Companies
Why the 1879 Osaka-founded daily — Japan's largest left-of-centre newspaper at ~4M circulation — sits at the centre of Japan's politicized media conflicts, and what its 30%+ TV Asahi stake and Asahi Globe Plus expansion mean for foreign newsroom partners.
How a 1910 Osaka tramway became Japan's largest private railway by network at ~500 km — and how the 2020 sale of Kintetsu Department Store, the Miyako Hotel chain and Ise Shrine pilgrimage tourism shape its post-restructure footprint.
How a Nagoya temple-carpenter shop founded in 1610 became Japan's only big-five super-general-contractor that has never gone public — and built Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Dome and Roppongi Hills under a fully integrated design-build model.
Why the yellow MatsuKiyo signage in Ginza, Shinjuku and Shibuya makes Matsukiyo Cocokara — formed from the 2021 Matsumoto Kiyoshi + Cocokara Fine merger — Japan's most tourist-channel-exposed drugstore, and how that differs from Welcia and Tsuruha's suburban dispensing model.
How a Mitsui Fudosan + Keisei Electric Railway-anchored Japanese company keeps most of Tokyo Disney Resort's economics while Disney takes only royalties — and what the ¥320B Fantasy Springs expansion and post-Covid inbound surge mean for foreign theme-park investors.
From the 1907 Sumitomo zaibatsu founding to the 2016 Symetra Financial acquisition and the Vitality wellness program — how one of Japan's three mutual life giants navigates demographic decline and digital-health.
How Kampo Life — Japan's #4 life insurer with ~¥60-70T in assets — sells through 24,000 post offices, why the 2019 mis-selling scandal forced executive resignations and a sales suspension, and how the 2024-2027 reform agenda is reshaping its distribution.
How ¥230T+ in postal deposits became the largest single JGB portfolio in Japan — and how post-2015 diversification into US Treasuries, foreign equities and alternatives recast Japan Post Bank as a pension-fund-like institution.
From the Koizumi 2007 privatization to the 2024-2027 sequential sell-down — how Japan Post Holdings still anchors ~24,000 post offices, ¥230T+ in deposits and Japan's #4 life insurer under partial government ownership.
Why the still-unlisted Nihon Keizai Shimbun — owner of the Nikkei 225 index and the world's largest financial newspaper — bought the Financial Times from Pearson, and what its Nikkei Asia + 100% employee-owned structure mean for editorial independence.
Inside the Hokkaido-born ~2,500-store federation — and the 2024 Welcia merger, prompted by Seth Fischer's Oasis Management, that will reshape Japan's distribution channels for foreign cosmetics, OTC and food brands.
How a single Ibaraki pharmacy became Asia's drugstore king-in-waiting — and why the 2027 Welcia-Tsuruha integration reshapes Japan's $80B pharmacy market.
