BUSINESS NEWS

Central Japan Railway Company said its net loss in the first half of the fiscal year was about 1.1 billion dollars. Group sales fell 64 percent from the same period in 2019. (NHK)

The coronavirus pandemic has brought record losses to one of Japan's major airline operators. ANA Holdings has announced it expects a group net loss of 4.8 billion dollars, for the year ending next March. (NHK)

Japan's largest oil wholesaler says it will cease operations at a chemical materials factory around next October as competition in the industry intensifies. Eneos will seek to sell part of the plant to rival Idemitsu Kosan. (NHK)

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The animated movie "Kimetsu no Yaiba," or "Demon Slayer," has broken box office records in Japan, earning 10 billion yen in its first 10 days in theaters. It reached the milestone much faster than the 25 days it took the 2001 animated fantasy film "Spirited Away." (NHK)

A new survey shows only a small number of people in Japan are getting the safety benefits of working from home. It found that less than 20 percent were telecommuting despite calls to do so to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. (NHK)

Tokyo and London have agreed the UK's first big post-Brexit trade deal as Britain pushes to keep its economy on track after leaving the European Union. (NHK)

Japan's minister in charge of the coronavirus response says he will ask businesses to extend their year-end and New Year holiday period so people can stagger their travel. (NHK)

Wine connoisseurs in Japan are gearing up for an annual ritual. (NHK)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. is considering sharply scaling back its staff and budget for developing the first domestically manufactured passenger jet, effectively freezing the operation amid a slump in demand caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, sources close to the matter said Thursday. (Kyodo)

Japan is considering creating a hub where financial firms can file regulatory paperwork in English as Tokyo aims to recruit banks and brokerages away from Hong Kong and other parts of the world, according to people familiar with the matter. (Japan Times)

A computer file containing data on 2,750 business partners of a unit of Japan Post Co. has been leaked, the parent company said Tuesday. (Japan Times)

Japan and China are expected to agree as early as this month on resuming travel by both short- and long-term businesspeople between the two countries, Japanese government sources said Tuesday. (Japan Today)

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Over the coming decade, Japan will get economic tailwinds from a force never before experienced in economic history anywhere on this scale: the country's gigantic stock of record household savings will become unstuck. (Japan Times)

NHK hopes to make it mandatory for those who have not signed viewing contracts to report to the broadcaster whether or not they have a TV, a move it says could help cut costs for collecting fees. (Japan Times)

Analysts credit a Japanese government travel campaign with a slight uptick in spending on services and entertainment in late September. (NHK)

The parent company of All Nippon Airways Co. plans to acquire 400 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in loans from five Japanese banks as the airline operator's earnings have sharply deteriorated under the novel coronavirus, sources close to the matter said Wednesday. (Kyodok)

A chain of misjudgments and unexpected events, not least Carlos Ghosn's escape to Beirut, have sent Japanese prosecutors and former Nissan Motor general counsel Greg Kelly on a collision course set to unfold in his long-awaited trial over the next nine months. (Nikkei)

The Indian economy is set to become the third largest in the world behind China and the US by 2050 and retain the same position in 2100, a study published in the medical journal Lancet found by translating working age population of countries into scenarios for total GDP. ()