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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Mar 12, 2021

Despite government help, business realities limit 3/11 recovery

Even with subsidies, many Tohoku firms have struggled to restructure debt and adapt their operations in the wake of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
COMMENTARY / JAPAN IN THE GLOBAL ERA
Mar 11, 2002

Business schools buck international trend

Seventh in a series
Daiwa Securities has stationed "inheritance consultants" at its headquarters and all branch offices to advise clients on inheritance tax planning and the importance of having a will.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Feb 25, 2025

Japan's traditional brokers shift focus to inheritance business

As the population ages, a growing number of individuals are concerned about end-of-life planning.
Idemitsu Kosan President Noriaki Sakai speaks during an interview in Tokyo on April 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2025

Idemitsu to enhance all-solid-state battery business

All-solid-state batteries have shorter charging times and enable vehicles to travel longer per charge, compared with conventional batteries.
Some 620,000 workers at 97 major companies affiliated with the Japan Business Federation saw average pay raises of 5.38%.
BUSINESS
May 22, 2025

Japan’s largest business lobby reports pay hikes exceeding 5%

Some 620,000 workers at 97 major companies affiliated with the Japan Business Federation saw average pay raises of 5.38%.
A worker produces a turbine engine component at PBS Group, in Velka Bites, Czech Republic, on May 6.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025

Booming business has Europe's defense companies scrambling for workers

Arms makers are hiking wages and benefits, and even poaching from other sectors, as governments ramp up defense spending.
An industrial park in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, China. Nomura Holdings plans to shut its branch in the province by the end of the year, according to sources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2025

Nomura to shut branch in China as it scales back wealth business

The company’s brokerage subsidiary plans to shut its branch in Zhejiang province by the end of the year.
The working conditions cited by prosecutors shed light on the differences in wealth between people purchasing luxury goods and many of those making them.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2025

LVMH’s Loro Piana faces court oversight in Italy labor probe

In some factories, working hours mostly exceeded the 8-hour legal standard, employees slept on shop floors and were paid a fraction of Italy’s legal minimum, prosecutors said.
A cargo ship in the Panama Canal in July 2024. Waterway authorities are seeking to expand operations with shipping terminals on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2025

Panama Canal to enter ports business as Trump-China feud simmers

The new shipping terminals are part of an $8.5 billion spending plan and would compete with Colombia's Cartagena port.
CocoDesk private work booths set up by Fujifilm Business Innovation and Tokyo Metro at a subway station in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 20, 2024

Demand for private work booths grows in Japan

The increase in the use of private work booths reflects how working styles have become more diverse since the pandemic.
Tourists visit Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan in Bangkok in January.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2024

Thailand leads push for six-nation visa to attract more tourists

The plan is meant to ensure seamless mobility for travelers among neighboring countries.
Sony Group Chairman Kenichiro Yoshida says the group wants to contribute to anime through creation.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2024

Sony Group to strengthen anime business

The group will consider establishing an organization to train foreign anime creators.
The Google campus in Mountain View, California, on May 2
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 1, 2024

Epic Games accuses Samsung and Google of scheme to block app rivals

Epic says it will also raise its competition concerns with regulators in the EU
Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura at a news conference in Sapporo on Oct 8.
BUSINESS
Oct 12, 2024

Japan's top business lobby proposes maximum use of nuclear energy

The proposal noted that Japan has been facing the toughest energy challenges since the oil crises in the 1970s and 1980s.
Asahi Breweries' Sumadori Bar Shibuya specializes in low-alcohol drinks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2024

Japanese beverage makers see business opportunity in low-alcohol drinks

Amid increasing concern about the health impact of high alcohol consumption, beverage makers are developing low-alcohol products.
NEC CEO Takayuki Morita
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2024

Japan’s military pivot is firing up NEC’s defense tech business

NEC is targeting more than 60% revenue growth in its aviation, space and defense unit by March 2026.
Elon Musk speaks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, in November.
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2025

As Musk gains influence, questions hover over U.S. probes into his empire

Musk’s potential to have extraordinary clout with the new administration raises questions about the fate of federal investigations affecting his business empire.
Car dealer Toyota Mobility Tokyo and used car dealer Goodspeed are believed to have committed illegal practices, such as discounting vehicles in exchange for buying specific insurance products.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 21, 2025

