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December 21, 2024
 

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Hideyuki Sano
Most market players expect shareholder activism to be as frenetic, if not more, next year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 17, 2024
Activist investors set record with $6.6 billion spree in Japan
Activists have taken stakes in at least 146 companies, successfully demanding disposal of real estate, changes in strategy and stock buybacks.
Investors' expectations for corporate governance reform triggered by the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s campaign have been a major driver of the rally in Japanese stocks over the last two years, but the market’s historic crash in early August has changed the dynamics.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 13, 2024
Cheap valuations are out as investors like new metric for Japan stocks
Investors are now trying to identify companies that have strong fundamentals but have a lot to gain by improving capital allocation, one portfolio manager said.
The Topix and the yen have been largely moving independently over the past two months, shifting away from Japanese stocks’ past tendency to rise on a weaker yen.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 6, 2024
Cheap yen boost for Japan’s stocks shrinks to nil on hawkish BOJ
The Topix and the yen have been largely moving independently over the past two months.
Dai Nippon Printing said that Elliott Investment Management looks to have substantially reduced its position in the company.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 25, 2024
Dai Nippon Printing says Elliott has sold most of its stake
Elliott has been active in Japan this year, investing in Tokyo Gas, Sumitomo, SoftBank Group and Mitsui Fudosan.
Nissan Motor slashed its earnings outlook earlier this month and said it would cut 9,000 jobs and a fifth of its manufacturing capacity.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 21, 2024
Hedge fund Effissimo stirs speculation with its stake in Nissan Motor
News of the investment sent Nissan’s shares soaring 13% on Nov. 12.
A screen showing the yen's exchange rate against the U.S. dollar in July
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 5, 2024
Yen is the first of many Japanese assets set to pivot on U.S. election
Given the size and liquidity of its markets, Japan will be in particular focus during the U.S. election.
Government Pension Investment Fund saw a loss of 3.6% in the three months through September, with assets totaling ¥248.2 trillion ($1.6 trillion), it said Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 1, 2024
GPIF has worst loss since 2020 as yen strength hits assets
GPIF, one of the world’s largest state pension funds, incurred losses in three of four major asset classes.
A monitor shows Tokyo Metro's opening price on Wednesday morning in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 23, 2024
Tokyo Metro shares surge in trading debut after strong IPO
Proceeds from the IPO will redeem reconstruction bonds issued after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan that killed 18,000 people.
An electronic ticker at the Tokyo Stock Exchange
BUSINESS
Oct 4, 2024
More stocks trade below book value in Japan despite reforms
About 38% of Topix 500 companies were trading below book value as of the end of September.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo. Japanese companies with directors that sit on multiple boards are facing the equity market’s displeasure as the bourse steps up pressure to improve corporate governance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024
‘Moonlighting’ directors are problem for company boards in Japan
The Tokyo bourse has demanded that firms in its blue-chip Prime section get at least a third of their board members externally.
The government has been encouraging people to shift some of the roughly ¥1 quadrillion held in bank accounts to the stock market, but leading candidates to be the next prime minister have avoided investing in stocks.
BUSINESS
Sep 24, 2024
LDP presidential candidates avoid investing in Japanese stocks
Two of the top candidates, Shinjiro Koizumi and Sanae Takaichi, report owning no shares.
Global investors are expecting the yen may rise further since the Bank of Japan raised interest rates in July.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 10, 2024
Yen rally prompts an unwind of hedges in Japanese stocks but investors wary of earnings hit
Expectations that the yen may strengthen further have prompted strategists to recommend unwinding currency hedges on Japanese shares that have outperformed peers.
Government Pension Investment Fund in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 4, 2024
GPIF watchers say $1.75 trillion fund may buy more Japan stocks
GPIF is likely to have reclaimed its position as the world’s largest pension fund, thanks to the yen’s rebound after a brief slip earlier this year.
The yen's rebound is clouding an outlook for Japanese firms' earnings that have enjoyed a boost from the weak yen.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024
Yen’s rebound threatens earnings growth in Japan
Weak demand in China and the risk of a slowing U.S. economy are fueling worries about how sustainable their earnings growth will be.
An electronic ticker at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo earlier this month
BUSINESS
Aug 21, 2024
Sticky money stays in Japan while short-term players dump stocks
Foreign investors sold $5.28 billion in Japanese equities, cash and futures combined in the first week of August.
Bears think the best days for bank shares may be over, but for investors who are worried the yen may have further room to gain, bank shares have the additional benefit of having limited exposure to foreign-exchange fluctuations.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 7, 2024
Massive losses set stage for big rebound in Japan’s bank stocks
In the first three days of August, the Topix Banks index lost 26.5%, more than the 20.3% fall in the broader Topix index.
Shares faced historic sell-offs at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday, but some retail investors see them as an opportunity to buy the dip, betting that the downturn is temporary.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 6, 2024
Japan’s retail investors show resiliency despite market turmoil
Some small investors chose the opportunity to buy the dip, betting that the market downturn was temporary.
Tsuyoshi Maruki, president of Strategic Capital, speaks online on Thursday after three of six candidates proposed by the firm for Daidoh's board positions secured a seat.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 28, 2024
Activist fund in Japan wins Daidoh board seats in rare victory
Daidoh's stock has more than tripled since activist fund Strategic Capital built a stake in the firm in November 2022.
Shareholders queue to enter a venue for SoftBank Group's annual general meeting in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 26, 2024
Activist investing booms in Japan amid corporate governance reforms
International hedge funds and home-grown investors have turned the country into the world’s second-largest market for activists.
JPX CEO Hiromi Yamaji says the number of companies in the Topix index will be reduced to about 1,200 in the next review of the index, in 2028.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 20, 2024
Japan’s Topix to include broader range of companies, but fewer of them
The Topix index currently includes more than 2,000 stocks, with at least ¥83 trillion ($526 billion) of assets were linked to the gauge as of last year.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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