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April 05, 2025
 

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Kanoko Matsuyama
Suntory President Nobuhiro Torii says the company has the option of simply changing the target market if prices of Hibiki and Yamazaki become up too high for U.S. consumers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 3, 2025
Suntory may shift focus to Japan, Asian markets to counter U.S. tariffs
Its president, Nobuhiro Torii, says it has the option of simply changing the target market if prices for its whiskeys become too high for American consumers.
A 7-Eleven convenience store, operated by Seven & I Holdings, at the company's headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2025
Seven & I signs confidentiality pact with Canada’s Couche-Tard
The nondisclosure agreement (NDA) will pave the way for discussions around antitrust issues in the United States, Seven & I said.
Alain Bouchard (left), chairman and founder of Alimentation Couche-Tard, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on March 13.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 19, 2025
Couche-Tard meets privately with Seven & I investors, pressing case for takeover
The Canadian firm has sought to reassure the public and key stakeholders that it's not considering a hostile takeover, despite a monthslong standoff with Seven & I.
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.
Seven & I Holdings CEO Ryuichi Isaka is stepping down from his position, the Nikkei newspaper has reported.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 3, 2025
7-Eleven owner to appoint first foreign CEO, report says
The owner's plan to take the company private to avoid being taken over by Couche-Tard collapsed last week, piling pressure on it to reconsider the $47 billion takeover proposal.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of novel breast cancer treatment by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca led Daiichi Sankyo's shares to post the largest intraday gain since August on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 20, 2025
Daiichi Sankyo rises most in five months on cancer drug approval
Datroway, developed with AstraZeneca, has been approved for patients with advanced breast tumors.
Seven & I Holdings reported Thursday that its operating profit was ¥128.4 billion during the three months to the end of November, compared with ¥169 billion a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025
Seven & I profit drops despite recovery in convenience stores
Operating profit was ¥128.4 billion during the three months to the end of November, compared with ¥169 billion a year earlier.
Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing reported strong growth in revenue and operating profit for the three months through November on robust demand in Japan, North America and Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025
Uniqlo owner reports strong growth in Japan and Western markets
Operating profit rose 7% to ¥157.6 billion for the three months ended November from a year earlier, with sales increasing to ¥895.2 billion.
Seven & I Holdings CEO Ryuichi Isaka
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2024
Japan’s convenience stores can span the globe, 7-Eleven CEO says
Ryuichi Isaka believes Seven-Eleven Japan’s know-how in making cheap, high-quality food will drive growth overseas.
Uniqlo's Round Mini Shoulder Bag on sale at a store in London
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2024
Uniqlo sues Chinese fast-fashion rival Shein to defend hit bag
Fast Retailing joins rival Hennes & Mauritz in suing Shein for copyright infringement in Hong Kong where litigation has been underway since 2021.
The government plans to raise the retirement age of drivers of privately owned cabs to 80, from 75 currently, as rural areas in particular suffer from an acute shortage of transportation for the elderly.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 4, 2023
Expanding labor shortage pushes Japan to find new ways to fill jobs
Companies have been forced to come up with new ways to find labor and keep their operations running smoothly, sometimes with novel ideas.
Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and chairman of Insilico Medicine, poses at his research facility in Suzhou, China, on Oct. 31.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 14, 2023
Race for first drug discovered by AI nears key milestone
Insilico Medicine's AI-developed drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is in midstage trials in the U.S. and China.
A Shiseido booth at the third China International Consumer Products Expo, in Haikou, Hainan province, in April
BUSINESS
Nov 10, 2023
Shiseido slashes profit forecast on Fukushima water release
Cosmetic products were at the center of a viral campaign that spread unproven safety allegations on Chinese social media platforms.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2023
Uniqlo owner scouts for more Indian partners after 60% sales jump
The Japanese apparel giant is currently working with over 20 sewing factories and mills in India.
Shiseido products on display at a Nykaa Luxe store in Mumbai, India, in November
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 15, 2023
Shiseido bets on India growth with first launch in a decade
Japan’s largest cosmetic firm has partnered with Indian retailer Shoppers Stop’s Global SS Beauty Brands and will open 14 stores in New Delhi and Mumbai.
Welcia Holdings, Japan’s largest drugstore chain, is one of the first Japanese companies to respond to China easing its ban on group tours to a raft of countries last week.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2023
Japan drugstore chain boosts duty-free counters on China bets
The company plans to offer duty-free services at 1,000 stores, up from about 260 currently, and it expects tourists to travel beyond Japan’s major cities.
Hiroshi Mikitani, co-chief executive officer of Rakuten Medical, speaks at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's meeting in Yokohama on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023
Rakuten’s Mikitani spends a fifth of his time on biotech startup
Rakuten Medical, based in San Diego, employs about 200 people and specializes in a therapy that uses light and immunotherapy drugs to fight cancer.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 11, 2023
Eisai appoints CEO’s son to lead global Alzheimer drug program
Eisai's former global Alzheimer drug program officer, who led the push for U.S. approval of breakthrough medicine Leqembi, will retire at the end of the month.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 7, 2023
AstraZeneca’s Japan partner to go solo on future cancer drugs
Daiichi Sankyo is expanding its sales and development staff overseas, aiming to boost production capacity so that it can handle its cancer drugs business entirely on its own.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 27, 2023
Beer brewer Kirin strikes $1.2 billion deal for Australia’s Blackmores vitamins
Kirin Holdings has agreed to buy Australian vitamin-maker Blackmores for 1.88 billion Australian dollars ($1.24 billion, ¥165.9 billion) in cash, as part of a push by the Japanese brewer into health products to reduce its reliance on beer.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Tottori takes a bold leap forward in the arts
The city of Kurayoshi in Tottori Prefecture celebrated the opening of its public art museum with festivities such as a parade that drew 1,000 revelers.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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