
Gunze to close 4 factories in Japan as underwear sales slump
SOTA TAKETAZU
OSAKA -- Japanese textile group Gunze will close four factories and two distribution centers in Japan as part of a restructuring of its apparel business, the company said Wednesday.

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The Mainichi
an hour ago
- The Mainichi
News in Easy English: First convenience store opens on small island in Fukuoka
FUKUOKA -- A small island called Nokonoshima in Hakata Bay now has its first convenience store. This is the first time any of the 10 islands in Fukuoka Prefecture with people living on them has a store like this. The new store is called NocoMart. Nokonoshima is about 12 kilometers around and has about 600 people living on it. Before, people had to take a ferry to the city or wait for delivery trucks to buy food and drinks. The last shop on the island closed in 2019. NocoMart opened on July 18 near the ferry terminal. The store is part of the Yamazaki Shop chain. It is managed by Kotaro Honda and Yuichi Asaba, who both moved to the island from Fukuoka city. The store is small, but it sells about 700 different products. About 100 people come on weekdays and 200 on weekends. A man in his 50s said, "It's really easy now to buy items that had been difficult to buy on a daily basis, such as food, and it's given me peace of mind." A woman in her 60s said, "When I want to eat something sweet, I can buy it right away." She added that it is helpful that there are so many kinds of products. The store is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Asaba said, "I want to keep this going for as long as possible without running into the red. In the future, I would also like to consider offering delivery services." (Japanese original by Kazuya Inoue, Kyushu News Department) Vocabulary convenience store: a small shop that sells food, drinks, and other daily items ferry: a boat that carries people and things across water selection: the choice of different things you can buy peace of mind: feeling calm and not worried run into the red: to lose money or not make a profit


Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
SoftBank's AI Investment Spree to Be in Focus on at Q1 Earnings
TOKYO, Aug 7 (Reuters) – When Japan's SoftBank Group 9984.T reports earnings on Thursday, its mammoth investments in artificial intelligence companies are set to take the spotlight. Analysts and investors are keen for updates on how they will be financed, the timeline for returns to materialize and whether assets will be sold to fund the new projects. SoftBank has embarked on its biggest spending spree since the launch of its Vision Funds in 2017 and 2019. It is leading a $40 billion funding round for ChatGPT maker OpenAI. SoftBank has until the end of the year to fund its $22.5 billion portion, although the remainder has been subscribed, according to a source familiar with the matter. It is also leading the financing for the Stargate project – a $500 billion scheme to develop data centers in the United States, part of its effort to position itself as the 'organizer of the industry,' founder Masayoshi Son said in June. SoftBank has yet to release details on what kinds of returns its financing of the Stargate project could generate. The extent of third-party investment will determine what other financing tools, such as bank loans and debt issuance, it may have to deploy. In July, SoftBank raised $4.8 billion by selling off a portion of its holding in T-Mobile TMUS.O. 'If other sources of capital are less supportive, SoftBank could look to asset-backed finance, which is collateralised by equity in other holdings,' Macquarie analyst Paul Golding said. The Japanese conglomerate is expected to post a net profit of 127.6 billion yen ($865 million) in the April-June quarter, according to the average estimate of three analysts polled by LSEG. That would mark SoftBank's second consecutive quarter of profit and follow its first annual profit in four years when it was helped by a strong performance by its telecom holdings and higher valuations for its later-stage startups. Its results are, however, typically very volatile and difficult to estimate due to manifold investments, many of which are not listed. SoftBank's performance in exiting from investments and distributing profits has been patchy of late. The Vision Funds had made a cumulative investment loss of $475 million as of end-March. That said, 13 of 18 analysts have a 'buy' or 'strong buy' rating for SoftBank's stock, according to LSEG. Although there is some concern in the market that AI-related valuations have become bubbly, they continue to climb. OpenAI is in early-stage discussions about a stock sale that would allow employees to cash out and could value the company at about $500 billion, according to the source – a huge jump from its current valuation of $300 billion.


Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan Urges US to Swiftly Implement Auto Tariff Cut
TOKYO, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Japan's top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa urged the U.S. to swiftly implement measures agreed upon in a bilateral trade deal, including lowering automobile and auto parts tariffs, Japan's government said on Thursday. The request was made during Akazawa's 90-minute meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in Washington on Wednesday, Japan's government said in a statement. The statement also said Akazawa sought confirmation and 'immediate execution' of the two countries' agreement on U.S. levies for other goods imported from Japan. The U.S. agreed in a trade deal last month to lower existing tariffs on Japanese car imports to 15% from levies totalling 27.5% previously, but a timeframe for the change to go into effect was not announced. Duties on other Japanese goods would be cut to 15% from 25% effective Thursday, according to the agreement. Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Akazawa said Japan wants to make sure goods such as Japanese beef, which already carries tariffs above 15%, will not be charged the new 15% rate as an additional tariff. Japan argues the two countries had agreed its goods imported to the U.S. would be exempt from such 'stacking,' where they can be affected by multiple tariffs. But a Federal Register attached to President Donald Trump's July 31 executive order that addressed tariff rates for many trading partners showed a 'no stacking' condition applies to the European Union, but no such clarification was issued for Japan. Japan's Asahi newspaper reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed White House official, that the U.S. will stack the tariffs, adding 15% on all Japanese imports without applying exceptions for items that already have tariff rates above 15%. Given such discrepancies, Akazawa and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba have been under attack in parliament and domestic media for not crafting a written joint statement stipulating details of the trade deal with the U.S.