Tag - corporate-governance

 
 

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Officials of the Osaka Municipal Government enter Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's factory, which was closed in December, in the city of Osaka on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 1, 2024
Japan makes supplement health damage reports mandatory
The measure is aimed at enabling administrative authorities to quickly grasp related information and prevent the spread of health damage.
Pedestrians walk past the Financial Services Agency headquarters in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2024
Over 2.5 million sets of info leaked from four Japan nonlife insurers
Of the total, employees on loan were found to have been involved in about 240,000 cases, including for contracts for corporate customers.
Cars are assembled at a Maruti Suzuki manufacturing plant in Manesar, India, in September 2023. Suzuki is one of the success stories for Japanese manufacturers trying to establish joint ventures in India, having become a household name in the country.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 29, 2024
For Japanese companies in India, local staff are an invaluable resource
The roots of Japanese investment in India go far back, to 1958, when the latter became the first country to receive official development assistance from Japan.
For a billionaire with a mission to prevent climate change, “He greened the energy policy of the world’s fourth-biggest economy (Japan),” would make a hell of an epitaph for Mike Cannon-Brookes. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 29, 2024
An activist investor could green Japan for $700 million
For a billionaire with a mission to prevent climate change, "Greened the energy policy of the world’s fourth-biggest economy” would make a hell of an epitaph.
The government made it mandatory for companies to disclose their gender pay gap in 2022, but disclosure alone isn’t enough to improve the situation, data suggests.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2024
Disclosure rules fail to narrow Japan’s yawning gender pay gap
There has been little progress toward equality, with the highest-paying firms showing some of the biggest disparities.
Launched in 2012 in collaboration with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nadeshiko Brand recognition aims to spotlight companies that not only prioritize gender diversity but also maintain solid financial performance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 26, 2024
METI to expand Nadeshiko Brand criteria for women-friendly listed firms
Companies that offer support for women’s health in a bid to foster corporate awareness and encourage long-term career development for women will be eligible.
The opposite of diversity isn’t meritocracy, but homogeneity. And in organizations where everyone looks the same, standards tend to be lower.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 23, 2024
‘DEI hires’ don’t lower the bar. They raise it.
Race and gender are not superficial characteristics that can or should be stripped away in order to prove someone’s merit.
A lithium battery factory following a deadly fire in Hwaseong, South Korea, on June 24
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 23, 2024
Safety failures caused deadly fire at South Korea plant, police say
Twenty-three people were killed at an Aricell lithium battery plant in South Korea in a massive blaze in June.
Nissin Food Products' instant noodle products that were the subjects of a Fair Trade Commission antitrust warning on Thursday
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2024
Nissin gets antitrust warning over prices of instant noodles
"We take this warning seriously and will work on improvements to further strengthen our legal compliance system," the firm said.
Transport ministry officials enter the Kobe plant of Kawasaki Heavy Industries for an on-site inspection on Thursday.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024
Transport ministry raids Kawasaki Heavy over ship engine test tampering
The firm has admitted inappropriately tweaked testing equipment to keep emissions data within ranges of customer specifications and reduce the variance of data.
The departure of the head of Apple's App Store comes as the division is being split into two teams: one overseeing Apple’s own store and another responsible for alternative app distribution.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024
Apple’s App Store head to leave in reorganization amid global scrutiny
Matt Fischer, a vice president who has run the App Store business since 2010, will leave the iPhone maker in October.
Alimentation Couche-Tard’s proposed acquisition of Seven & I Holdings, if successful, would be an extremely rare case of a foreign company's buyout of a major Japanese firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 20, 2024
Seven & I buyout would be a watershed moment for Japan takeovers
Until now, an attempt to acquire such a well-known Japanese business at such scale would have been dismissed as audacious and unlikely.
Wind turbines in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2024
Japan offers lifeline to ESG investing amid backlash overseas
In light of the anti-ESG sentiment in the U.S. and Europe, analysts said that Japan can play a key role in driving sustainable finance globally.
Activist funds added to their holdings during the Aug. 5 selloff in the Japanese stock market, an indication that they don’t mind taking significant risks to boost their stakes in target companies.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 19, 2024
Activists bought Japanese stocks during worst rout since 1987
Activists bought a total of 2.8 million shares during the Aug. 5 selloff, the most in at least 60 days.
Officials of JR Kyushu Jet Ferry bow at a news conference in Fukuoka on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2024
JR Kyushu ferry unit found covering up leak problem
The jet ferry service has been suspended since Tuesday, seen affecting about 22,000 people in the middle of the Bon summer holiday season.
Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Akihiro Kobayashi (second from right) speaks during a news conference in Osaka on Aug. 8 along with President Satoshi Yamane (third from right).
JAPAN / Society
Aug 14, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma fails to report 11 more suspected deaths
The 11 cases had been classified into a wrong category in the process of sorting out the inquiries made to its call center.
JPMorgan Asset Management (Japan) President Shoichi Okoshi speaks during an interview in Tokyo in July.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2024
JPMorgan wants a 30% female exec ratio in Japan
The Japanese affiliate of U.S. financial giant JPMorgan Chase plans to adopt the threshold within several years
Protesters for and against affirmative action demonstrate on Capitol Hill in Washington. As the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has intensified in the U.S., the number of so-called anti-DEI proposals have multiplied.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 12, 2024
For anti-DEI groups swarming annual meetings, even a loss is a win
This year, prominent conservative investors filed 42 anti-DEI proposals, up from just one in 2021.
Former Kobayashi Pharmaceutical President Akihiro Kobayashi (right) and Satoshi Yamane, the new president, bow in apology over health problems caused by its beni kōji products, during a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 8, 2024
Kobayashi Pharma to withdraw from beni kōji product segment
The firm said it would offer compensation to those who suffered health problems linked to their products and prevent a recurrence of the incident.
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance and three other insurance firms will be issued with cease-and-desist orders by the the Fair Trade Commission for forming a cartel, sources have said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024
Japan's FTC to issue orders to four major nonlife insurers in premium cartel
The insurers are said to have started prearranging premiums on contracts for Keisei Electric Railway, in which they shared the risk of covering payments, before 2020.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji