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July 19, 2025
 

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CHEMICALS

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.
Proposals to delist Taiyo Holdings have emerged as Japanese companies face pressure from the Tokyo Stock Exchange to boost their value to stay listed.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2025
Taiyo to decide on delisting as early as August, president says
The chemical manufacturer is set to hold its annual shareholders’ meeting on Saturday in which its president, Eiji Sato, is likely to face a vote on his ouster.
An Environment Ministry survey found that PFAS in groundwater and river water exceeded the provisional standard at 242 locations nationwide.
JAPAN
Apr 25, 2025
Potentially carcinogenic PFAS chemicals over standard at 242 sites in Japan
Japan banned the production and import of PFOS and PFOA, both of which are main components of PFAS, by 2021.
The levels of a type of "forever chemical" found in seven current and former employees at Daikin Industries' Yodogawa plant in Osaka Prefecture were about 38 times those for nearby residents, according to a survey conducted by a team including Kyoto University.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2025
High levels of PFAS found in blood of Osaka factory workers
The levels for seven current and former employees were about 38 times those for residents, with three showing signs of interstitial lung disease.
Microchips are a major source of "forever chemicals” that are linked to cancer and other health problems.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 14, 2025
As chips race spews ‘forever chemicals,’ startups emerge to destroy them
A wave of companies are offering potential solutions that won’t cut the chemicals out of the supply chain but destroy them.
Seth Fischer, chief investment officer of Oasis Management, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2025
Oasis says investors back its proposed board changes at Kao
Oasis, which holds a 5.2% stake in Kao, has presented five candidates to become outside directors of the company.
Passengers at a train station in Tokyo. Railway operators plan to expand the scope of chemicals and materials passengers will be banned from bringing onto trains starting in April.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2025
Railway companies to tighten restrictions on hazardous materials
The move comes as part of a push to bolster security ahead of the 2025 Osaka Expo.
Resonac Holdings CEO Hidehito Takahashi
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2025
Resonac explores deal structures for possible JSR takeover
A deal would be a key step in the chemicals maker’s ambition to corner the Japanese artificial intelligence semiconductor materials market.
Mayor Masanori Yamamoto of Kibichuo, Okayama Prefecture, announces the results of PFAS blood concentration tests on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2025
PFAS blood test results in Okayama Prefecture town exceed U.S. standards
The Kibichuo town government announced the results of its first blood tests after PFAS were detected at a water purification plant in the town.
A satellite image shows the Sverdlov plant in Dzerzhinsk, Russia, on Sept. 13, 2022.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 31, 2024
The Russian billionaires whose chemical factories fuel Moscow's war machine
The analysis demonstrates how heavily plants forming part of Russia's war machine rely on the chemical factories.
The Self-Defense Forces facilities are believed to have become sources of PFAS contamination because they used firefighting foam containing the toxic chemicals in the past.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2024
High levels of PFAS found in water from 44 private suppliers across Japan
Among them are five that supply water to Self-Defense Forces facilities.
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Dec 20, 2024
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The inspection follows a reported leak in August of water containing "forever chemicals" outside the U.S. base in western Tokyo.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announces measures to counter the spread of "forever chemicals" in drinking water in the Upper House of parliament in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2024
Japan eyes new PFAS regulations for drinking water by spring
Water suppliers nationwide must upgrade their safety standards to counter the spread of "forever chemicals."
The infrastructure ministry and environment ministry released a survey on levels of PFAS, potentially carcinogenic chemicals, found in drinking water supplied across Japan as of Sept. 30.
JAPAN
Nov 29, 2024
No excessive levels of PFAS found in tap water across Japan
No drinking water suppliers nationwide had PFAS levels in excess of the limit of 50 nanograms per liter of tap water in fiscal 2024.
A resident of Kibichuo in Okayama Prefecture takes a blood test in the town on Monday.
JAPAN
Nov 25, 2024
PFAS blood tests start in Okayama Prefecture town
About 800 residents are expected to take a blood test under the program, which runs through Dec. 8.
The Saudi Aramco logo at the Hyvolution exhibition in Paris on Feb. 1
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2024
Aramco cancels Saudi chemical project as it focuses on Asia
Aramco is pursuing a series of deals in China that would guarantee long-term demand for Saudi crude.
U.S. border guards in Eagle Pass, Texas, in February
ENVIRONMENT
Sep 21, 2024
The Biden administration is fighting smugglers of a potent greenhouse gas
Since the start of fiscal 2024, the Biden administration has stopped roughly 25 illegal shipments of hydrofluorocarbons.
Sumitomo Chemical President Keiichi Iwata
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 6, 2024
Sumitomo Chemical sells hybrid bond at widest spread this year
Sumitomo Chemical priced ¥100 billion of hybrid debt at 280 basis points over Japanese government bonds.
A petrochemical plant in China. Asia's producers face the toughest outlook, with oversupply likely to persist.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Aug 9, 2024
Petrochemical makers enter survival mode amid global glut
Major petrochemical producers in Asia and Europe are selling assets, shutting older plants, and retrofitting facilities.
The government has a provisional target of keeping PFAS levels in tap water at 50 nanograms or lower per liter.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 24, 2024
Government instigates nationwide survey on PFAS in Japan's tap water
Some 12,000 water providers have been given until the end of September to report on potential water contamination with PFAS.
Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
Tokyo emerges as a top market for global tech talent
Tokyo ranks among the world's top tech talent hubs alongside Beijing, the San Francisco Bay Area, Bengaluru, Paris, New York and Dublin, according to Colliers' newly released global tech markets report.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
CDP leader criticizes ‘Japanese First’ policy and calls for inclusive society
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda said it is obvious that Japanese society could not function without the help of foreign workers in manufacturing, health care, construction and public transportation.
JSA’s 100th anniversary event is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for sumo fans
Egyptian wrestler Osunaarashi has some fun with children during a special Japan Sumo Association event in 2017.
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.

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