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July 27, 2024
 

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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Toyota's plan to buy back shares from major banks and insurers is part of a broader push to unwind strategic shareholdings with financial partners.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2024
Toyota to buy back stock worth $5.2 billion from banks and insurers
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Tokio Marine Holdings and MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings are tendering shares at an 11% discount.
As of Sunday, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical reported 279 deaths and 2,274 hospital visits due to health issues related to its beni kōji supplements, among which 461 required hospitalization.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 23, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma's president and chairperson resign over health scandal
For the first time in its history, someone outside of the Osaka-based drugmaker's founding family will become its president.
Some 20% of Japanese companies have stropped creating medium-term management plans to respond more flexibly to changes in the business environment and achieve long-term goals, a recent survey has found.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 21, 2024
20% of Japan firms have no medium-term plans, poll finds
A survey found that about 10% of companies with medium-term plans are considering changing the duration of their plans or making other reviews.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group CEO Hironori Kamezawa (center) and other executives bow during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 19, 2024
MUFG heads to take pay cut after information firewall breach
21 MUFG officials, including some retired executives, will give up part of their pay after the bank was penalized for the unauthorized sharing of client information.
Japan's tradition of offering investors gifts is nice. But with the stock market at record highs, such perks are no longer needed.
COMMENTARY
Jul 18, 2024
It’s time Japan's shareholders buy their own wine
The practice by Japanese companies of giving gifts once served as a good way to encourage trading novices to dabble in the stock market.
Brokers such as Nomura are busy handling transactions for the offloading of cross-shareholdings among Japanese companies, which bring in hefty fees.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2024
Block trades herald $5 billion fee windfall for Japan’s brokers
Pressure to improve corporate governance is leading firms to whittle down an estimated ¥50 trillion ($320 billion) they hold in companies with which they do business.
Yuki Kusumi, CEO of Panasonic Holdings, during an interview in Tokyo last week
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 16, 2024
Panasonic managers need ‘sense of crisis’ over low profitability, says CEO
The comments are unusually harsh in Japan, and especially at Panasonic, where the notion of lifetime employment was embraced for years.
The Veolia Southwark Integrated Waste Management Facility in London.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 11, 2024
Nestle quietly shifted recycling goals as plastics problem grows
Nestle changing its plastics goal means 280,000 metric tons of additional nonrecyclable plastic waste a year, according to the latest available data for 2022.
When Microsoft took a non-voting, observer position on OpenAI's board in November, it triggered unease among antitrust watchdogs in the European Union, Britain and the United States over how much control it exerts over the artificial intelligence startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 11, 2024
Microsoft ditches OpenAI board observer seat to avert antitrust scrutiny
The move comes amid concerns among British and U.S. antitrust watchdogs over Microsoft's influence over OpenAI and the latter's independence.
The Tokyo District Court has ordered advertising agency Hakuhodo to pay ¥200 million in fines for violating the antimonopoly law in a bid-rigging case linked to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 11, 2024
Hakuhodo ordered to pay ¥200 million over Tokyo Games bid-rigging
The firm is the first to receive a court ruling over a high-profile series of cases linked to the Olympics and Paralympics.
Nintendo is among the big name companies in which Kyoto Financial Group has cross-held shares.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 9, 2024
Kyoto bank defies call to unwind holdings after $6-billion gain
Kyoto Financial Group has amassed unrealized profits of more than $6 billion on holdings in other firms.
Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are assembled at the company’s plant in Renton, Washington, on June 25.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 9, 2024
Boeing in talks with U.S. Defense Department on impact of guilty plea
The plea in relation to two fatal crashes involving its planes in 2018 and 2019 potentially threatens the company's ability to secure lucrative government contracts.
An MUFG Bank employee allegedly leaked insider information to relatives about a client company.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 9, 2024
MUFG bank worker suspected of leaking undisclosed client info
The securities market watchdog suspects the employee of violating financial laws by giving relatives undisclosed information about a client company.
Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are assembled at the company’s plant in Renton, Washington, on June 25.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2024
Boeing to plead guilty to fraud in U.S. probe of fatal 737 MAX crashes
Boeing will plead guilty to lying to the FAA about a software feature on the MAX, which saved money by reducing pilot training requirements.
Toyota Customizing & Development, a Toyota subsidiary, broke the subcontract payment law, the Fair Trade Commission said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 5, 2024
Toyota unit violated subcontractor protection law: regulator
Yokohama-based Toyota Customizing & Development broke the law by having dozens of suppliers store metal die casts and other items without paying any storage fees.
Financial groups will sell Honda Motor shares worth ¥535 billion to unwind cross-shareholdings, according to a regulatory filing.
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2024
Insurers and banks to sell Honda shares worth $3.3 billion, filing shows
The move offers a sign that the unwinding of cross-shareholdings is catching pace in Japan.
Shareholders enter a venue for an annual general meeting of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group held in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2024
Japan marks record high number of individual shareholders in fiscal 2023
The increase reflected stock price rises and a decrease in investment units due to stock splits, which made it easier for individuals to buy shares.
Mizuho Financial Group is seeking to develop its business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2024
Mizuho hires ex-OTPP executive Karen Frank as senior adviser for EMEA business
Her appointment will likely be announced in the coming days, sources said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Renesas Electronics CEO Hidetoshi Shibata
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2024
Ex-banker behind chipmaker Renesas targets $100 billion value
Renesas’ push coincides with an aggressive campaign by Japan to turn the world’s fourth-largest economy into a chip powerhouse.
Honda has already announced plans to buy back up to ¥300 billion of its shares during the current financial year, a move that could help absorb some of the impact from the sale.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2024
Major Japanese insurers to offload $3.1 billion of Honda shares, sources say
The sale of shares of a high-profile company is the latest sign that the unwinding of cross-shareholding is gaining pace in Japan.
Japan's population continues to fall even as foreign resident count rises
The number of residents in Tokyo as of Jan. 1 rose by 0.03% from a year before, data shows, marking a year-on-year increase for the first time in three years, while the country's other 46 prefectures saw their populations continue to decline.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
One dead, three missing as heavy rain batters Tohoku
Camera footage shows the Mogami River bursting its banks in Tozawa, Yamagata Prefecture, on Friday morning.
Yen melt-up nudges Japanese stocks into correction territory
Japanese stocks are down 10% from their July peak as the yen strengthens.
Yen rally could help end crushing wage decay in Japan
Some economists say a sticky weak yen trend would have a negative impact on Japan's real wage growth.
Japan’s minimum wage set for record ¥50 hike in major boost
Demonstrators rally to demand a big hike in minimum wages in Tokyo last week.
Japan loses top spot on strongest passport list to Singapore
Japan had the strongest passport for six years running from 2018, before being dethroned by Singapore on the 2024 list.
Why Japan's mysterious stash of classified funds escapes scrutiny
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (right) during a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Terunofuji, as he tends to do, returns to stamp his authority on sumo pretenders
Terunofuji (left) throws down Kirishima on Tuesday to build on his perfect record at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament.
Japanese startups advised to internationalize to get some global mojo
Entrepreneurs who participated in the Beyond Japan Zero to X program last year share their experiences in the United States during a meeting in May in Tokyo.

Podcast

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

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.8: Omron Corp.Omron helping firms achieve carbon neutrality
mission sustainability vol.8: Omron Corp.Omron helping firms achieve carbon neutrality

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