March 1, 2015
Japan’s banking industry looks to enter a new stage of its history in June, when all of the nation’s five megabank groups will have finished repaying the public bailout funds they received from th...
Major businesses in the country will begin Sunday their recruitment processes for university students who are due to graduate in spring 2016. The recruitment campaigns will be the first under a new ...
The government has embarked on devising measures to challenge the dominance of Google Inc., a U.S.-based company, which is enhancing its presence in the global industry of information and communicati...
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militant group uses crowd-funding techniques and social networking services including Twitter to raise funds from around the world, an international body to c...
The 300 units of the Pepper humanoid robot developed by SoftBank Corp. sold out in just one minute on Friday after the firm started taking advance orders from application developers.
Pepper, the wor...
The Government Pension Investment Fund posted an investment profit of ¥6.62 trillion in October-December, marking a positive return for the third consecutive quarter and the second-largest gain sinc...
Public trading in Skymark Airlines shares ended Friday due to the company’s filing of bankruptcy protection last month, about 15 years after they were listed on a Japanese stock market for startup ...
Following are excerpts from an interview with John Culver.
We’re gonna continue to focus on building out Starbucks and making our stores more accessible, and more importantly, continuing to innova...
To meet a wider variety of consumer needs, a growing number of restaurant, cafe and fast food chains are developing new menus, services and shops, going beyond the standard features of the industry.
...
Japan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage point from the previous month to 3.6 percent in January, up for the first time in four months, the Internal Affairs and Communicati...
The average consumption spending by Japanese households with two or more members fell 5.1 percent from a year earlier to ¥289,847 in price-adjusted real terms in January, down for the 10th consecuti...
Consumer prices in Japan rose year on year for the 20th straight month in January, but their growth decelerated further due to lower oil prices, government data showed Friday. The core consumer pric...
The government gave the go-ahead Friday for a law revision to pave the way for listing Kyushu Railway Co. (JR Kyushu), officials said. A Cabinet meeting approved revising the JR Corporation Law to e...
Japan’s industrial production in January rose 4.0 percent from the previous month, rising for the second straight month, government data showed Friday. The seasonally adjusted production index fo...
Mizuho Bank said Thursday that it has agreed to buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC’s corporate loan assets in North America for about $3 billion. The Japanese lender, a unit of Mizuho Financial ...
The dollar held firm above ¥119 in Tokyo Friday though it cut some of its overseas gains that had reflected rekindled optimism about the U.S. economy’s outlook. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted ...
Stocks rose further on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Friday, with the benchmark Nikkei average hitting a new 14-year closing high. Stocks cut their earlier losses on strong investor appetite to buy on d...
NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average notched its third record high close in a row Wednesday, even as other market indexes ended lower. Trading was relatively subdued as investors revi...
Asahi Soft Drinks Co., Japan’s third-largest soft drink company, and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., the maker of Pocari Sweat, plan to make each other’s products available in their vending machines, i...
Kumiko Otsuka, president of Otsuka Kagu Ltd., stressed Thursday that reforms implemented by her previous management team produced considerable results. “The numbers show that our reforms to attra...
Katsuhisa Otsuka, the founder and chairman of Otsuka Kagu Ltd., met with the press on Wednesday to explain why he is seeking to dismiss his eldest daughter Kumiko again as president of the furniture ...
Sony Corp.’s plan to spin off business units does not suggest an immediate sell-off, said President and Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai.
“The plan is not necessarily equal to their sale or ...
Three megabanks are expected to raise their pay scales for the second straight year, sources have said. The labor union of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and that of Mizuho Financial Group Inc., the p...
The dollar was directionless around ¥119 on Thursday in Tokyo after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s congressional testimony went fully out of the way. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted a...
Stocks staged a sharp rally on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Thursday, backed by a decision by a body managing pension money of Japanese government workers to boost investment in domestic stocks, with the...
Geoff Pegman of UK Trade & Investment stresses that Britain has very strong capabilities in software development for advanced robotic systems, and this advantage offers Japanese firms and researchers ...
Employees work on models of Toyota Motor Corp.’s Mirai fuel-cell vehicle at Motomachi Factory in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, on Tuesday. The specialized production line can produce only three models a...
With the nation’s nuclear power plants remaining idle, a number of construction plans are in the works for advanced thermal power plants using liquefied natural gas as fuel.
As a result, the batt...
The Isetan Mitsukoshi group, Japan’s largest department store chain, will likely implement a basic pay scale hike this year, raising the basic wages of all employees uniformly, according to sources...
