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October 03, 2025
 

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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

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.
Smoke billows from the Singapore-registered container ship MV X-Press Pearl, which had been burning for eleven consecutive days, while vessels try to extinguish the fire in the sea off Sri Lanka's Colombo Harbor on May 30, 2021.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 23, 2025
Singapore shipper rejects $1B damages over Sri Lanka's worst pollution incident
The company operated the MV X-Press Pearl that sank off Colombo Port in 2021 while carrying 81 containers of hazardous goods and hundreds of metric tons of plastic pellets.
Japan Airlines Managing Executive Officer Yukio Nakagawa (center) and others apologize after one of the airline's pilots was found to have been drinking alcohol, during a news conference in Tokyo on Sept. 4.
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2025
JAL to punish president and 36 others over pilot drinking scandal
A JAL pilot consumed alcohol the day before work, resulting in delays of up to 18½ hours for three flights.
Abandoning quarterly reporting would see the U.S. market join a global shift away from the practice and could help investors pushing boards to do more on issues such as climate change that are set to increasingly impact corporate value.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 17, 2025
Climate-conscious investors back Trump's call to end quarterly reports
Trump's call to end quarterly reporting has received support from an unlikely source: international investors pushing business to do more on longer-term sustainability issues.
Drawn by reforms and growing shareholder focus, activist investors are ramping up buying Japanese stocks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 16, 2025
Activist funds ramp up Japan bets after record bids last year
The 10 largest activist investors in Japan put an estimated ¥890 billion into Japanese stocks in the first half of this year.
A screen displays share prices outside a securities firm in Tokyo. Some activists believe Japan’s corporate governance reforms will touch more firms, especially smaller ones.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2025
Activist AVI poised to boost holdings of Japan small-cap shares
The plan is an example of how activists are shaking up corporate Japan as they plow capital into the country given the Tokyo bourse telling firms to raise their enterprise value.
Japanese activist investor Yasuto Monden, who became president of one of his target companies, has launched Axium Capital, an equity fund targeting U.S. investors, including family offices.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 11, 2025
Activist-turned-executive seeks rich investors for Japanese fund
Yasuto Monden, who took over as president of one of his target companies, aims to increase assets of his Axium Capital fund to ¥100 billion in two years.
Japan Airlines President Mitsuko Tottori (right) bows in apology Wednesday in Tokyo over the company's pilots causing flight delays due to drinking alcohol.
JAPAN
Sep 10, 2025
JAL reprimand over drunken pilots adds to airline’s woes
The transport ministry issued a fresh warning to the airline for insufficient oversight involving a series of heavy pre-flight drinking cases.
Eight companies are suspected of maintaining or raising prices of diesel fuel sold in Tokyo to transportation and other companies.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 10, 2025
Eight companies raided in Japan over diesel fuel cartel
According to the sources, the firms are suspected of maintaining or raising prices of diesel sold in Tokyo to transportation and other companies.
Toyota Motor has implemented a five-stage internal qualification system at vehicle certification test sites to ensure quality and develop related human resources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 10, 2025
Toyota introduces qualification system to prevent test fraud
The move aims to prevent any recurrence of irregularities in tests to obtain type approval needed for mass production.
Elliott Investment Management has acquired a stake in Japanese regional utility Kansai Electric Power, according to a person familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 10, 2025
Activist fund Elliott reported to take stake in Kansai Electric, eyeing assets
Activist hedge funds have been honing in on property held by Japanese companies valued at its original cost on their balance sheets as part of their investment strategy.
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2025
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Sometimes it makes sense to act before the investigation is done.
A secret no more: Russia and North Korea's battle against Ukraine is celebrated in Moscow exhibit
A woman visits an exhibition of North Korean art at a museum in Moscow on Monday.
Prices to rise for 3,024 food products in Japan in October
A wide range of products will see higher prices due to rising material and labor costs.
Koizumi and Takaichi continue to lead in LDP presidential race, polls show
Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (right) reacts as former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the Liberal Democratic Party Presidential Election Candidate Debate at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, on Sept. 24. Koizumi and Takaichi remain head-to-head in the race, media polls show.
The party that ruled Japan for decades is in danger of crumbling
Haruo Tsukamoto, a rank-and-file member of the Liberal Democratic Party and a rice farmer in Ibaraki Prefecture, questions if the party still stands for people like him.
U.S. federal shutdown affects Americans in Japan and diplomatic talks
The U.S. government shut down on Wednesday, though essential services are still being offered.
Tea ceremony experts see matcha hype as a big opportunity
Atsuko Mori, founder and director of Kyoto-based tea salon Camellia Tea Ceremony, prepares matcha during a tea ceremony in Kyoto.
Japan's far-right party courts Trump allies and vows not to get 'wacky'
Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Sept. 25.
How Ohtani has boosted Japan's soft power and made LA even more baseball-obsessed
Fans at Dodger Stadium pose in front of a mural highlighting the Dodgers' Japanese stars from past and present during a game earlier this year.
Japan faces fresh energy challenge as it seeks to expand power-hungry data centers
Data storage tapes at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center facility in Berkeley, California. Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, and that will only rise as generative artificial intelligence takes off in earnest.
Architecture art exhibition highlights unsung industry artists
Yuanhui Li's illustration is one of the awardees in the student category of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators' annual award for artists.

Podcast

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

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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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