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KitKat-maker Nestle has pledged to increase sales of products that have a Health Star Rating of 3.5 or above by around 50% in the eight years through 2030, but investors say that isn't enough.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 4, 2023

Nestle isn’t doing enough to sell more nutritious food, investors say

Obesity is a growing health crisis in much of the world and food companies have been under pressure to make their portfolios healthier.
An assembly engineer works on a TWINSCAN DUV lithography system at ASML in Veldhoven, Netherlands, in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2023

The multimillion-dollar machines at the center of the U.S.-China rivalry

Complex lithography machines that print intricate circuitry on computer chips are at the heart of Washington's tough new measures on Beijing.
Toshihiro Mibe, president and chief executive officer of Honda at the Japan Mobility Show, in Tokyo in October
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2023

Booming profits bolster Japan automakers’ cautious EV shift

The Japanese auto sector is on track this year to exceed its peak operating profit of around ¥5.4 trillion in fiscal 2015.
A sign is seen outside a Tianjin Faw Toyota Motor showroom, a joint venture between China's Tianjin FAW Xiali Automobile and Toyota Motor, in central Beijing, in October 2012.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 2, 2023

Toyota says it halts some Tianjin operations after report

Toyota Motor has halted production on some aging lines at joint venture in China while operations continue as normal.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is questioned about fundraising parties by reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Explainer
Dec 7, 2023

Understanding the LDP political funding scandal and its implications

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his ruling LDP are in hot water over suspicions that party factions underreported funds for years.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Dec 13, 2023

Sumo's big ticketing problem

Securing tickets for sumo's biggest matches can be a headache, particularly for sumo's many foreign fans, partially due to outdated information online.
A 2023 Toyota Prius vehicle during an auto show in New York in April
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2023

In the birthplace of Toyota’s Prius, hybrids now reign supreme

Japan’s biggest carmakers have only recently promised to roll out a wider slate of battery-only models in the next two to three years.
Books published by Tuttle Publishing on a bookshelf in Infinity Books in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on Saturday
CULTURE / Books
Jan 3, 2024

Asia publishing mainstay Tuttle rides new wave of interest in Japan

The back catalog of Tuttle, which traces its history in Japan to 1948, is in high demand, and it has even branched out to graphic novel versions of classic Asian literature.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House in Washington in January 2023. Some Japanese businesses are keenly waiting for the results of the U.S. presidential election in November.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Feb 1, 2024

Japanese firms seek political stability and stronger alliance: survey

A possible Taiwan contingency is just one of the issues on the minds of companies in the country.
Honda now projects an annual net profit of ¥960 billion ($6.45 billion), up ¥30 billion from the previous forecast.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2024

Honda and Nissan release robust earnings reports

Honda upgraded its annual profit forecast while rival Nissan said its net profit almost tripled year-on-year.
Customers shop at the GU store in the SoHo neighborhood of New York. The brand's operator Fast Retailing hopes to expand its share in markets in the United States and Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024

Uniqlo’s sister brand GU takes aim at market in U.S. and Europe

International sales made up more than half of Uniqlo’s revenue in the latest fiscal year, GU has mostly only flourished domestically.
Tesla Model 3 vehicles are seen for sale at a Tesla facility in Fremont, California, last May.
BUSINESS
Apr 6, 2024

Tesla scraps low-cost car plans amid fierce Chinese EV competition

The automaker will continue developing self-driving robotaxis on the same small-vehicle platform, the sources said.
Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
CULTURE / Books / Longform
Apr 22, 2024

The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores

Shops without staff, shelves for rent, cafes and meetups are some of the ways the country's dwindling bookstores are trying to survive.
An Amazon Web Services (AWS) logo is pictured during a trade fair in Hanover, Germany, on April 22.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 1, 2024

Amazon triples quarterly profit as cloud surges

The Seattle-based company reported $10.4 billion in profit on revenue of $143.3 billion
With Apple’s business making up more than half of the company's revenue, investors are watching Hon Hai for clues on iPhone sales.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2024

iPhone maker Hon Hai hits a record high buoyed by AI and Apple

Hon Hai makes most of the world’s iPhones, but is now diversifying to focus on building datacenter server racks and other equipment for AI clusters.
Despite logging a record net profit in the year to March, helped by the weak yen, Nintendo expects net profit to drop nearly 40% in the current financial year.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2024

Nintendo says announcement on Switch successor 'this fiscal year'

