VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The leaders of South Korea and Japan have finally decided to break their long-standing diplomatic freeze in favor of combining forces to address North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

The US activist investor Daniel Loeb has bought a stake in a Japanese retailer Seven & I Holdings. Though the details about stake and valuation are not revealed, Loeb-run hedge fund Third Point is believed to have acquired stake below five percent. After the sale, the Japanese retailer is expected to take up restructuring exercise enhance profitability, reducing underperforming merchandise stores. Seven & I Holdings operates over 18,000 outlets under the brand 7-Eleven across Japan. Seven & I has decided to shut about 40 unprofitable Ito Yodado stores in the next five years.

Despite down 12.7 percent from the 52-week high of 20,952.71 points, Japan's Nikkei offered 27.89 percent return for 2015 so far and the last two sessions of the previous week further indicated the upward momentum in the market.

Japan's economy continues to decline. Inflation rate and household spending crawled in July. This is according to data that was released onFriday that will possibly add pressure on the central bank to raise its barrage of monetary stimulus.

The reduction in consumer spending and drop in exports are squeezing the world's third largest economy. During April-June quarter, exports from Japan eased putting further pressure on the Japanese economy, which slowed down at 1.6 percent annual growth rate as against the forecast of 1.9 percent.

Japan's economy has been facing tough times when its economy began to contract by 0.4% in the year's second quarter. It was an official data shown on Monday emphasizing how the prime minister's 'Abenomics' growth program doesn't work.

China's Anbang Insurance Group Co is bidding to buy Japanese property asset manager Simplex Investment Advisors, four people with knowledge of the bid said, in a deal that could top $1 billion.

Factory worker Satomi Iwata has new co-workers, a troupe of humanoid automata that are helping to address two of Japan's most pressing concerns - a shortage of labor and a need for growth.

Japan said on Saturday it would extend around $6 billion in development aid to Mekong region countries, as China prepares to launch a new institutional lender seen as encroaching on the regional clout of Tokyo and ally Washington.

Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to provide $110 billion in aid for Asian infrastructure projects, as China prepares to launch a new institutional lender that is seen as encroaching on the regional financial clout of Tokyo and its ally Washington.

In the 1980s when Sony and Toshiba were setting the agenda in the global TV and memory chip markets Japan was bristling with confidence as a hub of technological innovation.

Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari played down the prospect of substantial progress in trade talks being announced after a summit meeting between Japan and the United States on Tuesday.

Legislation to give the White House "fast track" authority to nail down a Pacific trade pact cleared its first hurdle in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday as a committee backed the bill and sent it to the full Senate for consideration.

Leaders of Asian and African nations called on Wednesday for a new global order that is open to emerging economic powers and leaves the "obsolete ideas" of Bretton Woods institutions in the past.

Senior U.S. lawmakers reached agreement on Thursday on a bill to give the White House "fast track" authority to negotiate a trade pact with 11 other Pacific nations that is central to President Barack Obama's strategic shift toward Asia.