NEW YORK, Jan 07 (News On Japan) - Goldman Sachs, a major U.S. financial institution, is reportedly planning to launch a new fund focused on real estate investments in Japan, according to Bloomberg.
The firm is said to be seeking to raise about $500 million for the fund and plans to pursue a strategy centered on acquiring undervalued properties, improving their profitability, and targeting returns in the mid-teens percentage range.
Source: テレ東BIZ
A fire that scorched the exterior wall of a company operated by a Pakistani national was discovered in Ebetsu, Hokkaido, on March 1st, just one day after a mosque located about 400 meters away caught fire, prompting police to investigate the possibility that the two incidents may be connected.
Police plan to arrest a Japanese doctor in his 60s who lives in the United States and is suspected of spraying an oil-like liquid at Naritasan Shinshoji Temple in Chiba Prefecture in 2015, with the suspect expected to arrive in Japan as early as March 4th, investigators said.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has announced plans to draw up guidelines for the introduction of a so-called dual pricing system that differentiates between foreign visitors and local residents.
Kyoto City significantly raised its lodging tax from March 1st, increasing the maximum charge per person per night from 1,000 yen to as much as 10,000 yen, in a move aimed at tackling overtourism and funding the preservation of cultural assets, even as questions remain about its impact on visitors and the local economy.
A former emergency responder and foreign tourists worked together to rescue a woman in her 80s who was trapped inside an overturned light vehicle in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture.
A Tokyo-based investment firm that had planned to take over the closed zoo North Safari Sapporo in Minami Ward, Sapporo, and develop a new zoological park has decided to scrap the plan as of March 3rd.
PayPay’s market capitalization is expected to exceed 2 trillion yen as the company prepares for a listing on the U.S. Nasdaq exchange.
All Nippon Airways held a press conference to announce a change in leadership, with Executive Vice President Hisaichi Hirasawa set to assume the role of president on April 1st, stating that sweeping reforms to the airline’s struggling domestic operations are urgently needed as profitability continues to deteriorate.
As price hikes spread from fast food to daily necessities and households grapple with rising living costs, the steady depreciation of the yen has emerged as a central driver of inflation, with multiple indicators showing that the currency’s purchasing power has fallen to roughly one-third of its mid-1990s peak, underscoring how three decades of economic stagnation, prolonged monetary easing and renewed fiscal expansion have left Japan far more vulnerable to imported inflation than other major economies.
An AI startup that emerged almost overnight, Akari had long been known only to insiders due to its limited media exposure, but after receiving investment from Mitsubishi Electric at the end of January and seeing its corporate valuation surge past 100 billion yen, the Tokyo-born venture has rapidly positioned itself as a leading unicorn candidate in Japan’s AI sector.
Mizuho Financial Group has decided on a policy to improve operational efficiency through the use of artificial intelligence, aiming to reduce administrative work equivalent to as many as 5,000 employees over the next decade.
Honda announced on February 26th that it will introduce a new model of its SUV, the CR-V, with prices starting at 5,122,700 yen.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission has conducted an on-site inspection of Microsoft’s Japanese subsidiary on suspicion of violating the Antimonopoly Act by potentially restricting the use of rival services.
