Latest Japan Headlines
All the headlines from our Japan Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Buffet on Japan Visit; Says Euro Zone Has ‘Major Flaw’
Nov 21 2011 // Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Europe’s debt crisis had shown up a “major flaw” in the 17-member euro zone system and it would take more than words to fix it. “There is a major flaw in the...
Japan Probes Possible Olympus Organized Crime Links – Source
Nov 18 2011 // A unit from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s organized crime division has joined an investigation into an accounting scam at Japan’s disgraced Olympus Corp, a source familiar with the matter said on...
Spate of Disasters Exposes Supply Chain Weakness
Nov 14 2011 // When flood waters rose in Thailand, Wal-Mart stores in Japan ran out of mouthwash. “We were out of mouthwash in Japan for about four days,” Scott Price, Wal-Mart’s Asia chief executive officer, said at...
Australia Urges Breaking up Doha Round into Smaller Pacts
Nov 10 2011 // Australia wants World Trade Organization members to recognize that reaching a comprehensive deal in decade-old world trade talks has become impossible and to focus instead on a series of smaller pacts, the country’s...
Lawmakers Urge U.S. Caution on Japan Trade Talks
Nov 9 2011 // Four senior U.S. lawmakers Tuesday urged President Barack Obama’s administration not to make a hasty decision to begin free trade talks with Japan if that country should request this week to join negotiations on a...
Japan Tries, Again, to Cut Corporate Ties to Yakuza Crime Syndicates
Nov 8 2011 // Aki Tsurumaki says he never felt his life was in danger during the 15 years he has been helping companies escape entanglements with Japan’s “yakuza” crime syndicates. But the 42-year-old lawyer jokes that...
In Abrupt Turnaround, Olympus Admits It Hid Losses for Decades
Nov 8 2011 // Japan’s Olympus admitted on Tuesday it had hidden losses on securities investments dating back to the 1980s, succumbing to weeks of pressure to explain a series of baffling transactions that have put the future of...
US, EU, Japan Press China on Financial Services Reform at WTO
Nov 1 2011 // The United States criticized China on Monday for failing to fulfill World Trade Organization commitments to open its financial services market, while the European Union and Japan pressed for answers on specific areas of...
Thai Floods Batter Global Electronics, Auto Supply Chains
Oct 28 2011 // Manufacturers of car parts and computer hard drives are the worst hit in Thailand, and face a bleak key holiday selling season due to massive floods, which have shut down production. Japanese car makers that had just...
Japan Offers Help to Companies Hit by Thai Floods
Oct 25 2011 // Japan has offered extra loans, insurance and a baht cash line to help Japanese companies in flood-ravaged Thailand, signaling growing concerns over the disaster’s impact on the world’s third biggest...
Ratings Recap: HSB (UK), Nissan Global Re, Optima, Hatherley/Park
Oct 13 2011 // A.M. Best Europe – Rating Services Limited has upgraded the financial strength rating to ‘A++’ (Superior) from ‘A+’ (Superior) and the issuer credit rating to “aa+” from...
Honda’s Thai Production Underwater as Floods Hit Japan Firms
Oct 12 2011 // Honda Motor Co said its Thai plant remains underwater as flooding in the center of the country worsens, closing down 4.7 percent of its global output in a disaster that is hammering other Japanese firms that have made the...
HSBC Approaches Japanese Insurers on Sale of Non-Life Unit
Oct 6 2011 // HSBC Holdings has approached the top three property/casualty insurers in Japan about the sale of its non-life insurance business, which could fetch more than $1 billion, sources close to the matter said on...
Reflections on Recent Events and Implications for Catastrophe Risk Modeling
Oct 3 2011 // At the recent Rendez Vous de Monte Carlo there was a lot of discussion about catastrophe risk models. How will the recent events in Japan and New Zealand impact risk models in the future? How will these events impact the...
AIR Estimates Typhoon Roke Insured Losses at $150 to $600 Million
Sep 23 2011 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide has given preliminary estimates of the insured losses from Typhoon Roke at between JPY 12 billion ($150 million) and JPY 46 billion ($600 million). As reported earlier, Typhoon Roke,...
Typhoon Roke Threatens Japan: AIR Report
Sep 21 2011 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide more than a million people were evacuated in central and western Japan in advance of Typhoon Roke’s arrival. The storm formed on September 10 and is the 15th named...
Japan Marks 6 Months Since Earthquake, Tsunami
Sep 13 2011 // Up and down Japan’s devastated northeast coast, survivors prayed and communities came together Sunday to mark six months since the massive earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11, a date that changed everything for...
AIR Estimates Talas Insured Losses between $150 -$600 Million
Sep 8 2011 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide’s initial estimates for insured losses from Tropical Storm Talas are between JPY 12 billion ($150 million) and JPY 46 billion ($600 million). Talas is the season’s 12th...
UPDATE: Killer Typhoon Talas Brings More Misery to Japan
Sep 7 2011 // Japan braced for more heavy rain and floods Monday as the death toll from the worst typhoon to hit the country in seven years climbed to 34. Rescuers searched for 55 others who remained missing, and tens of thousands of...
Typhoon Talas Kills At Least 15 As It Passes Japan
Sep 6 2011 // Heavy rains and mudslides from powerful Typhoon Talas killed at least 15 people in Japan as the storm moved northward past the country Sunday. At least 43 others are missing, local media said. [Ed. Note – latest...
