Transport ministry issues warning to Haneda Airport operator
The transport ministry on Monday issued a strict warning to Japan Airport Terminal over its subsidiary's inappropriate transactions that benefited a consultant firm headed by the eldest son of Makoto Koga, former secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The ministry summoned Kazuhito Tanaka, president of the operator of Tokyo's Haneda Airport, and gave the warning over misconduct related to a massage chair business in a terminal building at the airport.
The ministry said it is "regrettable" that a company responsible for public infrastructure has been involved in long-term misconduct at the airport terminal.
It urged the company to revise its compliance audit system and continue to report to the ministry on the status of measures to prevent a recurrence.
On Friday, a special investigation committee set up by the company announced that the inappropriate transactions had continued for many years, led by former company president Nobuaki Yokota and tolerated by former chairman Isao Takashiro. Yokota and Takashiro resigned the same day.
Following the ministry's warning, Japan Airport Terminal said that it will make sincere efforts to prevent a recurrence and regain trust.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Times
32 minutes ago
- Japan Times
Goldman CIO service suddenly catches on in Japan after 10 years
It took more than a decade of trying, but Goldman Sachs last year landed the first client for its business of helping institutions manage their money in Japan. A second pension signed up in early 2025. Now about 10 more potential customers are in the pipeline, according to Kenro Tsutsumi, head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Japan. The sudden influx of business reflects an increased willingness of Japanese institutional investors to hire third parties to help oversee their trillions of dollars in assets. More global financial firms are seeking to offer the service, known as outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO), in a bid to generate stable fee income. "This business is a top priority for us,' Tsutsumi said in an interview in Tokyo. "It's a big opportunity.' The return of inflation after two decades has added pressure on Japan's pensions and insurance companies to seek higher returns. The government has also been urging asset owners to better serve their beneficiaries, including by tapping the expertise of OCIOs. Financial firms, for their part, are increasingly viewing asset management as a steady source of revenue growth in an unpredictable business environment. Globally, the OCIO industry's assets are expected to grow about 7.9% a year on average through 2028, consulting firm Cerulli Associates said in a November report. In Japan, Goldman is going up against the likes of BlackRock and Marsh & McLennan's Mercer, which have also signed up large clients recently. Goldman can compete in the OCIO space through an ability to provide its own investment products across traditional and private assets, said Tsutsumi, a veteran of more than two decades at the U.S. bank who took the top job at the Japan asset management division at the start of 2024. He declined to give the names of its two clients in Japan, citing confidentiality. BlackRock said it has made six deals for outsourced investment services in Japan to manage a total of ¥2.5 trillion ($17.3 billion). One of the clients included the corporate pension of NEC. Last month, Mercer said it will provide OCIO services to Mizuho's local customers, including pensions and educational institutions, through the Japanese bank's Asset Management One unit. For the OCIO business, "Japan is probably the biggest single country-specific opportunity we have,' Graham Elliot, head of Asia wealth at Mercer, said in an interview. One catalyst came last year when the Cabinet Office released guidelines encouraging asset owners such as pensions, insurers and university endowments to consider using external knowledge and outsourcing, he said. Japan has the largest pool of retirement savings in the world through the $1.8 trillion overseen by the Government Pension Investment Fund. But the country's corporate pensions also hold around ¥84 trillion in assets, according to data from three industry associations. Elliot compared Japan's current corporate defined-benefit pension system to that of the United Kingdom in their evolution process. In the past two decades, British companies have increasingly embraced outsourced services, and Japan is moving in that direction as well, he said. Japan's life insurance market — with about ¥790 trillion of individual life and annuity policies at the end of 2023 — is the second largest in the world, also providing a ripe potential source of business for such third-party asset management services. For Goldman, managing a portion of assets for more corporate pension clients or insurers is a priority to expand its asset and wealth management business, Tsutsumi said. Senior managers see Japan as a key area in the revamped division, he added. "The environment in Japan is attracting a lot of attention from overseas,' he said.
NHK
an hour ago
- NHK
Explosion at US base in southern Japan injures 4 SDF members
An explosion at a US military base in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, has injured four members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces. Police say fire officials informed them of the blast in Yomitan Village on Monday morning. Prefectural officials say the blast occurred at a temporary warehouse for unexploded bombs. The facility, located in the Kadena ammunition storage area, is overseen by the prefectural government. The officials say none of the four injured SDF personnel is in life-threatening condition.
NHK
2 hours ago
- NHK
China consumer prices dip for 4th straight month in May
China's consumer prices edged lower in May as deflationary trends continued to drag on the economy. National Bureau of Statistics' figures show the consumer price index fell 0.1 percent from the same month last year. That's the fourth straight month of decline. Prices of fresh vegetables fell, along with big-ticket items like automobiles as consumers grew more budget-conscious. Sluggish housing sales depressed prices of furniture and home appliances. The Producer Price Index also weakened in May, falling 3.3 percent from a year earlier. China's central bank last month introduced additional monetary-easing measures to help boost domestic demand. However, the trade rift between China and the US is overshadowing the outlook. Officials from the world's two biggest economies are continuing negotiations to try and get the relationship back on track.
