Latest Japan Headlines

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

AIR Worldwide Estimates Insured Losses from Japan Floods Could Reach US$4B

Aug 21 2018 // Industry insured losses from the flooding in western Japan caused by excessive rainfall from June 28 to July 8, 2018, will be between JPY284 billion (US$2.6 billion) and JPY423 billion (US$4.0 billion), according to...

July’s Droughts, Wildfires, Floods Caused Billions in Global Economic Losses: Aon

Aug 10 2018 // Many countries across the globe saw worsening in drought-related and wildfire conditions during July, which have led to hundreds of deaths and created a significant financial impact – particularly in the agriculture,...

Typhoon Shanshan Approaches Tokyo, Slowly

Aug 8 2018 // Typhoon Shanshan continued its slow-moving approach toward the Tokyo region, with the tropical storm’s arrival likely to disrupt commuters from Wednesday night through Thursday morning. Authorities are warning that...

Typhoon Shanshan Heads Toward Tokyo, as 13th Tropical Storm of Season

Aug 6 2018 // Typhoon Shanshan is set to approach the Tokyo area later this week, bringing heavy winds and strong rains to a region suffering from a sweltering heatwave. Shanshan, the 13th tropical storm of the season, is projected to...

Tropical Storm Hits Japan, Heads for Region Still Recovering from Floods

Jul 30 2018 // A tropical storm in Japan disrupted transportation and knocked out power to thousands of homes in its path as it headed west toward a region still recovering from devastating rains earlier this month. At least 16 people...

After Recent Historic Floods, Japan Readies for Typhoon Jongdari

Jul 27 2018 // Typhoon Jongdari is set to make landfall on Japan’s mainland this weekend, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to much of a country hit in recent weeks by a deadly heatwave and historic flooding. The typhoon was...

SoftBank Eyeing Entry into Insurance, Banking in Japan

Jul 23 2018 // SoftBank Group Corp. plans to announce within days that it will start a mobile digital payments service in Japan by the end of 2018 as billionaire founder Masayoshi Son seeks to expand in the sector, people familiar with...

Tokyo Prosecutors Have Indicted Kobe Steel Over Data Falsification Scandal

Jul 23 2018 // Tokyo prosecutors indicted Kobe Steel Ltd. over the faked data crisis that rocked Japan’s manufacturing industry last year. The company was indicted on suspicion of breaching Japan’s unfair competition law in...

Historic Rainfall, Floods in Japan Kill More Than 100; Some Factories Halt Operations

Jul 9 2018 // The death toll from the historic rainfall in western Japan reached 110 on Monday as rescuers stepped up efforts to clear areas hit by flooding and landslides. Some plants halted by the floods started to resume operations...

SoftBank Overhauls Top Management Team

Jun 20 2018 // Masayoshi Son elevated two SoftBank Group Corp. executives and one outsider to his inner circle, appointments that become official on Wednesday. The board approved the nominations of Marcelo Claure, Rajeev Misra and...

Earthquake Hits Japan’s Industrial Heartland, Causing 3 Deaths; Trains, Factories Halted

Jun 18 2018 // Three people were confirmed dead and almost 100 injured after a strong earthquake hit Osaka on Monday morning, rattling one of Japan’s industrial heartlands and halting trains and factories across the region. The...

Sexual Harassment Policy Changes Not High on Japan’s Corporate Agenda

May 25 2018 // Three-quarters of Japanese companies have made no changes to sexual harassment policies over the last year and don’t plan to do so, a Reuters poll found, though awareness of harassment is on the rise. The survey...

Sompo Int’l to Form Retail Insurance Platform to Integrate International Businesses

Apr 10 2018 // Sompo International Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty provider of property and casualty re/insurance, announced it will establish a retail platform designed to integrate all the operations of Sompo Holdings Inc....

Swiss Re Continues Talks with SoftBank Which Seeks Stake of Up to 10%

Apr 4 2018 // Billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group Corp. is likely to take a stake of 10 percent or less in Swiss Re AG as it seeks to gain a foothold in the cash-rich reinsurance industry. The Swiss company’s shares...

Kobe Steel CEO to Resign Over Data Fraud Scandal as Report Finds More Cases

Mar 6 2018 // Kobe Steel Ltd said on Tuesday its CEO will step down to take responsibility for a widespread data fraud scandal, although doubts remain over a corporate culture mired in malfeasance and the possibility of future...

Nippon Life Agrees to Buy 85% Stake in MassMutual’s Japan Unit for $980M

Mar 2 2018 // Nippon Life Insurance Co said on Friday it had agreed to buy an 85 percent stake in the domestic unit of U.S.-based MassMutual Financial Group for about 104.2 billion yen ($980 million) as it aims to boost its...

Japan’s SoftBank in Talks to Buy Stake in Swiss Re

Feb 7 2018 // Swiss Re said it is in preliminary talks to sell a minority stake to SoftBank Group – a deal that reportedly could be worth $10 billion or more, in what would be the Japanese firm’s biggest financial services...

Japan’s Peer-to-Peer Vouch Insurtech Raises Seed Funding

Feb 5 2018 // Taiwan venture capital firm Nogle Capital Management, Singapore venture capital firm GREE Ventures and several angel investors have participated in the seed funding round of SGD$1 million for Singapore startup Vouch...

Japan’s SoftBank Eyes Taking Stake in India Insurance Startup: Sources

Jan 25 2018 // SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks to back leading online insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar at a valuation of at least $800 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The two sides are examining how the Japanese...

Update: Sunken Iranian Oil Tanker Causes Large Oil Slick in East China Sea

Jan 15 2018 // A stricken Iranian tanker that sank in the East China Sea on Sunday in the worst oil ship disaster in decades has produced a large oil slick, Chinese media and Japanese authorities said on Monday, as worries grew over...