Tag - corporate-governance

 
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October 23, 2025
 

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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

King Bubaraye Dakolo of the Ekpetiama Kingdom in Bayelsa State, southern Nigeria, poses for a photograph in Lagos on Oct. 13.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 22, 2025
'What is the value of a human life?' In Nigeria, oil giant Shell may find out.
Bubaraye Dakolo, the monarch of Ekpetiama in Nigeria, is suing a global oil giant over one of the largest corporate environmental liabilities in history.
Yukinori Takada, president of Sumitomo Life Insurance, is interviewed on Wednesday in Bellevue in Washington.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 19, 2025
Sumitomo Life to mull using AI tech to support sales agents
The comments followed a series of scandals in the industry that called into question the relationships between life insurance companies and their sales agents.
The Asahi Group Holdings headquarters complex in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 15, 2025
Personal information possibly leaked in cyberattack on Asahi group
The company was hit by a ransomware attack last week in which more than 9,300 data files were stolen by a hacker group calling itself Qilin.
The prospect of faster inflation and rising asset prices under Sanae Takaichi, who’s likely to become the next prime minister, is seen as favoring loose monetary policy that would probably further boost paper gains in corporate property, luring activist funds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 10, 2025
Japan’s political shakeup opens door for real estate activism
The prospect of faster inflation and rising asset prices is seen as favoring loose monetary policy that would probably further boost paper gains in corporate property.
Officials from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office's special investigation squad conduct a search of Alt's headquarters in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 10, 2025
Former executives of AI developer Alt arrested for window-dressing
The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission searched locations related to the company in April over the alleged window-dressing
Under new CEO Stephen Dacus, Seven & I Holdings is reshaping itself by selling weaker assets, buying back ¥2 trillion worth of shares and betting on growth in Japan and the U.S.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 9, 2025
Seven & I struggles to win back investors after failed takeover
Seven & I sits at a crossroads as it seeks to reassure investors it can thrive without a foreign takeover.
A Toyota plant in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. The management-led offer to take a Toyota supplier private at ¥2,050 per share is too low and highlights shortfalls in Japan’s MBO regulations, said a portfolio manager and head of Japan equity at investment firm GMO.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 8, 2025
Toyota supplier’s management buyout plan stokes investor rebuke of Japan rules
The tension around Pacific Industrial’s MBO proposal highlights the debate over the TSE’s rules requiring companies to provide more disclosures on price fairness and procedures.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda's ¥4.7 trillion buyout plan for Toyota Industries is delayed due to slower-than-expected antitrust reviews overseas.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 7, 2025
Toyota Industries $31 billion buyout plan faces antitrust delays
The regulatory hurdle could be the first of many as Toyoda attempts to tighten his family’s grip on Toyota in a deal that would rank among the biggest buyouts on record anywhere.
The government's revised action plan for preventing human rights violations linked to corporate activities is likely to focus on small companies as a "priority area."
JAPAN / Society
Oct 7, 2025
Japan's revised corporate action plan on human rights to prioritize small firms
The government aims to accelerate efforts across entire supply chains by encouraging small businesses, which have been slower to adopt human rights measures, to make improvements.
Government Pension Investment Fund President Kazuto Uchida has said that an investment approach targeting environmental and social goals ultimately leads to economic and capital markets growth.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2025
World’s biggest pension fund puts impact investing on the agenda
In Japan, impact investing strategies are likely to center around climate, health care, wellbeing and inclusivity.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission plans to order JR Central and five other firms to stop bid-rigging on overpass inspection work, sources said Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2025
Japan Fair Trade Commission to warn JR Central and others over bid-rigging
The move, relating to overpass inspection work, comes after the JFTC conducted on-site inspections of JR Central and others in October last year.
Among Keidanren member firms traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's top-tier section, the proportion of female executives rose by 2.2 points to 19.0%, reaching the government's 2025 interim target.
BUSINESS
Oct 2, 2025
Share of female execs at major Japan firms rises to 18.4%
The figure remained below the government's target of increasing the share of female executives at companies on the Prime section to at least 19% by 2025.
