author

 
 

Meta

Finbarr Flynn
Rakuten Group is considering the sale of hybrid perpetual notes that can be called after five years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 2, 2024
Rakuten plans return to dollar bond market with hybrid notes
Rakuten’s liquidity has improved but an increased reliance on the dollar bond market may indicate weakened domestic funding access.
Norinchukin Bank kicked off its first dollar bond sale since March last year to finance environmentally related projects.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 14, 2024
Norinchukin kicks off first dollar bond sale since losses
The bank started marketing a five-year green bond on Oct. 8 at a spread of around 155 basis points over Treasurys.
The emphasis on lifting earnings is prompting more Japanese companies to boost investments abroad.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2024
Japan corporate cleanup fuels appetite for record debt sales
Japanese corporate dollar bonds have been outperforming U.S. peers, and borrowers have piled into the market with record issuance in recent months.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left), U.S. President Joe Biden (center) and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hold a joint news conference following a trilateral summit at Camp David near Thurmont, Maryland, on Aug. 18.
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2023
South Korea kicks off historic 'samurai bond' sale in Japan
The historic debt offering comes as part of broad-based improvement in ties between Seoul and Tokyo.
Investors have scooped up yen debt from issuers outside Japan, fueling the busiest July since 2018.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 24, 2023
Global yen bond market emerges as oasis amid Japan volatility
Investors have scooped up yen debt from issuers outside Japan, fueling the busiest July since 2018.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 23, 2022
Global bond market losses mean the worst drawdown on record for global fixed income
The Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index, a benchmark for government and corporate debt total returns, has fallen 11% from a high in January 2021.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2021
SoftBank gets over $7 billion in jumbo offshore bond deal
The Japanese technology giant sold $3.85 billion of dollar-denominated debt and u20ac2.95 billion ($3.5 billion) of notes on Wednesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 19, 2021
SoftBank plans ¥405 billion bond sale after record profit
SoftBank has long tapped individual investors in Japan rather than institutions for most of its yen funding from the local bond market, taking advantage of its strong brand recognition.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2017
Housewife who saved Toyoko hotel chain puts focus on female managers
Maiko Kuroda isn't new to challenges. She was a housewife when her father's hotel chain was embroiled in scandal, forcing her to return to the business almost a decade ago. Having boosted profit tenfold, she's now eyeing markets in Europe and North America.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 29, 2016
Marilyn Monroe's Tokyo honeymoon spot frets over impact of yen rise
Tokyo's Imperial Hotel, the luxury inn that counts Marilyn Monroe among past guests, raised room rates last year to levels it last charged before the bubble economy imploded in the early 1990s. A surging yen now threatens those gains.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Apr 29, 2016
In quake-prone Japan, Kumamoto temblors stir worry of 'Tokyo X Day'
There's nothing comical about this manga: office building windows shatter, trains derail and cars plunge from buckling bridges. It all happens at 4:35 p.m. on a day dubbed "Tokyo's X Day."
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 22, 2016
Hedge fund's computer says sell Japan debt after 19% gain
For Kyo Yamamoto, leaving investment choices to a computer rather than making his own calls has been the best strategy as unorthodox global monetary policies only worsen market volatility. Right now, the machine says sell Japan government bonds.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 25, 2016
BOJ-fueled Tokyo property boom pricing average earners out of housing market
Rich buyers taking advantage of record low borrowing costs have pushed prices in Tokyo beyond the reach of many ordinary buyers, taking the wind out of property sales.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 14, 2015
Online broker chases Japan's day traders to close gap with peers
Monex Group Inc. is seeking more business from Japan's growing ranks of day traders in a bid to catch up with other online brokerages.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 2, 2015
Trump's 'Japan Is back' rhetoric signals campaign focus on alleged currency manipulation
Donald Trump's claim that "Japan is back" isn't the dominant view among economists. Apparently, the Bank of Japan agrees with his assessment.
BUSINESS
Sep 29, 2015
Japan's cheap debt, aging population prompt ex-banker to shift focus
Saburo Nishiura is using Japan's record-low borrowing costs to turn the nation's shrinking population to his advantage.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 24, 2015
To Nomura, Fannie and Freddie are bright spot in struggle abroad
Nomura Holdings Inc. is doggedly expanding in a U.S. bond market that pays fees as low as 0.003 percent, even as it slashes its number of employees in London and one of its biggest shareholders says to get out of unprofitable overseas businesses.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 6, 2015
Mizuho's Wall Street itch revealed in huge Actavis deal
When Actavis was preparing to buy Allergan, it gave Mizuho Financial Group Inc. a weekend to decide if it wanted to help come up with $46 billion in loans to back the deal, which had been code-named Project Fruit Basket.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 9, 2015
SMBC Nikko aims to hire rare experts to manage riskier bank debt
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. is seeking as many as six new hires for a team specializing in underwriting bonds issued by banks that would insulate taxpayers from costs if the lenders later fail.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 7, 2015
Sharp's future relies on Apple after Japan banks extend lifeline
Sharp Corp. forked over some of its equity to banks last week after defaulting on debt to the lenders, winning a new lease on life that leaves it dependent on their goodwill and the support of Apple Inc., its biggest customer.

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition