Latest Japan Headlines

All the headlines from our Japan Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Japan Rail Crash Raises Questions

Apr 29 2005 // The death toll from Monday’s commuter train crash in Japan has reached 106 with the discovery of three more bodies on Thursday, including the 23-year old driver. In addition to the dead more 450 people were injured...

S&P Raises Japan’s Fuji Fire Ratings to ‘BBB+’

Apr 27 2005 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has raised its financial strength and long-term counterparty ratings on Japan’s Fuji Fire & Marine Insurance Co. to “BBB+” from...

Japan Train Crash Death Toll Rises to 73

Apr 26 2005 // The loss of life from yesterday’s train wreck in Japan has risen to 73. Over 450 were injured, and many remain in a serious condition. Rescue workers labored throughout the night to extract survivors from the mangled...

50 Reported Dead in Japan Train Crash

Apr 25 2005 // A Japanese commuter train came off the tracks at Amagasaki, a suburb of Osaka, about 400 kms (255 miles) west of Tokyo, and rammed into a building at about 9:20 a.m. local time. News reports have put the death toll at 50...

Report Tokio Marine in Talks to Acquire ABN AMRO’s Brazilian Insurance Unit

Apr 22 2005 // With a saturated and highly competitive home market, Japanese insurers are increasingly looking abroad for opportunities to expand. According to a report from the Japanese business newspaper Nihon Keizai, as reported by...

Japan Using New Marine Insurance Law to Apply Pressure on North Korea

Mar 3 2005 // North Korean ships seeking to enter Japanese ports faced a new hurdle this week as a law took effect requiring large vessels visiting the country to have insurance against oil spills and other accidents.Japanese lawmakers...

Study: About 11,000 Would Die in Tokyo Quake

Mar 1 2005 // About 11,000 people would die and Japan as a whole would suffer about $1.06 trillion in economic damage if a major earthquake were to strike Tokyo, a government disaster prevention panel said.The panel made its estimates...

S&P Raises Japan’s Nisshin Fire Ratings to ‘BBB+’ After Tokio Marine Buy

Feb 24 2005 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has raised its long-term counterparty credit and financial strength ratings on Nisshin Fire & Marine Insurance Co. Ltd. to “BBB+” from...

Best Affirms NIPPONKOA ‘A’ Rating

Jan 25 2005 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A” (Excellent) of Japan’s NIPPONKOA Insurance Company Ltd. with a stable outlook.“The rating reflects the...

SE Asia Death Toll Tops 220,000

Jan 20 2005 // More than three weeks after the devastating tsunamis struck 12 countries bordering the Indian Ocean, the death toll continues to rise, as hope for the missing fades.Indonesian officials announced that more than 166,000...

Best Affirms Toa Re ‘A+’, ‘aa’ Ratings

Jan 7 2005 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has affirmed the financial strength rating of “A+” (Superior) of Japanese reinsurer The Toa Reinsurance Company, Limited, and has assigned an “aa-” issuer credit...

S&P Reports First Half Results in Japan’s P/C Sector Show Companies Still Under Pressure

Nov 30 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has issued a report noting that Japanese non-life insurance companies recently released results of for the first half of fiscal 2004, which indicate that underwriting...

AIG Subs to Purchase R&SA’s Japanese Business

Nov 12 2004 // American International Group, Inc. announced that its subsidiaries American Home Assurance Company and AIU Insurance Company will purchase the insurance portfolio of the Royal & SunAlliance (RSA) branch operations in...

S&P Affirms Tokio Marine Europe ‘AA-‘ Rating

Nov 11 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Rating Services announced that it has affirmed it’s “AA-” insurer financial strength rating on London-based Tokio Marine Europe Insurance Ltd. (TMEI), a wholly owned...

Japan: Powerful, Beleaguered and Consolidating

Oct 25 2004 // Until Commodore Peary’s visit in 1848, Japan was one of the world’s most isolated countries, and it still remains rather unique. But something in the Japanese character and society enabled it to turn its back...

Deadly Typhoon Tokage Hits Japan

Oct 21 2004 // Typhoon Tokage roared through Southwestern Japan on Wednesday, killing at least 48 persons, injuring more than 200, and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The NHK, Japan’s public broadcasting service,...

S&P Sees Limited Impact of Typhoons on Japanese P/C Insurers’ Ratings

Oct 7 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services indicated that the impact of damage caused by typhoons in 2004 on Japanese non-life insurers is likely to be limited, owing to reinsurance indemnities and catastrophe loss...

Best Assigns Aioi America “A” Rating

Oct 6 2004 // A.M. Best Co. announced that it has assigned a financial strength rating of “A” (Excellent) to Chicago-based Aioi Insurance Company of America with a stable outlook.“The rating reflects Aioi...

AIU Underwrites ScanAlert’s Japan Hacker Coverage

Oct 5 2004 // Napa Calif.-based ScanAlert announced that AIU Insurance Japan, a division of AIG and the largest foreign-affiliated P/C insurer in Japan, is underwriting a new hacker insurance program for all “HACKER SAFE”...

S&P Assigns ‘AA-‘ Ratings to Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance; Outlook Stable

Oct 1 2004 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services announced that it has assigned its ‘AA-‘ financial strength and long-term counterparty ratings to Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. Ltd. with a stable...