The Intellectual Property High Court on Wednesday upheld a Patent Office decision to nullify the IGZO trademark registered by Sharp Corp. for its liquid crystal display panel technology.
The court t...
The Diet approved Wednesday a government proposal to appoint Waseda University Prof. Yutaka Harada to the Bank of Japan’s Policy Board and other government-sought appointments at public bodies. Th...
NEW YORK (AP) — Former 20th Century Fox chief Tom Rothman has been named chairman of Sony’s Motion Picture Group, replacing Amy Pascal as studio head and effectively concluding Sony’s shake-up ...
NEW YORK (Jiji Press) — Leading automaker Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus ranked top among 28 car brands in the United States for the third straight year in 2015 in both vehicle performance and reliab...
The benchmark Nikkei average snapped its five-day winning streak on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Wednesday, hurt by profit-taking. The 225-issue Nikkei average shed 18.28 points, or 0.10 percent, to clo...
The dollar fell below ¥119 in Tokyo Wednesday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen dented speculation of an early interest rate hike in the country. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at ¥...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen navigated the tricky job of managing expectations on Tuesday in her first public comments on interest rate policy in more than two months. She w...
NEW YORK (AP) — The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index delivered new highs Tuesday, beating marks they set last week. The Nasdaq composite also built on its gains for t...
Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. will have a woman in its executive ranks for the first time ever, excluding external board members. Chieko Takahashi, 55, special general manager, will be promoted to exe...
A string of accelerated promotions has been seen among large companies across the nation, in which company executives with no experience serving as directors are being appointed president. What do the...
ANA Holdings Inc. is expected to be the leading player in helping Skymark Airlines, which is under civil rehabilitation procedures, as about 20 various companies proposed to support the airline before...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday the government will put together in March a set of new measures to promote foreign investment in Japan. “We will compile new measures in collaboration with ...
An industry ministry panel approved on Tuesday plans to cut for the third consecutive year in fiscal 2015 the buying prices for electricity produced from solar energy by households and nonutility com...
The nation’s services producer price index in January rose 3.4 percent from a year earlier, slowing down from a revised 3.5 percent increase in December, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday. The index,...
Major chemical maker Asahi Kasei Corp. will acquire U.S. battery materials maker Polypore International Inc. for about $2.2 billion, the Japanese company said Monday. A U.S. unit of Asahi Kasei will...
Personal computer shipments in January fell 51.3 percent from a year before to 517,000 units, the lowest figure for the month since comparable data became available in 2007, the Japan Electronics and...
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union opened an in-depth probe of General Electric’s $14.1 billion takeover of the power division of French company Alstom on Monday fearing higher prices and less ch...
Hitachi Ltd. said Tuesday it would acquire two railroad subsidiaries from Italian aerospace and defense giant Finmeccanica. It is expected Hitachi will eventually spend about ¥250 billion for the ...
The dollar was solid around ¥119.20 in late Tokyo trading on Tuesday, partly aided by a rise in Tokyo stock prices, but its top-side was capped by a wait-and-see mood before a key U.S. economic even...
Stocks advanced on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday, with the benchmark Nikkei average hitting the highest close in about 14 years and 10 months above 18,500. The 225-issue Nikkei average rose 136.5...
NEW YORK (AP) — The slump in crude oil prices and disappointing U.S. home sales data helped nudge stocks mostly lower on Monday, pulling the market back from an all-time high reached last week. Th...
Major electric appliance makers are focusing on security for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, applying their advanced sensor and information technologies to the development of security an...
ANA Holdings Inc., the parent of All Nippon Airways, said Monday it had offered to cosponsor the turnaround of bankrupt Skymark Airlines.
ANA Holdings will also consider investing in Skymark, informe...
The dollar rose to around ¥119.20 in Tokyo Monday, drawing purchases in late trading mainly from foreign players after its narrow movements for much of the day. At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at...
At least three Bank of Japan Policy Board members, at a policy-setting meeting on Jan. 20-21, expressed the view that the central bank’s inflation target of 2 percent was difficult to achieve durin...
NIIGATA (Jiji Press)—U.S. investment fund Bain Capital Partners LLC is considering acquiring major mushroom producer Yukiguni Maitake Co. through a tender offer, the Niigata Prefecture-based compa...
Yutaka Katayama, the “father” of Nissan Motor Co.’s Z sports cars, died of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital Thursday morning. He was 105.
Katayama joined Nissan in 1935, just two years after...
