Nagano Yuriko

The people of Japan placed themselves under new national governance in August with the historic election of the Democratic Party of Japan. Now the DPJ and Japanese regulators seem likely to move forward with changes to corporate governance as well. Exactly what the DPJ might propose remains unclear. At the moment, the party is devoting […]

Japanese officials, business leaders, and scholars have begun a wide-ranging review of corporate governance there, which could lead to significant changes in corporate law and governance requirements for public companies. Two groups—one run by the Financial Services Agency, the other by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry—have been working on parallel tracks for several […]

The United States is not the only nation moving in fits and starts down the long—long—road to International Financial Reporting Standards. On the other side of the world, Japan is making the same trek, and finding the same experience: A consensus on global accounting standards isn’t easy. Different organizations have different opinions of how quickly […]

Japan is planning a major overhaul of its accounting rules, starting with how to account for mergers and acquisitions. The move is part of a broader effort to stay in step with the United States and Europe as they converge accounting rules worldwide. An exposure draft of the merger accounting reforms is slated to be […]

Companies jockeying for dominant positions in Asian markets, beware: Regulators in China and Japan are launching new efforts to strengthen their antitrust policies. The two countries are taking starkly different approaches. Japan wants to bring its competition laws up to Western standards, and to that end the Japan Fair Trade Commission has proposed revising the […]

Corporate Japan and its investors are bracing for a brave new world this week: The nation’s landmark Financial Instruments and Exchange Law—a precursor to Japan’s own Sarbanes-Oxley reforms—finally goes into effect. Dubbed informally in Japan as kinshohou (an abbreviation of the law in Japanese), it is a fundamental reform of investment law that touches on […]

Corporate Japan and its investors are bracing for a brave new world this week: The nation’s landmark Financial Instruments and Exchange Law—a precursor to Japan’s own Sarbanes-Oxley reforms—finally goes into effect. Dubbed informally in Japan as kinshohou (an abbreviation of the law in Japanese), it is a fundamental reform of investment law that touches on […]

Japan’s auditing industry is preparing to undergo its most profound change in decades, with auditors achieving new levels of independence from their paying clients—and assuming new responsibilities for their performance. Lawmakers approved the overhaul to laws governing Japan’s audit industry in the Diet session just ended. Auditors, especially at large firms, should become more independent […]

The crazy season for corporate governance is upon Japan again. And this year, shareholders are agitating more than ever. Thousands of Japanese companies hold their annual meetings in June, ostensibly to keep organized crime gangs from attending and influencing the outcome. A second, unspoken reason has been that a hyper-busy season keeps shareholder activists too […]