by Ekrem Duman | Jul 25, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Trading Houses & Finance
⚡ TL;DRIn 2020 Berkshire Hathaway disclosed stakes in all five major Japanese trading houses, a surprising move that transformed global perception of the sogo shosha. This guide explains what Buffett saw, how the yen-denominated bond funding worked, why the trades...
by Ekrem Duman | Jul 25, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Trading Houses & Finance
⚡ TL;DRNomura is Japan’s largest securities firm and the institution that bought Lehman Brothers’ Asian and European operations days after its 2008 collapse — a bold move that brought both global reach and enduring integration difficulties. This guide...
by Ekrem Duman | Jul 25, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Trading Houses & Finance
⚡ TL;DRMitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is Japan’s largest bank and one of the biggest financial institutions in the world, best known internationally for a crisis-era investment in Morgan Stanley that helped stabilize Wall Street. This guide covers MUFG’s...
by Ekrem Duman | Jul 24, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Trading Houses & Finance
⚡ TL;DRItochu transformed from a textile merchant founded in 1858 into the trading house that broke ranks with its rivals by de-emphasizing resources and building consumer, food and retail businesses instead. This guide covers Itochu’s origins, its non-resource...
by Ekrem Duman | Jul 24, 2026 | Japan Company Stories, Trading Houses & Finance
⚡ TL;DRThe sogo shosha, or general trading house, is a uniquely Japanese business model with no real equivalent anywhere else — part trader, part investor, part financier and part project developer. This guide explains how the five big trading houses work, why...