The benchmark Nikkei average gained further ground on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Monday on higher U.S. equities and the yen’s drop, briefly topping 18,500 for the first time in about 14 years and 10 ...
ASPEN, Colo. — A growing number of U.S. businesses are marketing to homosexual consumers and other members of sexual minorities, spurred by such factors as the LGBT community’s high purchasing po...
WASHINGTON (Jiji Press) — Chief negotiators in Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade talks will meet in Hawaii on March 9-15, according to sources at the Office of the U.S. Trade Repres...
Suntory Holdings Ltd. has set a target of lifting the group’s total sales to ¥4 trillion in 2020, with the aim of growing into the world’s largest whiskey manufacturer through increased product d...
The purchase of Beam Inc. signaled a major change in direction for Suntory Holdings Inc., shifting from a chief focus on the domestic market to equipping itself to conquer the global market. Suntory ...
Major financial group Resona Holdings will pay off all debts owed to the state this summer, which amounted, as much as ¥3.128 trillion at one time, according to sources.
Resona plans to advance the ...
McDonald’s Holdings Co. (Japan) said Friday that Eiko Harada will step down as chairman, leaving the burger chain he has headed for 10 years.
Harada will quit to focus on running education service...
Discount store operator Don Quijote Co. has launched a new service allowing customers to pay in seven foreign currencies at 20 of its domestic stores, to improve convenience for foreign tourists.
Th...
OSAKA (Jiji Press) — The number of visitors to Universal Studios Japan for fiscal 2014 has already reached an annual all-time high, exceeding the previous record of 11.029 million marked in fiscal ...
CARACAS (AP) — Venezuelans lined up Thursday for their first chance in years to change bolivars into dollars without having to justify why they need foreign currency. The socialist South American...
Visual media producer Imagica Robot Holdings Inc. will acquire SDI Media Group Inc., the world’s largest media dubbing and subtitling company, with partners including Cool Japan Fund Inc., a public...
FRANKFURT (AP) — The European Central Bank’s governing council members wrestled with fears that falling prices could become ingrained in the eurozone economy before a “large majority” decided ...
The Nikkei average of the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished Thursday at its highest level in 14 years and nine months, since May 2000, before a robust economic recovery has even been seen. The main cause ...
Stocks continued to advance on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday on the back of strong hopes for further gains and of the weaker yen, helping the benchmark Nikkei average rewrite the highest closing...
The dollar temporarily rose above ¥119 but later hovered just below the threshold in Tokyo trading on Friday, with its topside capped by a wait-and-see mood ahead of eurozone talks on Greece’s deb...
NEW YORK (AP) — A slide in shares of utility companies nudged the U.S. stock market lower Thursday. Utilities were the day’s biggest losers, falling 1 percent, and their losses resumed a trend t...
There has been growing momentum in this year’s spring labor-management wage talks for pay-scale increases at major corporations that have achieved favorable business performance, also supported by ...
A consortium of five companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., is expected to win an order from Qatar’s state-run railway company to build a subway system in Doha, the capital of the M...
ANA Holdings Inc. has started to consider extending comprehensive aid to embattled Skymark Airlines, including an injection of capital, company sources said.
ANA Holdings, the subsidiaries of which ...
The country’s trade deficit shrank in January at its fastest pace since April 2011, government data showed Thursday. The country started posting a trade deficit as a trend in April 2011 due to a s...
The government kept unchanged its headline economic assessment in a monthly report released on Thursday, as recent data signaled that sluggish consumption continued to weigh on the economy. The Febr...
The average monthly pay for full-time workers in Japan in 2014 rose 1.3 percent from the previous year to ¥299,600, the first increase in two years, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said in a ...
ATHENS (AP) — Greece requested Thursday a six-month extension in its rescue loan agreement — but not the associated budget measures — in a last-moment bid to break a deadlock with European credi...
The benchmark Nikkei average finished at a 21st century high on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Thursday, backed by persistent hopes for further stock price rises as well as buying on dips. The 225-issue Ni...
The dollar dropped to around ¥118.70 in Tokyo trading Thursday, failing to throw off the weakness caused overnight by quickly growing expectations for a delay in a U.S. interest rate hike. At 5 p.m...
ATHENS (AP) — Greece is considering requesting an extension to its loan agreement, government officials said Tuesday, in an effort to reach a last-minute deal with the country’s European creditors...
The Bank of Japan decided to leave its monetary policy unchanged at its two-day Policy Board meeting that ended on Wednesday. The central bank will thus continue aiming to increase the country’s m...