In 2019, the Japan Fair Trade Commission issued a warning to what was then Johnny & Associates for allegedly pressuring broadcasters to not offer work to three former members of now-disbanded boy band SMAP after they left the agency to pursue independent careers.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2025
Japan’s antitrust watchdog issues new rules urging agencies to treat talent fairly
The Japan Fair Trade Commission’s new guidelines come after a survey last year found that some agencies were mistreating their performers.
Japan Post's mini cargo vehicles parked at a post office in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 1, 2025
Japan Post served notice suspending mini cargo vehicle use
The transport ministry suspended 111 post offices from using such vehicles over their failure to properly conduct roll calls for drivers.
The Fair Trade Commission has raided four firms over suspected bid-rigging in relation to expressway cleanup contracts.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2025
FTC inspects four firms over alleged bid-rigging for expressway cleanup deals
The companies are believed to have coordinated to ensure they could each continue to win orders for the same section and so make stable profits, sources said.
Takeshi Niinami speaks at a news conference in early September after police investigated him over the shipment of supplements to his home.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2025
Niinami resigning as head of Keizai Doyukai
The business lobby's senior vice chairperson, Mutsuo Iwai, will become acting chairperson until a new leader is chosen.
Public executives in Japan are held to exceptionally high standards of judgment and propriety, as shown by the swift resignation of Suntory CEO Takeshi Niinami after a police inquiry into his alleged involvement in the import of CBD supplements. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 30, 2025
'For relaxing times...' don’t be a CEO like Suntory’s Niinami
Niinami says he’s done nothing wrong and he hasn’t been charged.
On Friday, Nidec said in a financial report that it had unearthed new problems following an external probe that found evidence of systemic accounting problems.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 29, 2025
Nidec shares slide after widening accounting scandal hurts trust
The company said in a financial report — submitted after a three-month delay — that it had unearthed new problems following evidence of systemic accounting problems.
Most Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime Section companies have independent directors now.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Sep 26, 2025
Japanese corporate boards have changed dramatically in recent years
Governance reforms have led to the addition of independent outside directors.
In April 2022, the Tokyo Stock Exchange reorganized its four markets into three sections: Prime, Standard and Growth.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Sep 25, 2025
In fourth year of TSE reform, listed firms face pivotal choices
The TSE reorganized its four markets into three sections, then disclosed that 208 companies did not meet the criteria for continued listing on these markets.
Rare female yakuza walks path to redemption in Japan
Retired yakuza Mako Nishimura sorts fallen leaves during a clean-up activity at the Gifu Gokoku shrine in Gifu Prefecture on Sept. 28.
Takaichi makes history as Japan’s first female prime minister
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi reacts to applauding lawmakers after being elected prime minister at the Lower House on Tuesday.
Japanese man sentenced to eight years after rare public accusation of rape
Riho Fukuyama (center) and her husband Yoshiki Fukuyama (left) speak to the media with their lawyer (right) outside the Toyama District Court in Toyama on Tuesday.
Woman arrested for pepper spray assault on Yamanote Line
Emergency vehicles arrive at the JR Otsuka Station in Tokyo Monday following a report that a woman had allegedly injured passengers with pepper spray inside a train on the Yamanote Line.
North Korea fires off ballistic missiles one day after Takaichi named PM
People watch a TV news report about North Korean short-range ballistic missile launches, at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
AI-optimized cybercrime increasingly targeting Japan
A recent cyberattack on brewer Asahi Group Holdings resulted in the company suspending shipments.
K-pop idol Chanyeol does J-pop his own way on ‘Hibi’
South Korean singer Chanyeol made his Japanese-language solo debut with the EP “Hibi,” which features six tracks inspired by his love of Japanese music.
In pictures: The day Japan’s glass ceiling finally cracked
Takaichi, surrounded by LDP influencers
London exhibition perhaps sumo's most successful trip abroad
With the recent sumo jaunt to London being essentially a goodwill exercise, <i>rikishi</i> were far more outgoing and relaxed than normal.
Nakatsu keeps its cool as gentrification looms
Shunsuke Takahashi, owner of the cafe Hood by Vargas, says the Osaka neighborhood of Nakatsu feels brighter and calmer with the influx of new businesses.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The byzantine process for converting a foreign driver’s license into a Japanese one entails mountains of paperwork and significant stamina — unless you're a lucky license holder from a country or region where these requirements are waived.
Driving in Japan isn’t hard. Getting the license is.
By Thu-Huong Ha and Mike Fu

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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