Players and investors have been hungry for news about a successor to the Switch, and the company said a statement was finally forthcoming.
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang delivers a keynote address on the latest innovations in AI, during a developers conference at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, on March 18. Nvidia on Wednesday issued a second-quarter revenue forecast of about $28 billion, topping the $26.8 billion predicted by analysts.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2024

Nvidia delivers on AI hype, igniting $140 billion stock rally

Its shares rose as much as 7.8% in extended trading on Wednesday, taking them above $1,000 for the first time.
U.S. pressure to slow Beijing’s advances in making semiconductors led the Netherlands to ban exports to China of ASML’s second-most advanced category of machinery at the start of the year. But ASML continues to service machines that were bought before the restrictions were in place.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2024

ASML falls as outlook clouded by risk of U.S. export curbs

ASML shares plunged 11% in Amsterdam on Wednesday to €870.90 ($952), wiping out €42.7 billion of market value — its biggest decline since March 2020.
Nissan's operating profit for the April-June period totaled ¥995 million, compared with ¥128.6 billion in the same period a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 25, 2024

Nissan shares hammered as Q1 profit wiped out by U.S. discounts

The automaker has cut its operating profit forecast for the financial year by 17% to ¥500 billion from ¥600 billion.
A container-sized cabin produced by Zheng Weirong's company
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 13, 2024

Chinese swap handbags for trips as ‘experience economy’ booms

Consumer spending in China is still constrained by modest income growth and falling home prices, which make homeowners feel less wealthy overall.
Demand for electric vehicles in Japan has long been sluggish, and the government this year changed how EV subsidies are calculated, reducing them for BYD and several of its rivals, raising concerns about protectionism.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Sep 5, 2024

BYD's global expansion push runs into a stiff test in Japan

Demand for electric vehicles in Japan has long been sluggish, and the government this year changed how EV subsidies are calculated.
A Toyota Lexus UX 250h Hybrid vehicle stands on display during the Seoul Motor Show in Goyang, South Korea, in March 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 6, 2024

Japanese cars and beer gain ground in South Korea as relations thaw

Monthly sales of Japanese cars, including Toyota and Lexus, jumped 31% in August from a year earlier.
A Toyota Rav-4 Prime charges at an electric vehicle charging station in New York on Sept. 3. Toyota's sales fell again in August after declines in Japan and China put an end to a short-lived recovery.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024

Toyota production falls on vehicle safety scandals and U.S. recalls

Global output, including that of subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors, dropped in August by 12.6% from a year earlier
Nissan sees its operating income plunging to just ¥150 billion in the fiscal year ending in March, down 70% from its previous forecast.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2024

Nissan cuts outlook and announces restructuring with 9,000 job cuts

The firm sees its operating income plunging to ¥150 billion in the fiscal year ending in March, down 70% from its previous forecast.
Nomura Holdings and Japan's other big brokers are having second thoughts about selling so-called structured loans to regional lenders.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 11, 2025

Japan brokers rethink repackaged JGBs after regulator warning

There are concerns that buyers might lack proper risk management for the product and could suffer mounting losses if market interest rates move against them.
Industrial production dropped 1.1% in March compared with the previous month, according to the industry ministry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 30, 2025

Japan's factory output falls in sign of frailty before tariffs

Industrial production dropped 1.1% in March compared with the previous month, the industry ministry reported Wednesday. Economists had forecast a 0.4% drop.
While the results were better than analysts had expected, investors are focused on how tariff concerns will play out in the coming quarter.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 2, 2025

Tim Cook says unchanged U.S. tariffs could dent Apple’s next-quarter margins

Apple Q2 beats expectations but warns that unchanged tariffs could cost the company $900 million and requires drastic supply-chain realignment.
Elon Musk boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on March 21
BUSINESS / Tech
May 21, 2025

Musk commits to Tesla CEO role and plans political pullback

"If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it,” Musk said. "I do not currently see a reason.”
A Tirtir store in Seoul on May 23
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 5, 2025

South Korean beauty brands bet boom in U.S. demand outlasts tariff pain

The startups are expanding their bricks-and-mortar presence in the world's biggest consumer market, confident their mass appeal will offset tariff costs.
Security personnel guard the BYD booth at the Auto Shanghai show in April 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2023

China's leading electric carmaker BYD triples half-year profit

This month the company became the first global manufacturer to pass the 5 million milestone in electric vehicle production.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji