OUR TENTH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
Selected Readers' Favorite Exclusive Features and Breaking News
Management Turmoil Amid Successful Union Revolt at Pfizer Japan: SSJ was the only media vehicle, in Japan or elsewhere, providing subscribers with the complete inside story of a botched attempt to reap labor cost savings and reduced headcount that ended only with the union's complete victory and the removal of four senior Pfizer Japan executives in 2006.
The Launch of Pepsi Nex: When Pepsi International began work in 2002 on a new soft drink developed exclusively for Japan‘s enormous beverage market, SSJ caught wind of it and was the only one to break the news. The beverage is now marketed in Japan by Pepsi's distributor, Suntory.
Martin Ebner Invests in Japan: Infamous Swiss billionaire and corporate raider Martin Ebner does not publicize his holdings nor has the Japanese press picked up on his local investment vehicle. In 2007, SSJ verified his holdings in an unlisted Japanese firm and reported it exclusively.
The Demise of Docomo AOL: When it was announced by NTT and AOL Time Warner in 2000, DoCoMo AOL received a ridiculous amount of attention from a fawning press heralding the inevitability of the venture’s success. The reality of coming up with bold ideas, however, and even closing the transaction, turned out to be extraordinarily difficult, and SSJ readers read about the venture's likely demise nearly a year before other mainstream business media rehashed the companies' official announcement Hartford Life Injects Capital Into Its Japan Unit: Senior Hartford Insurance executives were delivering speech after speech in 2003 and 2004 about Hartford’s strongly growing business marketing variable annuities in Japan. Yet the insurance firm had to inject over $423 million of capital into its Japan unit in 2004 and execute a complicated self-reinsurance scheme in 2005 just to prop up the unit, moves it did not announce publicly except in its securities filings. SSJ heard rumors in the market about this and followed the story in 2005 and 2006, and Barron’s picked up our story a few months later. Circuit City Chairman Sits on Board of Prestigious Japanese Golf Club: Even as his company’s performance foundered, we revealed in these pages in 2001 that Circuit City Chairman Richard Sharp enjoyed all the perks of a regal CEO, including a spot on the board of one of Japan’s most prestigious golf clubs alongside Japanese CEOs like Softbank's Masayoshi Son and senior government officials like Yukio Okamoto. Sharp’s successors at Circuit City have continued to enjoy the same privilege of serving. A Non-US, Non-Japanese Billionaire Invests in Japan: Few billionaires put out press releases announcing their investments or wish to have them scrutinized. Our 2006 investigative work identified another non-US, non-Japanese billionaire with extensive holdings in 200+ Japanese energy, technology and real estate companies and even today Japanese government officials are mostly unaware of his activitites. Only SSJ subscribers know the billionaire's identity and the names of many of his holdings. Inside Japan’s Technology Licensing Organizations (TLOs): Japanese proudly point to university-sponsored research and venture companies as a major force in the commercialization of valuable patents and intellectual property. But a 2004 review of the progress of various TLOs around the country demonstrated how immense the task of making them pay off economically in any nationally-significant way may be. Japan's Emerging Energy Efficiency Technologies: Most observers of the global energy markets are not aware that even third-tier Japanese companies are actively developing world-class energy efficiency solutions. While some of Japan's energy technologies are finally attracting some new attention and investment this year, SSJ readers are, as usual, ahead of the learning curve on some other very important developments in energy efficiency that will soon emerge from deep within industrial Japan. Giant US Hedge Fund Complex Invests in Macao Real Estate via Listed Japanese Company: Minimal disclosure requirements and better legal protections can attract sophisticated foreign investment firms to invest in Chinese real estate and other non-Japanese entities via listed Japanese companies. In 2007, SSJ provided some examples -- exclusively. Profitability, Finally, at Lauder Japan: Cosmetics is serious business in Japan, so when we broke the news in 2006 of a global company returning to local profitability for their Japan cosmetics business, many took notice. Low Returns Predicted for Wal-Mart Japan: Subscribers reading our 2005 interview with this former Outback Steakhouse Japan chairman would not be surprised with the continued poor financial results being posted by Seiyu, Wal-Mart’s subsidiary in Japan.A New Keiretsu in Japan: The close cooperation between a few sophisticated global investment entities, influential banks, and globally-minded Japanese corporations has revealed a new kind of keiretsu of which few, besides our subscribers, are completely aware. But we predict the impact of their cooperation in a wide variety of investments will soon become one of the hottest topics for debate in Japan.
Exclusive Interviews
Takashi Murakami, Artist, Designer, and Cultural Critic, Japan's "Andy Warhol"
Wilbur Ross, Billionaire, US Investor in Banks and Distressed Properties
Jin Shinobu Murai, Congressman, Head of Lower House Finance Committee, Influential LDP Member
Yoshifumi Nakayama, Managing Director, Denny's Japan
Shunichi Suzuki, Chief Restructuring Officer, NEC Corporation
Mark Scher, Author and Leading Authority on Postal Privatization in Japan
Akira Genma, CEO, cosmetics maker Shiseido
Hideya Taida, Board Member, Marubeni sogo shosha
Gordon Souter, Japan president, UK-based energy giant BP
Jim Dauwalter, CEO, US-based semiconductor equipment provider Entegris
Nobuyuki Sasaki, Senior executive director, security device maker Secom
Market Insight
Corning Japan
Tokushu Hojin
Japan's Robotics Industry
Private Equity in Japan
Nestle Japan's Vending Machines
ValueCommerce
Municipal Mergers in Japan
Emerging Opportunities in Japan Real Estate
Generic Drug Market in Japan
Japan's Outdoor Goods Market
Hostess Bars
Softbank's Arrogance
Japan's Cultural Content
Door-to-Door Sales at Bose Japan
AutoLiv Japan
Do You Own a Gun?
Trends in Cinema Construction in Japan
Specialist Contributors
Craig Will on Bringing Mobile Market Technologies to Japan
Dylan Tanner on Environmental Due Diligence in Japan
Bill Farrell on How to Lobby in Japan
Rochelle Kopp on Actions that Annoy Japanese
Paul King on Why Taisho and Tanabe's Pharma Merger Fell Apart
Lawrence Eng on How to Market to Otaku
Paul Werbaneth on Emerging MEMS Technologies
Akinori Nakamura on How Japanese Companies Manage China-Based Production Operations
Gillian Tett on How the Japanese Media Works
Nick Benes Offering the Inside Story of an M&A Deal in Japan
Tom Nevins on Regulation of Overtime Pay and Labor Law Issues
Trends and Stories We Expect to Cover in the Next Ten Years
For Subscribers Only....
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