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November 22, 2025
 

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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Auction house Christie's in New York. DIC is selling some of its holdings of valuable artworks at the auction house.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 18, 2025
Japanese ink maker sells off Monet and Renoir paintings as activists circle
Oasis Management, DIC’s second-largest shareholder, has called on the company to sell off its holdings, saying that paintings aren’t part of the firm’s core business.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Friday that Japanese businesses are focusing too much on shareholders, expressing frustration that companies are not using more capital to raise wages.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 14, 2025
Takaichi pushes back against companies' focus on shareholders
The Prime Minister's comments flicked at her frustration with firms for not using more capital to raise wages.
As of Nov. 10, a total of 11,045 employees at publicly listed companies in Japan have been targeted for early retirement this year, the highest since 2021, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 14, 2025
Profitable firms cut jobs as activist investors and TSE seek stronger returns
A wave of voluntary and early retirement programs in Japan that overwhelmingly target employees age 50 and above is on track to hit a four-year high.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi talks with Japan’s then-leader, Shinzo Abe, her mentor, at the Lower House of Parliament in December 2014. Takaichi, under so-called Abenomics 2.0, must convert the nation’s asset boom into broad-based economic prosperity benefiting all. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 14, 2025
How Takaichi can make 'Abenomics 2.0' succeed
For now, there is absolutely no evidence that the rise in Japanese asset prices — both stocks and real estate — is feeding a positive wealth effect.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building, operated by Japan Exchange Group
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 14, 2025
Japan Exchange looks at ways to curb crypto hoarding firms
The Tokyo Stock Exchange operator is exploring options including a stricter application of its backdoor listing rules and requiring firms to undergo a fresh audit.
Volker Turk, United Nations high commissioner for human rights, attends the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Sept. 8.
BUSINESS
Nov 12, 2025
Concentration of corporate power a 'huge' concern: U.N. rights chief
In an interview, Volker Turk pointed out how seven or eight big tech companies now boast more wealth than the entire economies of even industrialized nations.
Elliott Investment Management has shared its views with Toyota Industries management that the ¥16,300 per share buyout offer is too low and suggested other options for the deal, people familiar with the matter say.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 12, 2025
Elliott takes Toyota Industries stake and sees buyout price as too low
Toyota Industries disclosed in a filing that Elliott Investment Management had a 3.26% stake as of Sept. 30, making it one of the manufacturer’s biggest shareholders.
Olympus plans to cut about 2,000 jobs, or roughly 7% of the firm’s global workforce, and overhaul its region-centric structure to improve productivity.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 10, 2025
Olympus soars most in six years on job cuts and shakeups
CEO Bob White said he plans to cut about 2,000 jobs, or roughly 7% of the firm’s global workforce.
The Olympus Ishikawa research development facility in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 9, 2025
Olympus cuts jobs, streamlines operations under new leadership
The company is moving to a leaner, divisional model, with a planned target of 3% annual sales growth by fiscal 2027.
The $1 trillion pay agreement puts Elon Musk on track to become the world's first trillionaire.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2025
Tesla shareholders approve $1 trillion pay package for Musk
More than 75% of votes were cast in favor of the unprecedented pay plan, the company said Thursday at its annual meeting.
Kirin Holdings employees with disabilities attend a session held in September on the use of IT support tools.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Nov 5, 2025
Japanese firms boost support for workers with disabilities
Most public programs prioritize job placement for those with disabilities, leaving gaps in ongoing workplace support that analysts say is crucial for long-term employment.
Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor, speaks during a media preview at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 29. Minority investors are challenging the carmaker's bid to take affiliate Toyota Industries Corp. private.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 5, 2025
The Toyota buyout is a major test for Japan’s reforms
A letter signed by two dozen investors addressed "widespread concern” about the plan to buy out Toyota Industries Corp., also known as TICO.
Nidec's Qingdao Industrial Park in China. The Tokyo Stock Exchange has designated Nidec as a "security on special alert" for a possible delisting.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 28, 2025
Nidec faces delisting risk as Tokyo Stock Exchange boosts scrutiny
The move by the exchange may deal another blow to Nidec’s shares, which have tumbled roughly 20% since the start of September as its accounting issues came to light.
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.
Japanese court orders Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million over manga piracy
Cloudflare has been ordered to pay ¥500 million after four major publishing firms accused the firm of copyright infringement for its role in hosting sites that distribute pirated copies of manga titles.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
¥21.3 trillion stimulus package approved by Cabinet
The Cabinet is expected to submit an extra budget bill to finance the package to parliament, which is in session until Dec. 17.
First foreign president of Hosei University looks abroad for change
Hosei University President Diana Khor, who herself was an international student, aims to encourage students to look outward and cultivate a global mindset.
Japan plans higher visa fees for foreign residents
Along with planned higher fees for foreign residents to stay, Japan is looking to raise the ¥3,000 single-entry visa fee for inbound tourists to Western standards in the next fiscal year.
First foreign president of Hosei University looks abroad for change
Hosei University President Diana Khor, who herself was an international student, aims to encourage students to look outward and cultivate a global mindset.
Japanese companies advised to change mindset about investment in Africa
Bernard Laurendeau, chief of Enkopa Lab Japan, in Tokyo last month
Munetaka Murakami headlines quartet looking to move to MLB via posting system
The Swallows' Munetaka Murakami has 246 career home runs in eight NPB seasons.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
Why we can’t get enough of the sham of the rental family
“Rental Family,” directed and co-written by the single-named Hikari, follows out-of-work actor Phillip (Brendan Fraser), who is hired as the “token white guy” at a Tokyo agency called Rental Family.

Podcast

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

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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