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A worker at a Kongo factory in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, carefully processes an aluminum plate using a forming press.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Kyushu
Jan 28, 2025

Companies in Kyushu struggle to enter TSMC’s supply chain

One report shows that firms in the region make up less than 10% of Japanese companies doing business with TSMC or its unit in Japan.
Masae Yamanaka joins colleagues from Panasonic Connect to take part in the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade in April.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
Aug 3, 2023

How one woman's career in sales flourished across four companies

As she rose through sales in various companies, Masae Yamanaka stuck to her mother’s teachings: keep working, commit to actions.
A Mazda MX-30 at a dealership in the city of Hiroshima. The MX-30 is the only electric vehicle model Mazda currently sells in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Aug 28, 2023

Mazda accelerates EV shift in China, reshaping ties with suppliers

Mazda’s sales in China in the year from April 2022 halved from the previous year to 84,000 units due to a thin lineup of EVs.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son speaks at the SoftBank World 2023 corporate conference in Tokyo on Oct. 4.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2023

Will generative AI speed up Japan's digital transformation?

An initially cautious attitude has given way to wider acceptance in the public and private sectors, providing a boost to digitalization efforts.
The entrance lobby of Accor's Mercure Tokyo Hibiya, which recently opened in the capital
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 2, 2024

Backed by tourism potential, hotels keen to cultivate Japanese market

Because Japan was slow to reopen its borders, there appears to be robust, pent-up demand to visit the country.
A wafer is pictured at Semicon Taiwan in Taipei
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 30, 2023

This startup shows it won't be easy to contain China's chip industry

The story of Seida illustrates the challenges the West faces in thwarting Chinese development of advanced microchip technology.
A consumer market in New Delhi on Dec. 12, 2023. Long-term investment in India by businesses is stagnant, and foreign money is falling, even as the government is driving growth with infrastructure spending.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 2, 2024

India is chasing China’s economy. Something is holding it back.

While money is flying into India’s stock markets, long-term investment from overseas has been declining.
People walk past the Trump Building after a ruling against former U.S. President Donald Trump ordering him to pay $354.9 million and barring him from doing business in New York state for three years, in New York City on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2024

Trump keeps New York empire intact as judge rescinds asset-sale order

Former U.S. President Donald Trump was banned from doing business in New York for three years and ordered to pay $354 million for lying about his wealth.
BUSINESS
Feb 21, 2024

Japanese companies maintain suspended operations in Russia: survey

Japan has kept stakes in some energy projects as a matter of energy security.
Citigroup is betting that Japan’s bond market revival will gather steam after the Bank of Japan's rate hike.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 4, 2024

Citigroup sees ‘exciting market’ for Japan bonds after BOJ move

"Normalization has started, so we foresee a lot of activity going forward”
Hiroshima Kanon Senior High School in the city of Hiroshima opened a cafeteria serving authentic Italian cuisine in December last year after Hoyu, which had been entrusted with cafeteria operations, went bankrupt in September.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 10, 2024

Business stability screenings urged for school lunch operators

The directive followed the abrupt suspension of meal services at schools across the country by Hoyu, a cooking service company.
Average age of Japanese chief executives increased for 33 consecutive years to 60.5 last year.
BUSINESS
Apr 14, 2024

Japan biz leaders' average age rises for 33rd straight year

As of December last year, the average age of company leaders stood at 60.5 years old. In 1990, the average age was 54.
In Japan, there’s a huge gap between how companies value their real estate assets on their books against what those same properties would fetch if sold in the market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2024

Hidden billions in Tokyo real estate lure activist hedge funds

Billions in value can be unlocked by pressuring companies to sell off holdings, a tactic that activist funds are now employing.
A worker at Sakai Seisakusyo prepares to transport metal rods at its factory in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, on July 8.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2024

Japan finds a 'stealth' cure for zombie businesses: Let them fail

The shift in thinking is a clear departure for a country that has typically sought to avoid bankruptcies and protect existing jobs at the cost of productivity.
The student lounge in the senior school building at the GEMS World Academy in Dubai
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 16, 2024

Expats paying $33,000 school fees fuel rise of Dubai billionaire

Founded by Indian-born Sunny Varkey, GEMS Education caters to every price point, starting at as little as $3,900 a year.
For years, Seven & I has faced calls from investors to focus more on its convenience-store business.
BUSINESS
Oct 3, 2024