Japan's FSA to issue business improvement order to Toyota dealer

The Toyota subsidiary and Goodspeed are suspected of illegal practices such as discounting vehicles in exchange for buying specific insurance products.
Masakazu Tokura (second from left), head of Keidanren, holds talks with Rengo leader Tomoko Yoshino (second from right) in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 22, 2025

Japan business lobby cites positive price trend ahead of BOJ decision

Keidanren head Tokura’s comments create a positive backdrop for the BOJ as its board prepares to deliver its policy decision on Friday.
Bain Capital is believed to have offered more than ¥700 billion for the corporate value of York Holdings, which owns supermarket chain Ito-Yokado and other units.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 24, 2025

Bain seen as preferred bidder for Seven & I supermarket business

Seven & I is expected to enter into final negotiations with Bain Capital on the investment ratio and other matters, sources said.
Chinese officials have shared articles on social media accusing Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's (center) CK Hutchison Holdings of acting "in concert with U.S. hegemony” over its $22.8 billion sale of 43 ports around the world, including two in the Panama Canal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2025

Xi showdown with Li Ka-shing threatens China’s pro-business push

Derailing the deal could give credence to claims that CK Hutchison is ultimately controlled by Beijing — a perception with implications for private Chinese firms worldwide.
The number of business failures due to labor shortages grew to 36 from 25 a year before, while the number of bankruptcies because of inflation remained high, at 56, against 60.
BUSINESS
May 12, 2025

Japan business failures hit 11-year high for April

More failures were seen mainly among smaller companies with weak business bases as their revenue was squeezed by rising prices and higher labor costs.
The Business Sentiment Index for large firms registered minus 1.9 for the April-June quarter, slipping into negative territory for the first time since the first quarter of 2024.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2025

Japan’s firms see business climate worsen amid U.S. tariff hits

The Business Sentiment Index for large firms slipped into negative territory for the first time since the first quarter of 2024.
The Fair Trade Commission is mulling a surcharge of some ¥200 million on Harley-Davidson Japan over abusing a superior bargaining position, in violation of the antimonopoly law.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 30, 2025

FTC mulling fines on Harley-Davidson Japan

The FTC is mulling a surcharge of some ¥200 million on Harley-Davidson Japan over abusing a superior bargaining position.
A barber gives a model a haircut during the World Barber Classic at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS
Jul 15, 2025

Japan's World Barber Classic tries to bring back business

The event is part of a bid by Japan's struggling barber industry to attract young male clients lost in recent years to hair salons.
A Loro Piana SpA luxury clothing store in Milan on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2025

Italy cracks down on sweatshops supplying Armani and Dior

For a decade, a Chinese tailor toiled in a three-story building on the outskirts of Milan, working 13 hours a day making high-end garments for brands including Italian cashmere label Loro Piana.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission took an administrative step against Visa Worldwide for the first time ever following its investigation into a suspected violation of the antimonopoly law by the firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2025

JFTC gives OK to Visa Worldwide's business improvement plan

After investigating a suspected antimonopoly law violation, the JFTC concluded that swiftly executing proposed measures by Visa Worldwide would restore a competitive environment.
Bridgestone will sell Mexico Carbon Manufacturing to U.S.-based Cabot for about $70 million as part of its carbon black business restructuring.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2025

Bridgestone to sell carbon black business in Mexico to U.S. firm Cabot

In July, the Japanese tire-maker announced the sale of its carbon black operations in Thailand to Japan's Tokai Carbon.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney walks after speaking, as Canada announced that it is removing many retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods as a goodwill gesture designed to restart stalled trade talks, during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Aug 23, 2025

Carney’s tariff shift helps business and creates a political headache

On Friday, Carney announced the end of 25% retaliatory tariffs imposed by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, on a wide range of food and other consumer goods.
A robot serves as a porter at Mita Garden Hills, a large apartment in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 31, 2025

Robots increasingly used in Japan to enhance business efficiency

As the country needs to address labor shortages urgently, companies and workers are exploring how robots and humans can work together better for business efficiency.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past