OECD - Who Cares? Corporate Governance in Today’s Equity Markets

There are two main sources of confusion in the public corporate governance debate. One is the confusion about the role of public policy intervention. The other is a lack of empirical knowledge about the corporate landscape where rules are supposed to be implemented and the functioning of today’s equity markets, where voting rights and cash flow rights are traded. To mitigate some of this confusion, this paper provides both an analytical framework for the role of public policy and a description of the empirical context that influences the conditions for that policy.
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Ranks of Unseen, Unemployed ‘SNEPs’ Growing

First there were “Freeters,” then there were “NEETs.” Now, here come the “SNEPs.” No, these aren’t the youthful followers of the latest trends who flock to the Tokyo fashion meccas of Shibuya and Harajuku on weekends, The Wall Street Journal Real Time Japan blog reported. Rather, they are the growing numbers of working-age people who are unemployed, underemployed or socially isolated.
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When business transfer is a fraudulent act

On November 30 2010 the Tokyo District Court issued an order for the avoidance of a business transfer that was made by a bankrupt company before it filed for bankruptcy. The court also ordered the transferee to restore the transferred assets that could still be identified; in the case of assets that had been transferred, but could no longer be identified, the transferee was required to make payment to the value of such assets.
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SPECIAL REPORT-Inside Tepco's Bailout: Japan Inc Saves Its Own

Masataka Shimizu, the president of Tokyo Electric Power, 66, announced his resignation near the darkened command center on the second floor of Tokyo Electric's headquarters where he had disappeared in the second week of the crisis after the March 11 earthquake. After being briefly hospitalized for exhaustion after the disaster and widely criticized for his lack of leadership, Shimizu had come back for a round of ritual apologies for Fukushima evacuees and the resignation. "We want to sincerely apologise for our nuclear reactors in Fukushima causing so much anxiety, worry and trouble to socie
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IP Qualifications Profiles January 2011 - Japan

Appointment In Japan, insolvency proceedings are implemented through any one of the following four distinct insolvency law regimes: • Bankruptcy Law of Japan (Law No. 75, June 2, 2004) (Hasan Ho); • Special Liquidation Law (Art. 510-574 of Corporation Law) (Tokubetsu Seisan in Kaisha Ho); • Civil Rehabilitation Law (Law No. 225, December 22, 1999) (Minji Saisei Ho); and • Corporate Reorganization Law (Law No. 154, December 13, 2002) (Kaisha Kosei Ho).
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Providing financing to companies in crisis

The provision of finance without collateral, or with insufficient collateral, is considered a breach of fiduciary duty, which constitutes the crime of breach of trust. However, providing urgently needed finance to a company in a critical state of near-insolvency may not constitute an offence of this kind if such financing could support the company's recovery and prevent the finance provider's existing claims from becoming uncollectable as a result of the company's insolvency. In such circumstances, financing may be provided without security.
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In Japan, Young Face Generational Roadblocks

Kenichi Horie was a promising auto engineer, exactly the sort of youthful talent Japan needs to maintain its edge over hungry Korean and Chinese rivals, the International Herald Tribune reported. As a worker in his early 30s at a major carmaker, Mr. Horie won praise for his design work on advanced biofuel systems. But like many young Japanese, he was a so-called irregular worker, kept on a temporary staff contract with little of the job security and half the salary of the “regular” employees, most of them workers in their late 40s or older.
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Corporate Reorganization of Takefuji Corporation

Takefuji Corporation, one of the largest consumer financing companies in Japan, petitioned the Tokyo District Court for corporate reorganization on September 28, 2010 and the court accepted the petition on the same day. The court immediately appointed a provisional trustee and an investigator to determine whether Takefuji is eligible for the insolvency proceeding under the Corporate Reorganization Law. The court also ordered a moratorium on enforcement of judgments against Takefuji and forbade Takefuji to repay its creditors and sell or loan its assets.
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