Japan Post Holdings Co. announced Wednesday it has made an agreement to acquire Australian major logistics player Toll Holdings Ltd. for about ¥620 billion. The acquisition will be the largest ever ...
Average monthly household spending for 2014 fell 3.2 percent from the previous year in real terms, posting its biggest drop in eight years, the internal affairs ministry said Tuesday. The monthly av...
U.S. hamburger chain Shake Shack Inc. said Tuesday that it will launch operations in Japan in 2016, with its first outlet in the country to be opened in Tokyo. Shake Shack plans to launch a total of...
Japan could cut more than 10 percent of its energy consumption by fiscal 2030 if households and industries do their best to adopt energy-saving measures, according to an estimate presented by the Eco...
Sony Corp. announced Wednesday that it would spin off its video and sound business unit, well known for its Walkman audio player, and establish a wholly owned subsidiary in October. According to the...
The labor unions of Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and other major automakers, which will lead the annual shunto spring wage negotiations, on Wednesday called for a uniform monthly basic pay hik...
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks closed slightly higher Tuesday as investors continued to monitor talks between Greece and its creditors in hopes that a deal will be reached to keep the country from fal...
The benchmark Nikkei average rewrote its highest closing level in about seven years and seven months on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, led by rises in bank and brokerage issues on the back of...
An old adage says to never do business with family — internal feuds can make things messy, as is the case with major furniture chain operator Otsuka Kagu Ltd. Weighed down by sluggish performance, ...
The dollar was firmer above ¥119 in Tokyo trading Wednesday, thanks to receding worries about the Greek debt issue and remarks by the Japanese central bank chief on monetary policy. At 5 p.m., the ...
The European Union will allow imports of dried bonito and fugu from Japan for the world exposition to be held in Milan from May to October, it has been learned. EU effectively bans imports of dried...
Uniqlo Co. said Monday that it will launch kabuki-themed clothing in collaboration with Shochiku Co., which operates the Kabukiza theater. The new product lineup will include T-shirts with graphics ...
Suntory Holdings Ltd. gained the top spot in terms of revenue among four major Japanese brewers for the first time ever in the business year that ended in December, boosted by its acquisition of U.S....
BRUSSELS (AP) — European creditors issued Greece with an ultimatum Monday, saying the country must accept a key condition in bailout talks by the end of the week or face having to meet its debt comm...
The benchmark Nikkei average retreated on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday, pressured by profit-taking the day after its ascent to the highest closing level in about seven years and seven months. Th...
The dollar was mildly weaker around ¥118.50 in Tokyo trading late Tuesday, amid increased risk-averse sentiment following the collapse of eurozone talks on aid to debt-laden Greece. At 5 p.m., the...
The first positive growth in Japan’s gross domestic product since the consumption tax rate was raised in April last year was the result mainly of overseas demand, such as for automobiles in the Unit...
Small and medium-sized domestic firms are exporting old-fashioned goods that have been manufactured with tradition and skills. Although such companies have suffered due to changes in the Japanese life...
Although preliminary data released Monday showed growth in the nation’s gross domestic product in the October-December quarter for the first time in three quarters, the key to solid economic recov...
The number of new condominiums put on sale in the greater Tokyo area in January fell to the lowest level for the month in four years, the Real Estate Economic Institute reported Monday.
The area’...
The 225-issue Nikkei average on Monday finished above the psychologically important 18,000 line for the first time since July 24, 2007, supported by increasing optimism about the European economy. ...
Fanuc Corp. will spend a total of about ¥130 billion to build a new plant and expand an existing research facility, the company said Monday. Through the investment, the major industrial robot make...
SHANGHAI (Jiji Press) — Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. will start offering free trade accounts in the Shanghai free trade zone shortly. The unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. has passed a...
The dollar was easier around ¥118.60 in Tokyo trading late Monday, with active trading held in check ahead of this week’s key domestic and overseas events. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at ¥118.60...
The nation’s gross domestic product in the October-December quarter increased 0.6 percent from the previous quarter in price-adjusted real terms, marking the first positive growth in three quarters ...
When choosing a housing loan at a time when interest rates stand at near record lows, experts stress it is important to consider the total amount that must be repaid, including any miscellaneous expen...
Honda Motor Co. plans to cut its lineup of four-wheel vehicles by about 20 percent in an effort to improve the quality of its products, sources said Saturday.
Honda divides the world into six markets...
