HIS and the Cruel Irony of the Weak Yen — Who Is Selling Japan Travel Now?
HIS built its empire on cheap overseas travel for Japan's youth. Now the world wants to visit Japan — and the tickets are being sold by Klook, Viator, and KKday.
Analyses
ANYCOLOR Down 49% From Its Peak — Inventory Write-Down Exposes a Management Blind Spot
ANYCOLOR's stock has fallen 49% from its 52-week high following a full-year guidance cut tied to merchandise inventory losses. We examine the real cause, test the VC-selling hypothesis, and assess what the stumble reveals about a young management team — and why that cuts both ways.
Selling the Company Means Selling Its History — The Cost of Abandoning Technology
What did Europe's auto industry lose by going all-in on EVs and selling stakes to foreign capital? Technology only lives when it is used continuously. Once severed, it cannot easily be restarted. A company is not a box — it is the accumulated knowledge, people, and history inside it.
Who Actually Wanted EVs? What Japan's Auto Industry Reveals About Market Reality
Honda's EV retreat and up to ¥2.5tn in charges raise a deeper question: were EVs ever what consumers actually wanted? A comparison of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Suzuki reveals a simple truth about markets.
Kumiai Chemical: The Agriculture Company Benefiting from Food Security Anxiety
Kumiai Chemical (TSE:4996) posted Q1 FY2026 revenue of JPY 46.7bn (+7.7%) and operating profit of JPY 4.99bn (+24.5%), with a 10.7% operating margin. An agricultural chemicals company whose profit grows faster than revenue is executing a mix-shift toward higher-margin products — in a market where global food security concerns are elevating the value of crop protection at precisely the right moment.
Besterra's 98% Profit Surge: The Demolition Company Riding Japan's Industrial Renewal
Besterra (TSE:1433) posted Q3 cumulative operating profit up 98.3% year-over-year to JPY 741M on revenue of JPY 11.1bn (+2.2%). The near-doubling of operating profit on modest revenue growth, alongside an equity ratio that jumped from 43.9% to 64.8%, marks a structural turnaround for a specialist in plant demolition — a business that sits precisely at the intersection of Japan's aging industrial infrastructure and its decarbonization investment cycle.
Morozoff's Valentine Problem: When Premium Pricing Meets Cocoa at Record Highs
Morozoff (TSE:2217) posted Q3 cumulative revenue of JPY 36.3bn (+0.7%) while operating profit collapsed 38.6% and net profit fell 54.6%. The company faces a version of the affordability trap in reverse — it is a premium brand that cannot easily raise prices without losing its positioning, while input costs surge on the back of global cocoa prices hitting historic highs.
Trichemical Research Institute: The Chemistry Behind AI's Infrastructure Build-Out
Trichemical Research Institute (TSE:4369) posted Q3 cumulative revenue of JPY 23.9bn (+26.3%) and operating profit of JPY 5.90bn (+12.3%), with a 24.7% operating margin. The company makes the ultra-high-purity chemical precursors that semiconductor fabs cannot operate without — a position that places it structurally upstream of the AI infrastructure boom, largely invisible to investors focused on chip designers and equipment makers.
Kamakura Shinsyo and the One Market That Cannot Have a Bad Year
Kamakura Shinsyo (TSE:6184) posted Q3 cumulative revenue of JPY 8.34bn (+18.0%) and operating profit of JPY 1.16bn (+27.6%), with a 13.9% operating margin. The company operates Japan's dominant end-of-life digital platform — funeral discovery, inheritance consulting, estate real estate — in a market defined by demographic certainty: Japan records approximately 1.6 million deaths per year, a number that will only rise.
Kobe Bussan: The Retailer That Gets Stronger When Food Prices Rise
Kobe Bussan (TSE:3038) posted Q1 FY2026 revenue of JPY 141.6bn (+6.9%) and operating profit of JPY 10.9bn (+19.6%). While ordinary income fell 43.5% on one-time items, the core business tells a different story — one of a discount bulk retailer that benefits structurally from the same inflation that is squeezing peers like Kura Sushi.