Companies
How Japan's #3 convenience-store chain became the most interesting take-private deal of 2024 — and why the 50/50 ownership between a sogo shosha and a telco rewrites what a konbini can be.
Why the Kuroneko parent-and-kitten brand dominates ~40% of Japan's home-parcel market, how the 2017 driver-wage scandal compressed margins for years, and what the 2024 Amazon Japan restructuring means for Japan's SCM economics.
Why JAL's 2010 bankruptcy and the Kazuo Inamori-led restructuring became a global corporate-turnaround case study — and how the Oneworld + ZIPAIR/Spring Japan playbook contrasts with ANA's strategy.
Why Mitsui Fudosan's Mid-Town redevelopments, LaLaport malls, Mitsui Outlet Park chain and overseas bets — including 50 Hudson Yards and 270 Park Avenue — make it the entrepreneurial counter-balance to Mitsubishi Estate.
Why Mitsubishi Estate's ~30-building grip on Marunouchi, the Rockefeller Center round trip, the Paternoster Square anchor in London, and the perpetual redevelopment cycle make it Japan's most strategically located property company.
How a 1858 textile merchant became a top-ten global independent power producer, a US ag-input giant via Helena and Gavilon, and the most renewable-tilted of Buffett's five shosha.
Why Sumitomo Corp's steel-products dominance, J:COM stake, conservative balance sheet and lower commodity-cycle exposure make it the most stable yet least talked-about of Japan's five sogo shosha.
How NEC's pivot from consumer electronics to government, defence, biometric identification and submarine cable infrastructure made it Japan's most under-appreciated tech infra player.
Lenovo PC divestiture, the Fugaku supercomputer, the Uvance consulting brand, the UK Post Office Horizon fallout — Japan's most aggressive 'become IBM' story.
How Hon Hai's 2016 acquisition saved Sharp, the pivot away from large-TV LCDs, and the post-Kameyama footprint that makes Sharp Japan's most studied corporate-rescue case.
Inside the suburban mall federation that mirrors Japan's middle class — and is quietly building the largest shopping-mall network in ASEAN.
Why ANA's Peach LCC unit, Tokyo Haneda dominance, 787 launch-customer status and cargo strength differentiate it from JAL — and what corporate-travel buyers, freight forwarders and aerospace suppliers should know.
