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August 12, 2026
 

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Nao Sano
Kazuyuki Shigemoto, managing executive officer of Daiichi Life Group, said the firm has been approaching dozens of companies that have never issued bonds or only rarely done so to tap the corporate bond market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2026
Top Japan insurer urges companies to issue bonds in yield hunt
Daiichi Life Group has been approaching dozens of companies that have never issued bonds or only rarely done so, proposing that it will become a core buyer if they tap the market.
Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund has appointed three firms as active domestic bond managers to improve returns and address volatility in the country's bond market.
BUSINESS
Jul 30, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ government pension fund gains JGB expertise through active bond funds
The move shows the fund¡¯s need to increase its expertise in order to deal with volatility in the nation¡¯s debt market.
Daiwa Asset Management President Kei Sano sees institutional investors such as pension funds and universities as a potential new target market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2026
Daiwa AM boosts staff in shift toward institutional investors
The company will seek new clients including those from public and corporate pension funds, as well as endowments and foundations of universities.
Government Pension Investment Fund, which held more than ?293 trillion in investment assets as of the fiscal year ended March 31, has been dividing up its holdings by about 25% each into domestic and foreign stocks and bonds.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2026
GPIF makes first direct private equity investment amid allocation bets
The pension fund, one of the world¡¯s biggest, is putting ?20 billion into a 10-year fund run by Japanese private quity firm Advantage Partners.
Evening commuters in front of Tokyo station.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 11, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ top pension fund likely to brush off political pressure
The Government Pension Investment Fund, one of the world¡¯s largest, will likely ignore the finance minister¡¯s call to boost domestic investment, at least in the short run.
Nippon Life Insurance, Â鶹´«Ã½ largest life insurer, wrote down ?70 billion ($440 million) in the year ended March 31.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 26, 2026
Nippon Life books its first impairment loss in current bond rout
Nippon Life Insurance, Â鶹´«Ã½ largest life insurer, wrote down ?70 billion ($440 million) in the year ended March 31.
Daiichi Life Group believes strict selection of managers and risk management after making private credit investments are key.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2026
Daiichi Life to tighten private credit manager selection on risk
Bankruptcies of corporate borrowers in the U.S. have fueled concern about putting cash in the market, and the worries are starting to affect Japanese firms¡¯ investment decisions.
Yuri Okina, tapped to lead the Government Pension Investment Fund¡¯s key management committee, left the Bank of Japan for the Japan Research Institute in 1992 and earned a doctorate in economics from Kyoto University in 2011.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2026
Female economist to lead key panel at Â鶹´«Ã½ GPIF in a first
Yuri Okina will start her five-year term as the chair of the GPIF¡¯s 10-person management committee panel on April 1.
Berkshire Hathaway's investment in Tokio Marine Holdings underscores the company's growing ambitions in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 24, 2026
Berkshire Hathaway to invest $1.8 billion in Tokio Marine
National Indemnity Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, will make a 2.49% strategic investment in Tokio Marine, underscoring Berkshire¡¯s growing ambitions in Japan.
Sumitomo Life Insurance¡¯s headquarters in Osaka
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 18, 2026
Sumitomo Life plans to invest $1.9 billion in private credit
The Osaka-based insurer has been gradually increasing its private credit holdings.
The Nippon Life Insurance headquarters in Osaka. Japan's major life insurers are continuing plans to increase private credit investment in the next fiscal year from April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 12, 2026
Japan insurers still keen on private debt amid growing red flags
Life insurance companies have joined global investors in a private debt market binge in search of higher yields.
Former Government Pension Investment Fund President Masataka Miyazono joined Hulic last year as an adviser to focus on agricultural investments as the sector faces a rapidly aging and shrinking workforce.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2026
Former chief of $2 trillion pension fund joins developer growing tomatoes
Masataka Miyazono aims to help make Â鶹´«Ã½ agricultural sector more productive in order to boost sustainability in the country.
Japan Post Insurance CEO and President Kunio Tanigaki
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2026
Japan Post Insurance to shift to high-yield bonds, CEO says
The life insurer expects the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates again as soon as April.
The country¡¯s biggest insurers are sitting on swelling paper losses on their holdings of Japanese government bonds, which have slumped as the central bank raises interest rates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2026
Accounting group seeks to ease rules on Japanese insurers¡¯ bond losses
Bonds held by life insurers to match long-term policies would be treated as held to maturity if certain conditions are met, and would not be subject to impairment accounting.
There have been a series of insider trading cases in Japan in recent years involving employees across the financial industry.
BUSINESS
Feb 16, 2026
Mizuho Securities reportedly faces probe for insider trading
The revelations are the latest to potentially undermine confidence in Â鶹´«Ã½ financial industry at a time when the stock market is booming.
Expectations Japan's superlong bond yields will rise further as the government boosts spending have kept life insurers away from bond buying.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ midsize insurers hold back from bond buys anticipating rebound
The bonds are usually major investment targets to match insurers¡¯ long-term liabilities, but expectations yields will rise further amid government spending have slowed buying.
Sompo Holdings intends to ¡°invest broadly in credit assets that offer high profitability and different risk-return characteristics,¡± the general manager of Sompo¡¯s investment management department said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2026
Japanese insurer Sompo to ramp up overseas credit investments
The Tokyo-based company moved several investment managers from its Japan insurance subsidiary to work in the U.S. from this month.
Nippon Life Insurance President Satoshi Asahi says the firm is always looking at further acquisition opportunities, particularly in the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2025
Nippon Life seeking overseas acquisitions and watching bond yields
Japanese financial firms have been aggressively making acquisitions abroad to make up for a lack of growth prospects at home.
Nomura Asset Management President Hiroyasu Koike says expanding staff with overseas business experience will strengthen the firm¡¯s position as a global asset-managing competitor.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 9, 2025
Nomura sends bankers to New York and London in asset manager push
More staff with overseas business experience will boost Nomura¡¯s stance as a global competitor in asset management, company president Hiroyasu Koike said.
Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management, a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, aims to launch a new fund in January with a size of several billion yen.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 13, 2025
MUFG¡¯s asset manager targets Japan buyers for its first CLO fund
The securities, which are bundled leveraged debt, will mainly hold dollar-denominated floating-rate loans made to U.S. companies.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
Yasukuni Shrine introduces ban on military attire and cosplay
People gather in front of thousands of lanterns on display at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on July 15 during the Mitama Matsuri, one of the capital's largest summer o-Bon festivals.
Many Indonesians named after Japanese anime characters
Some people in Indonesia are named Doraemon, the name of a lead character of the blockbuster anime series with the same title.
Strong wind and heavy rain forecast as tropical storm approaches Japan
Tropical Storm Chan-hom is expected to make landfall in northern Kanto between late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
J. League enters new era as league kicks off first fall-spring campaign
Players from each J. League club pose during a kickoff event on Monday ahead of the start of the 2026-27 campaign.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

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Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
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