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December 22, 2024
 

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Rocky Swift
People are seen at one of Seven & I Holdings's 7-Eleven convenience stores in Tokyo in January 2017.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Dec 12, 2024
7-Eleven battle shows resilience of Japan Inc.'s family ties
Founding families are able to wield considerable power in Japanese companies despite holding small stakes.
Toho's acquisition of GKIDS is a fresh push by Toho to strengthen its resources in animation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2024
Toho buys Ghibli animation distributor GKIDS to further overseas growth
The acquisition comes amid a surge in global popularity for Japanese entertainment and fits with Toho's multiyear growth strategy.
Fast Retailing booked its third consecutive year of record earnings on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 10, 2024
Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing posts 31% rise in full-year profit, beats estimates
Operating profit rose 31% to ¥500.9 billion in the 12 months through August from ¥381.1 billion a year earlier.
Suntory Holdings CEO Takeshi Niinami speaks during a Reuters Newsmaker event in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2024
Seven & I takeover bid shows a shift in government, Suntory CEO says
The takeover bid has also left many CEOs in Japan nervous that their companies could be next.
Kirin Holdings President Takeshi Minakata at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 29, 2024
Kirin clinched Fancl takeover to propel health pivot, president says
Fancl fits into a health science portfolio that Kirin aims to grow into a new pillar of the group.
Suntory's canned cocktail Minus 196 Double Lemon on sale at a store in Sydney
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2024
Japan's Suntory bets on spirits expertise to boost U.S. canned cocktail market share
Suntory believes its annual RTD revenue could double from current levels to about $3 billion (¥434 billion) by 2030.
A researcher at the University of Tokyo shows a face mold covered in human skin tissue at its lab.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 18, 2024
Say cheese: Japanese scientists make robot face 'smile' with living skin
Researchers at the University of Tokyo grew human skin cells in the shape of a face and pulled it into a wide grin, using embedded ligamentlike attachments.
Yumiko Takano, chief executive officer of Oriental Land, speaks during a news conference in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, on Tuesday. Oriental Land has secured a deal with Disney Enterprises to launch Disney Cruises in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2024
Disney to add new ship in Tokyo to expanding cruise business
The new ship will be modeled after the Wish, the largest vessel in Disney's fleet.
Cameras and lenses are displayed at Fujifilm Holdings headquarters in Tokyo on June 7.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 28, 2024
Fujifilm once struggled to sell cameras. Now, it can't keep up with demand.
Fujifilm is struggling to meet demand for the X100 camera, prized by young 20-something social media users for its looks and high-end functions.
Mayumi Kitakata uses "CatsMe!," an AI-driven smartphone app that purports to tell when a cat is feeling pain, near her 14 year-old male pet cat Chi at her home in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2024
Japan's beloved cats get health care help from AI
The CatsMe! app has been used on 6,000 pictures of cats and by more than 230,000 customers since its launch last year.
Asahi Group Holdings chief executive Atsushi Katsuki
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024
Asahi eyes overseas acquisitions to quadruple sales of Super Dry beer
Spurred on by the need to seek growth outside of the shrinking home market, Japanese firms went on an overseas buying spree worth ¥8.1 trillion last year.
Japanese civil engineering group Infroneer said it would buy Japan Wind Development from Bain Capital for about $1.4 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2023
Japan's Infroneer to buy Japan Wind Development from Bain Capital
The $1.4 billion acquisition will expand the Japanese civil engineering group's renewable energy business.
Foreign tourists in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward on Wednesday
JAPAN
Oct 18, 2023
Foreign visitors to Japan hit 96% of pre-COVID level in September
The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure was 2.18 million last month, up slightly from 2.16 million in August.
The average price for a new condominium in central Tokyo rose 60% to a record ¥129.6 million ($865,000) in the first half of this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 4, 2023
Surging Tokyo property prices squeeze out young professionals
The average price for a new condominium in central Tokyo rose 60% to a record ¥129.6 million ($865,000) in the first half of this year.
Suntory Beverage & Food's chief executive Makiko Ono sees Australia as a model for integrating canned alcoholic drinks into offerings in other global markets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 31, 2023
Suntory Beverage sees Australia as model for can cocktail growth
The company is considering building a factory in Australia's northeastern city of Brisbane to produce canned drinks.
Staff from All Nippon Airways and a travel agency escort a Chinese tour group from Beijing upon their arrival at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 24, 2023
Will 'explosive spending' return to Japan with China group tours?
Hopes the tours will herald big returns clash with a struggling Chinese economy and Japan's controversial release of treated wastewater into the sea.
Nadine, a 43-year-old tourist from the U.S., wears a sumo wrestler costume and tries to spar against former sumo wrestler Towanoyama in the sumo ring at Yokozuna Tonkatsu Dosukoi Tanaka in Tokyo in June 30.
SUMO
Jul 23, 2023
Sumo retirees play for laughs from tourists flooding back to Japan
Themed restaurants, including those offering sumo performances, are part of a tourism ecosystem that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hopes will add ¥5 trillion a year to the nation's economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 13, 2023
Uniqlo owner posts record Q3 profit and raises forecast on China recovery
Fast Retailing has 925 Uniqlo outlets in mainland China — more than in Japan — making it a bellwether for a retail market that was hammered by tough COVID-19 restrictions.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
May 1, 2023
Astellas to buy Iveric Bio for $5.9 billion to expand eyesight treatments
The deal marks the fifth major overseas acquisition by Astellas, Japan's third biggest drugmaker by sales, since 2019.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 29, 2023
As home market shrinks, 'Made in Japan' appeal still offers hope for Miki House
From a country with ever-fewer births, the firm is looking overseas — for production, and for customers who will buy products like its ¥100,000 Gold Label brand pajamas.
Freed anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrives in France
U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling environmental activist Paul Watson, who was released from prison in Greenland's capital Nuuk after five months in detention, arrives with Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, near Paris, on Friday.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
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.
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.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
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.

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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