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July 01, 2026
 

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Taiga Uranaka
Kenji Miyoshi, CEO of Iyogin Holdings, says investment opportunities have arrived for Japanese government bonds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 15, 2026
Japan’s top bond-trading regional bank buys JGBs after decade break
Iyogin Holdings started testing the $7 trillion market in April with small purchases of superlong bonds, according to its CEO.
Mizuho Financial Group’s CEO Masahiro Kihara said on Wednesday that he expects the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates in June or July, though any modest hike is unlikely to have a major market impact.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2026
Mizuho CEO floats idea of first outsized BOJ hike since 1990
Masahiro Kihara says whether the BOJ raises rates in June or July is unlikely to have a big impact on the market unless the increase is large.
Nippon Life Insurance, Japan’s largest life insurer, wrote down ¥70 billion ($440 million) in the year ended March 31.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 26, 2026
Nippon Life books its first impairment loss in current bond rout
Nippon Life Insurance, Japan’s largest life insurer, wrote down ¥70 billion ($440 million) in the year ended March 31.
Tatsufumi Shibata, senior official at the Financial Services Agency, says Japanese firms should spend more of their cash on long-term business investment instead of rewarding shareholders.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 25, 2026
Japan regulator urges firms to use cash for growth, not returns
Shifting more of the country’s wealth held by businesses and households to fund expansion is a key pillar of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s economic revitalization effort.
Outstanding loans across all Japanese banks increased by 5.4% year-on-year in April, while deposits grew only 1.9%, prompting major banks to work to meet clients’ needs through various funding measures.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2026
Japan banks face challenge of loan growth outpacing deposits
For decades, deflation kept loan demand tepid and prompted savers to hoard cash. Now the country is seeing an explosion of borrowing, and deposits aren’t keeping up.
Aichi Financial Group President Yukinori Ito (left) and San ju San Financial Group President Gotaro Michihiro announce a plan to merge the two banks at a joint news conference in Nagoya on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
Japan’s regional bank M&A wave to create ¥11.6 trillion lender
Aichi Financial Group and San ju San Financial Group have acknowledged that a shrinking population drove their plans to consolidate.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2026
Japan finance minister to discuss Mythos threat with banks
Satsuki Katayama plans to meet officials from the country’s biggest financial institutions to discuss Anthropic’s latest AI model as early as this week.
Masakazu Osawa, chief executive officer of MUFG Bank, at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on April 17
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2026
MUFG Bank seeks more acquisitions after $4.3 billion India deal
Nonbank financial companies are potential targets, MUFG banking unit CEO Masakazu Osawa said, without ruling out further forays.
Fukuoka Financial Group has hired 10 people in the past year and plans to recruit another 20 in the period ending March 2028, said Akira Kudo, the company’s head of market operations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 14, 2026
Japan’s largest regional bank takes on big names in hiring spree
Fukuoka Financial Group wants to boost its front office staff to around 100 by March 2028 as it looks to expand its ¥5.8 trillion investment portfolio.
Nippon Life Insurance's Tokyo headquarters
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 7, 2026
SMFG and Nippon Life discuss $3 billion LBO loan fund
The move would mark a milestone in Japan’s credit market, where the three biggest banks have dominated lending.
MUFG has about 1,300 staff involved globally in the transaction-banking business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2026
MUFG to take on global peers for slice of $1.3 trillion transaction-banking pie
Japan’s largest lender is looking to capitalize on its competitive strengths in key Asian markets as it strives to catch up with global peers.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group CEO Toru Nakashima says the banking group is seeking growth without large acquisitions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 31, 2026
SMFG cools on acquisitions as banking giant sets new profit goal
Japan’s second-largest lender is aiming for ¥2 trillion in profit and a 13% return on tangible equity in three years.
Wakkanai Shinkin Bank’s headquarters in Wakkanai, Hokkaido
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2026
A tiny bank runs dry of borrowers as Japan’s population shrinks
Many rural banks are struggling, but for a small credit union in Hokkaido, the situation is extreme.
Yoshitsugu Toba, head of the markets division at Joyo Bank, says he expects the next Bank of Japan rate hike will happen in April, followed by 25 basis-point increases roughly every six months.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 2, 2026
Short-term Japan bonds hold allure for regional bank managing ¥2.6 trillion
Joyo Bank is testing the country’s choppy bond market by investing in shorter-term notes to secure higher returns, while avoiding longer-dated securities.
Japanese banks, including Mizuho Financial Group, are trying to boost productivity by adopting artificial intelligence while trying to ease concerns that the technology will take away jobs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2026
Mizuho plans to replace 5,000 clerical jobs with AI in 10 years
Japan’s third-largest lender insists the move is “not a headcount reduction.”
There have been a series of insider trading cases in Japan in recent years involving employees across the financial industry.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2026
Mizuho Securities reportedly faces probe for insider trading
The revelations are the latest to potentially undermine confidence in Japan’s financial industry at a time when the stock market is booming.
Fumitaka Nakahama, head of global corporate and investment banking at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2026
MUFG eyes piece of AI boom with hiring for data center financing
Financing AI initiatives is becoming a lucrative business for banks worldwide.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s net income climbed 6% from a year earlier to ¥520.6 billion ($3.3 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, according to calculations based on nine-month results released Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Feb 4, 2026
MUFG profit rises as BOJ’s rate increases bolster lending income
Net income climbed 6% from a year earlier to ¥520.6 billion ($3.3 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31.
Norinchukin Bank is in talks to inject capital into a joint venture that has said its estimated losses from debt linked to First Brands Group have swelled to nearly $1 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2026
Nochu to recapitalize joint venture hit by $1 billion First Brands-linked loss
JA Mitsui Leasing will book a $968 million allowance on the collapsed U.S. auto-parts supplier, more than three times what it had set aside in November.
Nippon Life Insurance President Satoshi Asahi says the firm is always looking at further acquisition opportunities, particularly in the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2025
Nippon Life seeking overseas acquisitions and watching bond yields
Japanese financial firms have been aggressively making acquisitions abroad to make up for a lack of growth prospects at home.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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