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Nao Sano
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
May 25, 2020
Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi ties more crucial than ever as pandemic rocks carmakers
Revising their strategies this week, the firms will at least have the opportunity to show progress in moving beyond last year's management paralysis.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2020
Growing need for digital signatures gives Japanese firm a massive boost
The coronavirus pandemic is yanking corporate Japan into the 21st century and raising the shares of Bengo4.com Inc.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2020
Virus forcing rethink of Japanese way of business at Toyota, CEO says
Changes in working style due to the pandemic may spur changes as companies are forced to re-examine long-entrenched business practices.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2020
In virus-hit Japan, cabs deliver ¥32,000 steaks and boxes occupy plane seats
Transportation companies get creative in expanding delivery options to generate revenue as virus negatively impacts bottom lines.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 1, 2019
Japan parts makers literally reinventing the wheel to keep up with shift to autonomous cars
The car industry is reinventing the wheel to prepare for autonomous vehicles.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 26, 2018
Meet the Japanese tech guru who is betting big on the future of drones
The only person in kimono at a recent government meeting on flying cars was Kotaro Chiba, a former online-game executive turned financier of a very specific kind.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2018
Plowing millions into Uber, Toyota prepares for a future with fewer privately owned cars
Toyota Motor Corp., Asia's biggest carmaker, is preparing for a potential future where people don't buy cars.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2018
Yoshiaki Murakami, once the scourge of Japan's boardrooms, turns peacemaker with big Idemitsu-Showa Shell Sekiyu win
Yoshiaki Murakami, who once struck fear into Japan's boardrooms and split public opinion with bitter activist battles, is now enjoying rare acclaim from executives and being praised as a peacemaker.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 11, 2018
Despite diversity drive, Japan's carmakers struggle to hire women engineers
Facing the worst labor shortage in decades, Japan's carmakers have seen the light: hire more women.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2018
'Herbivore' investor Haruhiro Nakano takes on lions of Japanese finance
In a tiny, windowless meeting room high above the streets of Tokyo, Haruhiro Nakano starts to cry. The rail-thin, 54-year-old fund manager, who looks like a faded former J-pop star, has just shared his investing pitch, which sounds so deceptively simple you may not appreciate just how radical it is:...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 16, 2018
Toyota's only female executive says her mission has always been to 'speak her mind'
Chika Kako is a rarity in Toyota Motor Corp.'s upper echelons.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 19, 2018
Memories of Tohoku tsunami prompt man to create floating car
Hideo Tsurumaki watched the giant tsunami crash onto Japan's northeast coast on March 11, 2011, sweeping away cars as people tried to escape from them.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 5, 2018
Brain waves will make Nissan's car of the future a better ride
The world's biggest carmakers and technology companies are spending billions of dollars to perfect your ability to drive without thinking. But Nissan Motor Co. is taking a different direction — trying to "decode" your thinking so that hands-on driving is more fun.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2017
Scandals seen shredding Japan Inc.'s once revered image for quality
Kobe Steel Ltd. raises fresh concern about the integrity of Japanese manufacturers after disclosing it falsified data on aluminum used in products ranging from cars to bullet trains.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Oct 5, 2017
Carlos Ghosn's protege faces first crisis with 'shocking' Nissan Japan recall
Carlos Ghosn, one of the auto industry's most celebrated turnaround artists, saved Nissan Motor Co. by managing himself out of numerous tight spots. Now his hand-picked successor faces a big test of his own, just six-months into his tenure as Nissan's chief executive officer.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 22, 2017
FSA shakes up asset-management firms with cheap funds to get individuals to move cash into stocks
An outspoken regulator has unleashed an unusual tactic to shake up Japan's asset-management industry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 31, 2017
How a rice lover's robot revolutionized the modern sushi industry
Kisaku Suzuki, creator of the world's first sushi robot, once ran a company that made candy-wrapping machines. And he was angry.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 24, 2017
Hedge fund crusade stymied as Japan Inc. clings to cross-shareholdings
Hedge fund manager Seth Fischer has a powerful ally as he campaigns for Japanese companies to sell their stakes in each others' businesses: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 16, 2017
Ex-Nomura salesman exiled in Chicago goes hostile at tiny Japan firms
From downtown Chicago, a former Nomura Holdings Inc. salesman is taking activist investing to Japan's smaller listed firms, betting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's corporate governance overhaul is trickling down to less-covered parts of the market.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2017
Nomura's India fund approaches ¥400 billion as Japan bets on Modi
The land of Abenomics is betting on "Modinomics."

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