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Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2018

Japan ranks second in new development index that puts quality and quantity of life before wealth

Japan is the second-best place in the world in terms of human development, with Hong Kong in first place and Iceland in third, according to a new index called the Human Life Indicator that is supposed to be simpler and more accurate than the U.N. Human Development Index.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 4, 2018

Japan's Dai-ichi Life to buy Suncorp Life for $460 million

Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it would buy Suncorp Life, an Australian life insurance unit of Suncorp Group, for 640 million Australian dollars ($460 million), the latest overseas expansion for a Japanese insurer grappling with a shrinking domestic market.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 17, 2017

Continuing streak, Japan leads world in life expectancy, WHO report says

People in Japan continue to outlive those in other countries, marking the world's longest average life expectancy of 83.7 years, according to the latest World Health Organization report released Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 16, 2015

'Life' tears down the myth of James Dean

If you're reading this and not some rogue, jump-the-gun review of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," it means you and I are friends forever. This is the day — 24 hours before the opening of the latest chapter in the "Star Wars" franchise — when other movies currently screening in theaters are destined...
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2015

Nippon Life plans Japan's largest REIT as investors crave yields

Nippon Life Insurance Co., which is seeking to gather about ¥300 billion ($2.4 billion) for what would be Japan's largest private real estate investment trust, is targeting returns of 4 percent as yields on government bonds languish near zero.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2023

Japan’s Dai-ichi Life turns $260 billion portfolio toward JGBs

Dai-ichi was among the biggest holders of foreign bonds as a result of the BOJ’s decadelong stimulus drive, but now is increasing investments in superlong government bonds.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2018

Nippon Life to stop financing coal-fired power

Nippon Life Insurance Co. will no longer extend loans for, or invest in, coal-fired power plants due to environmental concerns, an official at Japan's biggest life insurer said, in the first such move by a major domestic institutional investor.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 3, 2017

Nippon Life to buy 25 percent of U.S. asset manager TCW from Carlyle

Nippon Life Insurance Co. has reached a deal to acquire 24.75 percent of U.S. investment firm TCW Group Inc. from U.S. asset manager Carlyle Group LP, the companies said recently.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Nov 20, 2016

Toyomu imagines life after Kanye

American rapper Kanye West's seventh album, "The Life Of Pablo," felt inescapable when it emerged this past February. But that wasn't the case in Japan. Streaming music service Tidal — which initially had exclusive rights to "Pablo" — isn't available here.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 3, 2013

Work-life balance? Not in politics

Tamayo Marukawa, 42, seems to have it all. A University of Tokyo graduate, she scored one of the most coveted jobs in Japan as an announcer at TV Asahi. A popular presence there for 14 years, she left for a seat in the Upper House six years ago as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2022

Men from Shiga and women from Okayama top Japan life expectancy

At the other end of the rankings, Aomori Prefecture was at the bottom of the longevity list for both men and women, at 79.27 years and 86.33 years, respectively.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Oct 31, 2021

‘The Easy Life in Kamusari’: Leave the city behind, the mountains are calling

In Shion Miura's novel, a young man from Yokohama finds it difficult to fit in with a rural mountain community, but he soon discovers there's more to life than the trappings of city living.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2021

Treasury traders seek moment of truth from Japan’s life insurers

With combined assets equivalent to $3.6 trillion, and one-quarter of this in foreign securities, even minor shifts in Japanese insurer allocations can impact markets.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 13, 2016

Toyomu reimagines Kanye West's 'Life of Pablo' in a creatively fun way

Toyomu — "Imagining 'The Life Of Pablo'" (Self-released)
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2015

Sumitomo Life to buy Buffett-backed Symetra for $3.8 billion

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. agreed to buy Symetra Financial Corp. for about $3.8 billion (¥473.5 billion) as the Japanese company seeks to expand in the U.S.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 24, 2014

Protective Life shareholder sues over $5.7 billion Dai-ichi deal

Protective Life Corp. is being sued by a shareholder who says a proposed $5.7 billion purchase of the company by Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. is unfair to investors because other potential bidders were locked out.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 25, 2013

'Life of Pi'

Director Ang Lee's adaptation of author Yann Martel's Man Booker Prize-winning "Life of Pi" feels almost like two films sandwiched into one. In the core, you have the succulent special-effects-driven story of a young Indian survivor of a shipwreck who's adrift in a lifeboat with a man-eating Bengal tiger....
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHO'S WHO
Aug 28, 2012

American photojournalist combines traditional with modern in daily life

Everett Brown's lifestyle is a reflection of his philosophy on life.
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.
Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Mar 31, 2025

The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan

A growing industry quietly erases the final traces of those who die alone, exposing deep societal fractures.
A former Prudential Life Insurance employee was arrested in June last year on suspicion of fraud.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2025

Prudential Life ordered to report preventative measures after three arrests

Between June last year and February this year, three former employees were arrested over acts of misconduct that included defrauding customers.
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.
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance's headquarters in Tokyo. Japanese life insurance companies are holding off on buying superlong-term Japanese government bonds as further interest rate hikes loom.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2025

Meiji Yasuda Life to shun superlong Japanese debt for year or more

The insurer is expecting the Bank of Japan to continue to raise rates.

Longform

Members of the nonprofit group Japan Youth Memorial Association search for the remains of dead soldiers in a cave in Okinawa Prefecture in February.
The long search for Japan’s lost soldiers