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July 19, 2025
 

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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The Fuji TV building in May. The company has taken responsibility for having enabled "sexual violence" toward an unnamed victim, who is a former Fuji TV worker, along with causing her emotional distress due to its initial reactions to the incident.
JAPAN / Media
Jun 20, 2025
Fuji TV settles ‘sexual violence’ case with apology and compensation to victim
Fuji TV President Kenji Shimizu apologized to the unnamed woman over the incident and how the company handled it.
Japan’s governance reforms launched in 2015 sparked a surge in M&A and investor activism, but critics warn the resulting foreign takeovers and short-term focus may come at a cost.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 20, 2025
Has Japan's corporate revolution worked too well?
From private equity to activist investors to consolidation among companies fearful they’ll be targeted next, no acquisition seems beyond the pale.
Many Japanese firms are delisting their shares from the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the bourse’s broad push to make the market more appealing for foreign investors by ensuring that listed companies offer high shareholder returns.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2025
Japan firms exit Tokyo exchange at record pace in delisting rush
If firms continue to exit the TSE at this pace, the figure for 2025 will exceed last year’s annual record of 94 companies.
Shareholders arrive at Toyota's annual shareholders' meeting on June 12 in the city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 18, 2025
Record demands from activist investors driving focus on governance and efficiency
The country’s jammed annual general meeting season matters more than ever this year as investors seek signs that Japanese stocks can get out of a rut.
The Fair Trade Commission is investigating supermarket operator Lopia for unfair trade practices involving its suppliers.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 16, 2025
Supermarket operator Lopia probed over unfair trade
The company is alleged to have had suppliers dispatch workers to its stores to perform tasks for store openings and refurbishment without compensation.
Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda’s reelection garnered almost 97% of voted shares during the carmaker’s annual meeting, the company said in a statement Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2025
Toyota chair reclaims support after scandals that hurt last vote
The rebound in Toyoda’s popularity suggest tacit shareholder approval of how he handled the certification issues.
Sumitomo Realty has earmarked 19 midsize office buildings in Tokyo for divestment, sources said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2025
Sumitomo Realty seeks office sale after Elliott takes stake
The developer has earmarked 19 midsize office buildings for the divestment.
Shareholders passed a motion to reappoint Chairman Akio Toyoda during Toyota Motor's general shareholders' meeting on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2025
No mention of buyout as Toyota shareholders reappoint Chairman Akio Toyoda
Questions about the privatization of Toyota Industries and Toyoda’s role in it never came up, in stark contrast to earlier this week at Toyota Industries’ annual meeting.
Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori at U.S. Steel's Irvin Works facility in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, on May 30
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2025
3D urges shareholders to reject new term for Nippon Steel heads
Nippon Steel’s large-scale capital investment plan "significantly” exceeds the company’s market value, 3D said in a statement.
A ¥4.7 trillion ($32.4 billion) buyout bid by an entity led by Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda wasn’t formally on the agenda, but it overshadowed Toyota Industries' annual meeting on Tuesday as shareholders aired their grievances and sought clarity about the proposal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2025
Toyota Industries shareholders question buyout at annual meeting
The Toyota group’s plan to privatize Toyota Industries has drawn sharp criticism from investors and analysts since it was announced a week ago.
Kenji Shimizu, the incoming president of Fuji Media Holdings, said in an interview in Tokyo on Monday that the company has yet to finalize its long-term strategy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2025
Fuji Media keeps real estate spinoff in play as activists circle
"All options” remain on the table, says incoming President Kenji Shimizu.
A high-rise building in Tokyo's Minato Ward built by Sumitomo Realty & Development
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2025
Elliott calls for Sumitomo Realty improvements in rare letter
The letter is a rare public move by Elliott, which has kept quiet on most of its Japan investments.
Akihiko Ogino, president and CEO of Daiwa Securities Group, says Japan should press ahead with diversity initiatives as he attends the Tokyo Pride parade in the capital's Shibuya area on Sunday.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2025
Top banker vows loyalty to DEI at Tokyo Pride Parade as Trump’s pushback rages
Few Japanese executives have spoken out on U.S. backlash to DEI, though many firms seem to be quietly maintaining their initiatives.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Tokyo. Stock traders are looking for signs of activist holdings in Japanese firms, with more than 80% of Tokyo-listed companies, whose fiscal year ends in March, expected to hold shareholder meetings in the last five days of June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 6, 2025
Traders scouring annual meeting filings for traces of activist shareholdings
Multiple stocks jumped last week after activist investor Aya Nomura’s name appeared in annual general meeting letters, listed as a stakeholder.
Fuji TV in Tokyo's Minato Ward. The company has also demoted the then-head of programming for his alleged secondary harassment of the victim as he delivered cash and other consolation gifts from the TV idol to her while she was in the hospital.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 6, 2025
Fuji TV to sue former executives over their response to Nakai scandal
The company also demoted the then-head of programming for his alleged secondary harassment of the victim, a former Fuji TV announcer.
If Japan Post loses its general cargo vehicle license, it would be barred from reapplying for a new one for five years.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 5, 2025
Japan Post may lose cargo license over widespread driver check failures
A transport ministry audit in April revealed enough instances of missed checks in the Kanto region to surpass the threshold for license revocation.
A fine of up to ¥30 million will be imposed on companies that dismiss or take disciplinary action against whistleblowers under the revised law.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Japan enacts bill to penalize revenge against whistleblowers
Under the revised law, individuals who discipline whistleblowers will be subject to a prison term of up to six months or a fine of up to ¥300,000.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Norikazu Toyoda in Osaka on May 30
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical vows never to repeat health crisis
In March 2024, the drugmaker, based in Osaka, announced that it had received a series of reports about such symptoms as kidney disease from users of its supplements.
Akio Toyoda’s involvement in the $33 billion buyout of Toyota Industries signals a potential corporate comeback, and that’s a good thing despite criticism.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2025
For Toyota, more Akio Toyoda would be a good thing
This opposition is nonsensical. Akio turned Toyota into the biggest automaker in the world during a period of intense industry change.
Toyota group companies could establish a new holding company to privatize Toyota Industries.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2025
Toyota Industries receives $33 billion buyout offer from group companies
The deal would be in line with government efforts to encourage big companies to unwind cross-held shares with subsidiaries and other businesses.
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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