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June 05, 2025
 

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MERGERS

Daiwa Securities CEO Akihiko Ogino says mergers and acquisition deals are harder to come by this year due to uncertainties over U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2025
Daiwa pauses M&A hiring as tariff uncertainty chokes deal pipeline
The assessment from Japan’s second-largest brokerage indicates how changes in global trade policy are rippling through spending activity.
Tsuruha shareholders approved a merger plan with Welcia, which will result in an effective acquisition by supermarket chain Aeon.
BUSINESS
May 26, 2025
Tsuruha shareholders approve future merger with rival drugstore Welcia
Tsuruha, based in Sapporo, has announced it will integrate its operations with Welcia, the biggest force within the Japanese pharmacy industry, in December.
An Aeon store in Osaka. Aeon, the country’s largest supermarket chain operator, last month said it will launch a tender offer to make Tsuruha a consolidated subsidiary at ¥11,400 per share.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025
Tsuruha shareholders to vote on criticized Aeon merger plan
The chorus reflects rising shareholder activism in Japan in recent years as the country’s governance reforms embolden investors.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Nihonbashi. The exchange wants companies to lower the entry cost of investing in their shares.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 14, 2025
Tokyo Stock Exchange wants stocks to be affordable for the average investor
Attracting more small investors could help reduce volatility due to the introduction of a wider range of investment strategies.
Japan’s carmakers are being pushed to combine their resources in an environment roiled by tariffs, as well as to counter Chinese auto firms’ rapid expansion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 30, 2025
Japan's carmakers face consolidation amid tariffs and China's rise, says hedge fund
Man Group’s Stephen Harget thinks the phenomenon could be Japan-specific as automakers in other regions have already been through such a cycle.
Regional lenders Daishi Hokuetsu Financial Group and Gunma Bank have entered into an agreement to consolidate their businesses in 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025
Regional lenders Daishi Hokuetsu and Gunma Bank agree to consolidate
The banks have entered a memorandum of understanding to integrate their businesses under a holding company structure on or around April 1, 2027.
Toyota Motor and Daimler Truck are expected to finalize the merger agreement as early as May.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2025
Toyota and Daimler near merger of truck units, report says
The two auto groups aim to establish a holding company for the truck units and list it on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime market in April 2026.
A Bank of Kyoto branch in the city of Kyoto. Kyoto Financial Group has been a symbol of Japan’s old guard holding out against selling the stakes, given its historic ties to exporters based in the city including Nintendo, Nidec and Kyocera.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2025
Kyoto bank shifts stance on mergers and cuts to cross-shareholdings
Kyoto Financial has been a symbol of Japan’s old guard holding out against selling the stakes, given its historic ties to exporters based in the city.
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (above) and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance plan to merge in April 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2025
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to merge with Aioi Nissay Dowa
The merger will create the biggest nonlife insurer in Japan, overtaking current industry leader Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance.
Masuo Fukuda, head of Citigroup’s investment banking business in Tokyo, says the hiring in Tokyo started in December targeting various levels of bankers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2025
Citigroup hiring dealmakers in Japan with fee pool seen reviving
The Wall Street firm is expanding its investment banking team in Japan as it bets the country’s deal fee pool will finally rebound.
Nissan is set to roll out a number of new and refreshed models in fiscal 2025 and 2026 as it seeks to halt its financial free fall.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2025
Nissan’s next CEO says it needs partners and he’s open to Honda
Ivan Espinosa, who currently serves as Nissan’s chief planning officer, takes the helm at a critical time for the company.
Idled blast furnaces at U.S. Steel's Granite City Works in Granite City, Illinois, in July 2017
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 15, 2025
U.S. Steel activist investor boosts holding in turnaround push
The move comes as hope for the deal that drew massive attention during the 2024 American presidential election has shown little progress.
The Nikkei stock average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Many firms on the TSE have price-to-book ratios of less than 1, lowering the perceived quality of the exchange, which should consider taking steps to increase valuations and trading volume.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2025
Tokyo Stock Exchange must weed out underperforming firms
Tokyo wants to become Asia's top financial hub, but faces big obstacles. Among them, the presence of too many companies with low profitability and growth prospects.
Alimentation Couche-Tard founder and executive chairman Alain Bouchard (left) and President Alex Miller hold a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 13, 2025
Alimentation Couche-Tard ramps up campaign to take over Seven & I
The Canadian convenience store giant and owner of Circle-K has sought to combat skepticism surrounding the deal, most recently with a news conference in Tokyo.
In the Japanese credit market, Change of Control covenants — which give bondholders certain rights to redeem the debt before maturity if the borrower has a significant change in ownership structure — have been very rarely seen, until now.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 10, 2025
Japan credit investors seek shield from M&A risks as deals boom
Change of Control clauses, which had been rare in Japan, are being increasingly sought by investors.
Seven & I Holdings says it has agreed to jointly explore store sell-offs with Alimentation Couche-Tard to address antitrust concerns ahead of a potential merger.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 10, 2025
Shareholder pushes Seven & I to engage with Couche-Tard
The operator of 7-Eleven stores says that it is doing so, and has rebuffed Artisan Partners Asset Management’s assertions of conflicts of interest within the board.
The Seven & I takeover saga is being closely watched as a test case of Japan’s openness to foreign capital, after recent governance reforms banned corporations from ignoring overtures that may raise value for shareholders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2025
Seven & I shares fall amid report it may reject buyout offer
The company said it is still having constructive discussions with Couche-Tard after a report said it would reject the offer.
Takeover bids in Japan are expected to reach a record this year amid growing pressure on companies to boost shareholder returns.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 4, 2025
Japan small-cap fund tops rivals with stocks few analysts cover
The NicheJungle Japanese Orphan Companies SDG Fund has exited positions in 20 companies at a profit, with half of these firms taken over since the fund's 2022 launch.
The rapid collapse of the plan to take Seven & I private reflects how personal egos and domestic competitiveness ultimately outweighed the nationalistic desire to fend off Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, whose pursuit of the Japanese retailer emerged last August.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 2, 2025
Seven & I and Nissan deal fallout leaves Japan companies vulnerable
The collapse of the deals means the companies are potentially even more vulnerable to foreign takeovers.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida concludes a news conference at the company's headquarters in Yokohama in February.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2025
Nissan management shake-up plans reported as sharks circle  
Nissan is considering a change in leadership following poor results and the failure of a proposed merger with Honda, according to a report citing unnamed sources.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Toyota Industries receives $33 billion buyout offer from group companies
Toyota group companies could establish a new holding company to privatize Toyota Industries.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
South Korea’s Lee pledges to heal deep wounds as ‘president for everyone’
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung waves with his his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, following his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
South Korea’s Lee pledges to heal deep wounds as ‘president for everyone’
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung waves with his his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, following his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima dies at 89
Shigeo Nagashima (left), then the manager of the Tokyo Giants, waves to fans with players and coaches during a victory parade in central Tokyo in 2000. Nagashima died at the age of 89 on Tuesday.
‘A garden is a grand teacher’: The Kamakura Gardener nurtures via YouTube
American Robert Jefferson runs a YouTube channel called The Kamakura Gardener that invites viewers to enjoy the pleasures of gardening, cooking and slow living.

Podcast

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

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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