Latest news with #MeijiYasuda
CBS News
17-07-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Bear roaming golf course halts play at tournament for second time in 2 months in Japan
A bear sighting on Wednesday prompted organizers of a golf tournament in Japan to cancel the opening day, marking the second time an ursine invader has halted play in the last two months. The bear was spotted in the morning near the first tee at the Meiji Yasuda Ladies tournament at Sendai Classic Golf Club in northern Japan on the professional JLPGA Tour. The pro-am competition scheduled for the same day was canceled, with organizers later deciding to scrap Thursday's opening day of the tournament. Organizers said they would decide later whether to play or cancel the rest of the competition, which has a total prize money of $670,000. "On Wednesday, a bear sighting on the course was reported and the pro-am tournament was cancelled to protect the safety of the participants, players and staff," said a statement on the tournament website. "To ensure safety and to consider future measures, we have decided to cancel Thursday's opening day," the statement continued. "We will announce details of the tournament from Friday onwards as soon as they have been decided." In May, the final round of the Twinfield Ladies on the women's second-tier Step Up tour in central Japan was cancelled after a bear was spotted on the course. The following month, a bear roaming the runway forced a Japanese airport to cancel flights and declare itself off-limits to passengers for the day. Human encounters with bears reached record levels in Japan last year, with 219 people attacked and six deaths in the 12 months to April 2024. Climate change affecting food sources and hibernation times is a key factor, but as Japan's aging population shrinks, humans are leaving rural areas, and that is also leaving room for bears to move in. "Then that area recovered to the forest, so bears have a chance to expand their range," biologist Koji Yamazaki, from Tokyo University of Agriculture, told CBS News' Elizabeth Palmer in 2023. Japan is one of the only places on the planet where a large mammal species has been reclaiming habitat — which is good news for the bears, but if, as biologists suspect, the bear population is growing, the country will have to figure out new ways to protect people, and vital infrastructure like airports, from the animals. Japan's government in February approved a bill allowing hunters to shoot bears in populated areas. In December, a bear that rampaged through a Japanese supermarket for two days was lured out with food coated in honey. Police said the animal was trapped and later killed.
Japan Times
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Bear stops play again at Japan golf event
A bear sighting on Wednesday prompted organizers of a JLPGA Tour event to cancel the opening day — the second time an ursine invader has halted play in the last two months. The bear was spotted in the morning near the first tee at the Meiji Yasuda Ladies tournament at Sendai Classic Golf Club. The pro-am competition scheduled for the same day was canceled, with organizers later deciding to scrap Thursday's opening day of the tournament. Organizers said they would decide later whether to play or cancel the rest of the competition, which has a total prize money of ¥100 million ($670,000). "On Wednesday, a bear sighting on the course was reported and the pro-am tournament was canceled to protect the safety of the participants, players and staff," said a statement on the tournament website. "To ensure safety and to consider future measures, we have decided to cancel Thursday's opening day. "We will announce details of the tournament from Friday onward as soon as they have been decided." In May, the final round of the Twinfield Ladies on the women's second-tier Step Up tour in central Japan was canceled after a bear was spotted on the course. The following month, a bear roaming the runway forced a Japanese airport to cancel flights and declare itself off-limits to passengers for the day. Human encounters with bears reached record levels in Japan last year, with 219 people attacked and six deaths in the 12 months to April 2024. Climate change affecting food sources and hibernation times, along with depopulation caused by an aging society, are causing bears to venture into towns more frequently, scientists say.
Japan Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
Meiji Yasuda Life to shun superlong Japanese debt for year or more
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance plans to avoid actively investing in Japanese superlong-term government bonds for the next one to two years as interest rates may rise and supply pressures build. Fiscal expansion concerns propelled Japanese government bond yields on Monday ahead of the Upper House election later this month, adding further momentum to a rise stoked by a view that inflation is quicker than the central bank's expectations. "The Bank of Japan will continue to raise interest rates,' Kenichiro Kitamura, Meiji Yasuda's operating officer and general manager of investment planning and research department, said in an interview last week, while predicting that 30-year bond yields, currently at just below 3%, could rise to 3.2% to 3.3% by fiscal 2026. "When the peak becomes apparent, it will be a good time to buy, but now is not the right time,' he added. Instead, the company is considering hedged foreign bonds as an alternative investment. U.S. interest rates are at high levels and there is room for yields to decline as the Federal Reserve may cut rates, and "considering the risk of yen appreciation due to the narrowing U.S.-Japan interest rate differential, hedged foreign bonds are a viable option,' Kitamura said. Japanese life insurance companies, which were expected to fill the void left by a retreating BOJ as buyers of the country's long-term debt, are holding off on significant purchases as further interest rate hikes loom. Life insurance companies' appetite for superlong-term bonds has been declining and purchases have slowed significantly over the past few years after their buying streak to meet new solvency rules. Meiji Yasuda may gradually see its appetite for duration make a comeback as it seeks to match its long-dated liabilities on account of new product launches. In April, the insurer launched a new group pension product with an increased scheduled interest rate. It also raised the scheduled interest rate for individual savings insurance products and is focusing on acquiring new insurance contracts. "As insurance liabilities increase, we will invest in ultra-long-term bonds,' said Kitamura.
