourist diversity has led to a change in shopping priorities, the executive of the Japan Department Stores Association said.
"We have access to cutting-edge wafers, and our ability to provide cutting-edge process technology will become overwhelmingly faster than Chinese makers,” said Tokyo Electron CEO Toshiki Kawai.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025

Tokyo Electron shrugs off fears of Chinese rivals catching up

Technology at the company is advancing faster than its Chinese rivals’ due in part to close collaboration with contract chipmakers.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to members of the media after a Senate Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 28, 2025

Tariff deals could be wrapped up by Sept. 1, Bessent says as talks pick up

The U.S. Treasury chief did not mention any changes to a July 9 deadline for countries to reach deals with the United States or see tariffs spike higher.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney take part in an arrival ceremony during the Group of Seven leaders' summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, on June 16.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2025

Trump turns on ‘nice’ Mark Carney with Canadian tech tax ultimatum

The tax became law while Justin Trudeau was still in power and had prompted warnings of U.S. retaliation but Carney went ahead anyway.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington in April.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 1, 2025

Trump floats Japan tariff as top adviser says deals to come after July 4

The U.S. president cited what he said was Japan's unwillingness to accept U.S. rice exports, the latest round of brinkmanship before a July 9 deadline for higher tariffs.
Ginza Onodera's frozen sushi can be thawed with running water.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2025

Freezing tech allows luxury sushi to reach anywhere in Japan

Ginza Onodera has been working on the freezing method for about three years in cooperation with DayBreak, a special freezing technique developer in Tokyo.
Medipal is expanding into areas such as animal health products and drug development as margins from selling pharmaceuticals become squeezed in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2025

Medipal seeks to diversify amid falling drug margins

Japan’s largest drug wholesaler is seeking to boost profit, excluding extraordinary items, to ¥100 billion by March 2027 from ¥65 billion in the latest fiscal year.
Matcha is added to beverages on offer at Kettl Tea in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on May 20.
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2025

Global matcha 'obsession' drinks Japan's tea farms dry

The boom is having to contend with a declining number of tea plantations in Japan and the threat of tariffs from the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 2, 2025

Trump doubles down on Japan again by threatening 35% tariff

Japan is currently subject to 25% auto tariffs and a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum, as well as a 10% reciprocal tariff that could return to 24% if no deal is struck by July 9.
A delivery driver takes a break in the shade during high temperatures in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 2024.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2025

How much does a heat wave cost? Insurers and CEOs want to know.

Some believe a new market for heat insurance — driven in part by artificial intelligence and the need to cool data centers — is around the corner.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 2, 2025

Trump hammers away at Japan for a third day, threatening 35% duties 

The U.S. president said he might simply end negotiations and set a tariff rate for Japanese products.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) meet with Nippon Steel Chairman and CEO Eiji Hashimoto (center), President and Chief Operating Officer Tadashi Imai (second from left), and Vice Chairman and Executive Vice Present Takahiro Mori (left) at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2025

Nippon Steel aiming to prove value of Japan-U.S. cooperation, chairman says

PM Ishiba explained that Tokyo is continuing to urge the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to review its high tariffs.
Microsoft’s gaming division began cutting hundreds of employees on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 3, 2025

Microsoft makes deep Xbox job cuts and cancels games

Microsoft announced Wednesday that it’s eliminating 9,000 workers companywide in its second wave of layoffs this year.
Bank of Japan policy board member Hajime Takata says the central bank is continuing to look for further opportunities to raise rates.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 3, 2025

BOJ rate hikes to resume after temporary pause, policy board member says

Hajime Takata said authorities "may need to nimbly shift back to the rate hike cycle in response to policy changes” in the U.S.
The U.S. Commerce Department has told the world’s top semiconductor design software companies that government license requirements for business in China are no longer in place.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 3, 2025

U.S. lifts chip design software curbs on China in trade deal

The move is a sign that an accord reached by both countries in London is indeed being implemented.
Search and rescue members scour a flood-damaged area in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River in October 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2025

A majority of companies are already feeling the climate heat

Its growing financial impacts are a key reason some companies are continuing to pursue emissions cuts even amid political turbulence.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 2020
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2025

Ex-Sumitomo Mitsui Trust official guilty of insider trading

Hajime Katayama, 55, was also fined ¥2 million and ordered to pay ¥61.4 million in additional penalties for his violation of the financial instruments and exchange law.

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