Japan's corporate chiefs face more scrutiny over cushy retirement roles
For decades, boards allowed former executives to linger on as highly paid advisers, without offering shareholders much detail about their roles. Now, there are signs that cushy retirement gigs may no longer be a sure thing. Japan's largest drugmaker, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., in an unusual ...
Japanese ramen shops prove popular in competitive Malaysian market
Japanese ramen shops are thriving in Malaysia, where locals are embracing the noodle dish with gusto. Famous Japanese ramen brands have been entering the Malaysian market one after another in recent years following the entry of sushi and shabu shabu hot pot restaurant chains in ...
Japan's January-March business investment highest in nine years, Finance Ministry says
Capital spending by Japanese companies rose 4.5 percent year-on-year in the January-March quarter, reaching the highest level in nine years, the Finance Ministry said Thursday, providing evidence that the economy has been picking up momentum. Business investment by all non-financial sectors for purposes such as ...
In Japan, zero public companies went bust in 2016, but critics say 'zombie' firms hurt the economy
Corporate Japan achieved a rare feat in the fiscal year that ended last week. None of its almost 4,000 publicly-traded firms filed for bankruptcy protection. Yet that's no reason to celebrate, according to analysts who see easy credit conditions standing in the way of a ...
'The Blue-eyed Salaryman': Little changes for those inside Japan's big firms
"The Blue-eyed Salaryman" is Irishman Niall Murtagh's account of working for Mitsubishi. It's not quite a tell-all: colleagues' names are disguised with cute monikers — sometimes a little too cute — such as Kawaii (cute), and Majime (straight-laced), and in keeping with the time-honored tradition ...
'The Sound of the Mountain': Yasunari Kawabata's slow-burning meditation on getting older
The first Japanese winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1968, Yasunari Kawabata, deals with the gradual decline that comes with aging in "The Sound of the Mountain." The Sound of the Mountain, by Yasunari Kawabata, Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker. 276 pages TUTTLE, Fiction. Family patriarch ...
Smaller firms in Japan expand roles in overseas assistance
Smaller firms in Japan are playing a more active role in the country's overseas development assistance, offering their expertise to local partners with help from the Japanese government. Wago, a processor of agricultural products based in Katori, Chiba Prefecture, is helping farmers in Kenya increase ...
Economy seen hurting as thousands of Japan's 'zombie' firms legally dodge bankruptcy
The owner of a car repair business in northwest Tokyo has been digging into his retirement fund to keep his shop going. He's in his mid-60s, he's not making money and he knows he'll eventually have to close down. But for now, he's managing to ...
Japan's fourth quarter business investment grew 3.8% on year
Capital spending by domestic firms rose 3.8 percent year-on-year in the October-December period, marking a turnaround as companies sought to boost output, government data showed Wednesday. Business investment by all non-financial sectors for purposes such as building plants and introducing new equipment came to ¥10.94 ...
Japan, Thailand to jointly rev up SMEs with business matching
Japan and Thailand have agreed to expand collaboration for the development of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) by mutually encouraging business-matching deals between firms of the two countries. A memorandum of understanding on further synergy was inked last week between Japan's Organization for Small and ...
Japan's business gift culture says it with orchids
In Japanese business celebrations, there's one thing you'll almost always see: orchids. Pots of the exotic flowers, which often sell for about ¥20,000 ($176), will be there in a newly appointed president's office, at the entrance of a company that just finished its initial public ...
Major Japanese firms' winter bonuses up for fourth straight year
Winter bonuses at Japanese companies employing more than 500 people averaged ¥880,736 ($7,500), up 0.02 percent from the previous year and rising for the fourth straight year, the country's major business lobby said Wednesday. Winter bonuses at Japanese manufacturers averaged ¥900,490, up 0.47 percent and ...
