Latest Japan Headlines

All the headlines from our Japan Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Aon Appoints Wada as New ‘Chief Diversity Officer’ – Asia Pacific

Oct 4 2007 // Aon Corp. announced from its Hong Kong office that Randy Wada, CEO of Aon Japan, has been appointed Chief Diversity Officer for Asia Pacific and will serve on the company’s global diversity advisory board. Aon...

With Its Food Repuation Battered, China Showcases 3 Model Exporters

Oct 3 2007 // First comes the “wind shower.” Wearing overalls and rubber boots, employees at Fusheng Food Co. in Qingdao stand in a narrow room as air jets in the walls blow away any dust on them. They wade through...

Magnitude 7.4 Quake Strikes South of New Zealand

Oct 1 2007 // A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 occurred south of New Zealand on Sunday and there may be a chance of tsunamis, Japanese monitors said. There was no immediate report of injuries, damage or...

Children Could Be Getting Soft-Soled Clogs Caught in Escalators

Sep 24 2007 // At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators. The one common theme seems to be the clunky, soft-soled clogs...

New Management for Willis Japan

Sep 19 2007 // Willis Group Holdings announced that Shoji Ohashi has joined the international broker as the new Representative Director and Chairman of Willis Japan Holdings KK, and Yoshiki Yamamoto is the new Director and CEO of Willis...

EQECAT, AIR Estimate Japan Typhoon Losses – Less than $1 Billion

Sep 10 2007 // Catastrophe modeling firms EQECAT and AIR Worldwide have indicated that losses from Typhoon Fitow, which came ashore on Friday, Sept. 7 in Japan’s Shizuoka prefecture, would not exceed $1 billion The storm, rated...

Ratings Recap: Sompo (U.S.); Clarendon, Kentucky National

Aug 30 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of “A” (Excellent) and assigned an issuer credit rating (ICR) of “a” to New York-based Sompo Japan Insurance Company of America (SJA)....

Japan Power Company Says Radioactive Leak Bigger Than First Reported

Jul 19 2007 // A top power company official defended safety standards at an earthquake-ravaged nuclear plant Wednesday, even as the company said a radioactive leak was bigger than first reported and came under international pressure for...

Strong Earthquake in Japan Takes 7 Lives, Destroys Hundreds of Homes

Jul 17 2007 // A strong earthquake struck northwestern Japan on Monday, destroying hundreds of homes, buckling seaside bridges and causing a fire at one of the world’s most powerful nuclear power plants. At least seven people were...

Aging, Skyscrapers, Malls Place Japan at Higher Risk of Disaster

Jun 6 2007 // Japan’s vulnerability to natural disasters is increasing as skyscrapers mushroom in cities, shopping malls go underground and the population ages, a recent government report said. While earthquakes are a primary...

S&P Sees Japan P/C Sector as ‘Stable’

May 30 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services latest report on the Japanese non-life industry concludes that, despite large payouts the sector remains relatively stable. However, 2006 was not a particularly good year....

Japan Proposes 50% Cut in Worldwide Greenhouse Gas Emissions

May 25 2007 // Japan plans to propose cutting world greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 in a bid to limit the effects of global warming, news reports said Thursday [May 24]. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was to announce the plan later...

R&M Adds Japan Non-Life ‘Snapshots’

May 24 2007 // Dublin-based Research and Markets has added “Snapshots Japan Non-Life Insurance 2007” to their offering. “Snapshots Japan Non-Life Insurance 2007 provides 2005 year-end market size data, with 2006...

RMS Parametric Model for Japan Typhoon Risk Securitization

May 23 2007 // Risk Management Solutions has designed the trigger mechanism and performed the risk analysis for a parametric securitization of typhoon risk in Japan. Issued by Akibare Ltd., a Cayman Islands special purpose vehicle (SPV),...

The Hartford Seeks Branding Score with Japanese Baseball Sponsorship

May 16 2007 // Japanese baseball players are all the rage in the major leagues this year. Kei Igawa and Daisuke Matzuzaka have joined established stars such as Hideki Matsui and Ichiro Suzuki as imports on America’s premier teams....

Best Affirms ‘A++’ Ratings of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance

Apr 27 2007 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A++” (Superior) and the issuer credit rating of “aa+” of Japan’s Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Company Limited (TMNF),...

Officials Laud New Japanese Quake Alert System

Mar 29 2007 // Authorities hailed Japan’s new earthquake alert system as a success this week after it allowed officials to issue a tsunami warning just one minute after a magnitude 6.9 quake jolted the country’s coast a day...

Powerful Earthquake Rocks Japan; 1 Dead, 170 Injured

Mar 26 2007 // A powerful earthquake struck Japan on Sunday, killing at least one person and injuring 170 others as it damaged buildings and triggered a small tsunami along the coast, officials said. The magnitude-6.9 quake struck at...

S&P Reports Japanese Insurers Facing Increasing Scrutiny

Feb 23 2007 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said in a new report that the risk management practices and internal control policies of Japan’s insurers are coming under increasing scrutiny following a series of...

Willis Taps into Supercomputer to Analyze Climate Change, Nat Cats

Feb 13 2007 // The Willis Research Network (WRN) “has joined forces with internationally renowned universities to harness the immense power of the NEC Earth Simulator in Yokohama, Japan to help insurers understand the frequency and...