7-Eleven owner seeking to sell off part of stake in banking unit

The sale of part of its stake in Seven Bank would intend to show Seven & I Holdings is willing to focus more on its core 7-Eleven business.
Ticket vending machines at a Tokyo Metro subway station. Tokyo Metro's network connects with nine of the 10 busiest stations in the capital.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 22, 2024

Tokyo Metro might be too much railroad for some investors

With over 80% of its operating profit coming from carrying passengers on trains, critics are concerned about its nonrailway business.
Seven & I Holdings' 46% stake in Seven Bank could raise around ¥30 billion by the end of the current fiscal year in February.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 6, 2024

Seven & I is said to plan reducing stake in banking unit to 38%

The retailer’s 46% stake in Seven Bank could raise around ¥30 billion by the end of the current fiscal year in February.
Bulk food dispensers at a new 7-Eleven store in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture. Opened a year ago, Seven & I Holdings conceived it as a prototype to test the synergies between the company’s retail supermarket chain and its more-successful convenience-store business.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Feb 10, 2025

Blended 7-Eleven-and-supermarket concept proves a tough sell

It is unclear if higher customer numbers have been sustained, and Seven & I has no plans right now to open more such outlets.
Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of City Developments Ltd., attends a news conference in Singapore in 2019.
BUSINESS
Feb 27, 2025

Father-son feud plunges Singapore’s richest clan into crisis

At stake in the feud is control of a major slice of an $18 billion family empire spanning property development to hospitality and finance.
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 31, 2025

A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime

Since 2009, Ken Theriault has been keeping himself busy maintaining Costco's American charm and catering to the needs of the Japanese consumer as the wholesaler's boss in Japan.
Nomura is looking to deepen its foothold in its traditional Wall Street businesses by weighing a return to offering cash prime-brokerage services in the United States and Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 25, 2025

Nomura weighs return to prime brokerage four years after Archegos

Prime brokerage, which involves banks lending cash and securities to hedge funds, has become an increasing money maker for Wall Street in recent years due to high equities prices.
Nomura Holdings Chief Executive Officer Kentaro Okuda
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2023

Nomura shares tumble most in two years after profit miss

The stock dropped as much as 8.5% on Wednesday morning, the biggest daily decline since March 2021.
Umbrellas are displayed at Komiya Shoten, a company that has made handcrafted umbrellas for rain or shine for nearly a century, in Higashi-Nihombashi, Tokyo, on Aug. 3.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2023

Heat brings hope for handmade umbrella-maker in Tokyo

One of Tokyo's last handmade umbrella shops has weathered many storms and is now thriving, thanks to booming demand for parasols.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 2, 2023

Zero-commission services intensify brokerage competition in Japan

SBI Holding's decision to scrap commission fees for domestic stock trading threatens to undercut the brokerage industry's profitability.
A Matsumotokiyoshi drugstore in Tokyo. Matsumotokiyoshi Holdings and Cocokara Fine integrated their operations in 2021.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Oct 10, 2023

Japanese drugstores under pressure for realignment

One analyst has described realignment in the drugstore sector as "a natural course of development."
Executives were scrambling for seats for dinner with Xi or to be put on a waiting list, according to people familiar with the situation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 15, 2023

Elon Musk among cadre of CEOs hoping to woo China’s Xi

CEO summit on the sidelines of APEC will coincide with the most challenging trade climate in a generation.
Sogo & Seibu labor union members strike in front of the flagship Seibu Ikebukuro store in Tokyo's Toshima Ward on Aug. 31.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023

After troubled sale, prospects for Sogo & Seibu uncertain

Department store operator must develop a new template for survival under the management of an investment fund.
Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive (right), arrives to testify at an antitrust case against Google in Washington on Oct. 30. A trio of antitrust cases on the docket threaten to reshape Google’s business and sap its profits.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2023

Google’s antitrust loss to Epic could preview its legal fate in 2024

The San Francisco case was the first test of how Google might fare in the antitrust gauntlet it faces in the United States — and the company was routed.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is a longtime investor in WeWork, sticking with the company throughout its many ups and downs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2024

SoftBank swoops in to rescue WeWork Japan

The development comes just four months after the troubled coworking business — once valued at $47 billion — filed for bankruptcy in the U.S.

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A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami