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Jan 14, 2025 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Elizabeth Beattie
Nippon Steel’s case against the United States for blocking its acquisition of United States Steel is unlikely to succeed, according to attorneys with expertise in relevant areas. “Unfortunately for Nippon Steel, their argument is not particularly strong,” said Akira Inoue, a partner at Baker & McKenzie in Tokyo specializing in antitrust and competition. On Jan.
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Jan 4, 2025 | 
businessandamerica.com | Elizabeth Beattie
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Dec 23, 2024 | 
globalresearch.ca | Elizabeth Beattie
Nissan Motor and Honda Motor are discussing a merger that could create the world’s No. 3 carmaker and leave Japan with just two auto-manufacturing groups. A combination of some sort has been under consideration for some time as the companies work to stay competitive in the face of overcapacity and the need for huge investments related to electric-vehicle and self-driving technologies. Discussions have become more urgent in recent months.
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Elizabeth Beattie
Inflation and teetotaling are taking a toll on izakaya, Japanese pubs where food and drink are served in an informal, sometimes rowdy, setting. In the first 11 months of this year, 203 of these establishments went out of business. That’s more than the 189 that went under in the whole of 2020 when COVID-19 became a pandemic. Izakaya are usually small, cozy places where the work is labor-intensive and relatively personal.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Elizabeth Beattie
As far as the Japanese markets were concerned, it was all but over by the start of trading on Wednesday morning. About 11 hours after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, Tokyo stocks opened flat and the yen was little changed from a day earlier. The takeaway for investors was that the system worked and that they could go back to worrying about corporate earnings and the Bank of Japan meeting later this month.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Elizabeth Beattie
The percentage of companies led by women presidents continues to rise, hitting 8.4% in 2024, up from 8.3% the previous year and 8.0% in 2020, according to a report released Friday by Teikoku Databank. Since 1990, the ratio has almost doubled. Teikoku Databank has the largest commercial repository of information on Japanese companies, including privately held businesses. Its report on women in leadership roles is based on entries covering 1.19 million companies.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Elizabeth Beattie
SoftBank Group is contemplating legal action against Moody's Ratings after it issued a report on the tech-focused holding company. The gripe is not so much about the Ba3 rating published in the report, especially since the credit rating agency's outlook for SoftBank was upgraded from stable to positive. It is instead about the rating being unsolicited. Bonds that are rated Ba3 by Moody’s are considered non-investment grade, or speculative. In Wall Street jargon, they are known as junk bonds.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Elizabeth Beattie
Amazon is being investigated by the Japan Fair Trade Commission for alleged using its market dominance to force down the price of goods sold on its site as regulators globally take a closer look at potentially anticompetitive practices by big technology companies. “The JFTC has just instigated its formal investigation,” Takujiro Kono, director of the Japan Fair Trade Commission’s international affairs division, confirmed in an email to the Japan Times.
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Elizabeth Beattie
Japanese social media users are quickly taking to Bluesky and other X alternatives, with data suggesting the start of a durable trend. According to Similarweb, monthly active user numbers for Bluesky on Android in Japan quintupled in the 12 months to October, while figures for X were down over that time. And daily active user numbers increased on Bluesky into the first two weeks of November.
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Nov 24, 2024 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Elizabeth Beattie
In breaking into Japan's rough-and-tumble, dog-eat-dog donut market, where brands big and small fight to foist their fare upon confectionary-savvy consumers, a giant donut doesn’t hurt. “Everyone loves pictures of themselves with the big donut,” said Mark Kelegian, president and CEO of Randy’s Donuts, a U.S. company that recently signed a Japanese franchise deal for up to 50 outlets in the country.
