Nintendo approved a secondary offering of up to 338.2 billion yen ($2.2 billion) as four major shareholders, the Bank of Kyoto, Nomura Trust, Resona Bank and DeNA, unwound their strategic stakes. What is Japan's cross-shareholding system, and why is it being dismantled now? A look at the governance shift reshaping Japanese corporations, from Toyota's $19 billion unwind to the record 9.77 trillion yen sold in 2025.
Thailand's BEV sales turned negative in 2024 while hybrid sales surged nearly 50%. Falling resale values, thin charging infrastructure and retreating Chinese brands exposed the limits of the EV boom. As markets from Bangkok to Berlin recalibrate, Toyota and Honda's multi-pathway strategy looks better than it did. A data-led look at the EV slowdown across Thailand, China and Europe.
Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has joined the AI-RAN Alliance, an international consortium turning cell towers into AI processing hubs. With SoftBank, NVIDIA, Samsung, and other tech giants on board, this move signals Japan's commitment to distributed AI infrastructure and its strategic positioning in the US-China tech race heading into the 6G era.
Japan's Fair Trade Commission raided Microsoft Japan over suspected antitrust violations in cloud computing. The investigation targets licensing practices that may have hindered competitors to Azure. We explore how this fits into the global wave of Big Tech regulation, from the EU's Digital Markets Act to the US FTC probe and UK CMA scrutiny.
Europe's largest asset manager Amundi has shifted to overweight on Japanese government bonds for the first time in 30 years. Foreign investors bought a net ¥6.04 trillion ($40 billion) in JGBs in January 2026, the second-largest monthly figure on record. We analyze how BOJ rate hikes, political stability, and diversification from US assets are driving global money into Japan's bond market.
The explosive growth of AI data centers is creating a golden age for power electronics. With tens of thousands of GPUs fluctuating power equivalent to a nuclear plant by over 50%, Japanese makers like Mitsubishi Electric, Fuji Electric, and Toshiba see a massive opportunity. Includes US and Europe comparisons.
Rakuten Group has restarted talks to bring its banking, securities and credit card businesses under Rakuten Bank by October 2026. With plans to unify its financial apps and grow to 33 million bank accounts, it is Japan's most ambitious step toward a fintech super app. We compare the strategy with Alipay, WeChat Pay, Grab and GoTo, and examine how a $1.15 billion annual net loss, driven by mobile, shapes the gamble.
ITOCHU Corporation is raising its stake in Hitachi Construction Machinery to 33.4%, securing veto power over key corporate decisions with a $900 million additional investment. This deep dive explores Japan's unique Sogo Shosha business model, the global construction equipment rivalry with Caterpillar and Komatsu, and why Warren Buffett has poured $23.5 billion into Japan's five major trading houses. Does your country have anything like a Sogo Shosha?
Japan's largest Kampo maker, Tsumura, will acquire the core business of Yomeishu Seizo, maker of the 400-year-old medicinal herbal liquor, for about $45 million. We break down the unusual multi-stage deal run through activist investor Yoshiaki Murakami's vehicles, and why Japanese traditional medicine is looking outward.
An exclusive report reveals that employees at Tesla's Japan division were paying order fees out of their own pockets to meet sales targets, a practice known as "Jibaku Eigyo" (self-destructive sales). Senior executives, including the Japan CEO, have forfeited part of their compensation. We explore why this uniquely Japanese toxic sales culture persists even at a Silicon Valley giant.
AGIBOT, the world's top humanoid robot shipper from China, has established a Japanese subsidiary for full-scale market entry. Having shipped over 5,100 units globally in 2025 with 39% market share, the company claims the humanoid market will surpass the auto industry. We examine how Japan — an industrial robotics powerhouse — now trails China and the US in humanoid development, and explore adoption potential in Japan's labor-starved manufacturing and elderly care sectors.