Bloomberg
07-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Meiji Yasuda Life to Shun Super-Long Japan Debt for Year or More
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. plans to avoid actively investing in Japanese super-long-term government bonds for the next 1-2 years as interest rates may rise and supply pressures build. Fiscal expansion concerns propelled Japanese government bond yields on Monday ahead of the upper house election later this month, adding further momentum to a rise stoked by a view that inflation is quicker than the central bank's expectations.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meiji Yasuda's Paper Bond Losses Jump Eightfold as Rates Climb
(Bloomberg) -- Four of Japan's biggest life insurers reported about $60 billion of combined unrealized losses on their domestic bond holdings for the latest fiscal year, underscoring the risks they face as interest rates climb. For now, they aren't overly concerned. NY Private School Pleads for Donors to Stay Open After Declaring Bankruptcy UAE's AI University Aims to Become Stanford of the Gulf NYC's War on Trash Gets a Glam Squad Pacific Coast Highway to Reopen Near Malibu After January Fires Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. said on Monday that paper losses on its domestic bond holdings increased more than eightfold to about ¥1.386 trillion ($9.7 billion) at the end of March compared with ¥161.4 billion a year earlier. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. said unrealized bond losses more than tripled to ¥1.518 trillion. Combined with equivalent figures announced earlier from Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc. and Nippon Life Insurance Co., the biggest firm in the Japanese sector, the paper losses come to about ¥8.5 trillion. That's around four times the total a year earlier. Meiji Yasuda's unrealized bond losses are neutral to its credit quality, according to Toshihiro Matsuo, a director at S&P Global Ratings. 'It holds ample unrealized gains on listed equity, which will be able to absorb realizing bond losses if necessary,' he said. Unrealized bond losses don't necessarily lead to actual selloffs because insurers tend to hold notes until they mature. Under a new rule, higher interest rates push down the value of both assets and liabilities and don't affect a regulatory gauge of fiscal soundness. Life insurers tend to be big investors in super-long debt because they need assets to match their liabilities from insurance policies spanning decades. An especially steep selloff in Japan's longest bonds pummeled the companies, as investors grew concerned about falling demand for the debt at a time when the central bank is scaling back huge bond purchases. Across Asia, life insurers are facing billions of dollars in paper losses from the market rout sparked by reactions to Donald Trump's policies. But Japanese insurers also face risks from a central bank that's looking for opportunities to raise interest rates further. Negative factors like those fueled a tumble in 30-year and 40-year Japanese government bonds that last week saw yields rise to the highest since they were first sold, though they've pulled back on Monday. There's still 'some distance' until unrealized losses increase so much that writedowns on the value of bonds are needed, Kenichiro Kitamura, operating officer and general manager at Meiji Yasuda's investment planning and research department, said at a news conference. He doesn't expect the surge in super-long Japanese yields to continue. Sumitomo Life's managing executive officer Nobuji Takao also said the chance of super-long bond yields rising further isn't high considering how much they've gone up already. While the firm's unrealized bond losses have increased, it buys bonds on the assumption they will be held to maturity, so 'we're not that concerned about it,' he said in a news conference. Last week, Nippon Life's executive officer Akira Tsuzuki said: 'Just because unrealized losses are growing, that doesn't mean something terrible will happen all of a sudden.' Still, if bonds resume falling, insurers may need to unload some of their holdings even if the declines haven't reached levels where writedowns need to be considered. The insurers may need to sell bonds, for example, if rising interest rates prompt investors to cancel insurance policies to put their cash in assets with better returns. And the companies might also sell lower-yielding debt to park their funds in bonds with higher coupons. --With assistance from Joyce Koh. (Updates with analyst's comments in fourth paragraph.) Why Apple Still Hasn't Cracked AI How Coach Handbags Became a Gen Z Status Symbol AI Is Helping Executives Tackle the Dreaded Post-Vacation Inbox Inside the First Stargate AI Data Center Anthropic Is Trying to Win the AI Race Without Losing Its Soul ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
