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Makiko Yamazaki
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 1, 2021
Little-known fees help Japan's trust banks dominate profitable niche market
Insiders say an 'industry custom' of termination fees keeps profitable business in the hands of a few big trust banks because newcomers balk at the cost.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2021
No Plan B: Japan's sponsors shelve ads as mood sours over Olympics
Sponsors also worry that organizers have not told them what contingency plans there are in case the pandemic derails the games again this year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 27, 2020
Japan's unorthodox household goods champion rides a pandemic boom
Iris Ohyama has made a name through reasonably priced electronics, and launches more than 1,000 new products a year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 25, 2020
Top Toshiba investor calls for inquiry in widening vote scandal
Because receipts were issued a day after voting forms were received, some were mistaken for being late even though they'd been delivered on time.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 5, 2020
Japan looks to AI as coronavirus challenges quality control mantra
A rethink of the factory floor has been prompted by COVID-19, leading to an increased use of robots in manufacturing.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 17, 2020
Major Toshiba stakeholder 3D Investment demands probe into annual shareholder vote
The incident is likely to raise fresh questions about the relationship between foreign investors, who make up 60 percent of Toshiba's shareholders, and the company.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 11, 2020
Japan kept activist investor in limbo over key Toshiba vote, sources say
The news illustrates how Japan's tighter rules on foreign ownership may also be used to keep activist shareholders in check.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 6, 2020
Call centers expose fault line in Japan's pandemic fight
In the past few weeks, 17 infections were confirmed at a post office call center in Hokkaido and 11 at a Kyoto mail-order business.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Aug 30, 2019
Japan's curbs on high-tech materials exports to South Korea could backfire in long run
Japan's curbs on exports of high-tech materials to South Korea could backfire in the long run, eroding its dominance over a key link in the global chip supply chain, suppliers and experts have said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Mar 24, 2019
Apple's iPhone struggles unravel ambitions of Japan Display
When Japan Display Inc. broke ground on a new factory in central Japan in 2015, the future looked bright for one of the world's top vendors of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Dec 17, 2018
Japanese electronics firms look to re-engineer their design mojo
Akihiro Adachi, a 31-year-old audiovisual equipment designer at Panasonic Corp., longed for some personal space during his lengthy train rides from Osaka to Tokyo. So when his company set out to encourage innovation, he joined with some colleagues and came up with Wear Space, a headset that limits noise...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Sep 23, 2018
Japanese and other Asian firms shifting production from China as U.S. tariffs take toll
As the U.S. imposes tariffs on Chinese imports, a growing number of Asian manufacturers producing items there are moving to shift production from China to other factories in the region.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 10, 2018
Under visionary Shigenobu Nagamori, precision motor-maker Nidec sees EVs driving future profits
Since starting Nidec in 1973 in a tiny Kyoto shed with just three workers, Shigenobu Nagamori has built it into the world's top maker of precision motors and became one of Japan's most venerated business leaders.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Aug 21, 2018
Japan's Daikin, thriving in Asia and India, plans to go head to head with China in Africa
Daikin Industries, the world's largest maker of air conditioning equipment, is turning to Africa for further expansion, 10 years after a successful gamble on sharing its key technology with a Chinese company.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2018
Japanese firms see big future for small-scale industrial robots
A two-armed robot in a Chiba factory carefully stacks rice balls in a box, which a worker carries off for shipment to convenience stores. At another food-packaging plant, a robot shakes pepper and powdered cheese over pasta that a person has just arranged in a container.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Jul 9, 2017
Toshiba under pressure to draw up plan B as chip sale falters: sources
As plans to sell Toshiba Corp.'s memory chip unit falter, some bankers and potential investors press the board to seriously consider alternatives, including picking a new buyer.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Dec 30, 2016
Toshiba burning through cash, running out of fixes to plug nuclear hole
Faced with the prospect of a multi-billion-dollar writedown that could wipe out its shareholders' equity, Japan's Toshiba is running out of fixes: it is burning cash, cannot issue shares and has few easy assets left to sell.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals