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November 12, 2025
 

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JAPANESE ECONOMY

The travel services trade surplus rose to ¥3.31 trillion thanks to an increase in visitors to Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 11, 2025
Japan's April-September current account surplus hits record high
The current account balance expanded mainly because the trade balance swung to a surplus following lower imports.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and other members of a government panel on economic growth strategy gather for their first meeting at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 11, 2025
Takaichi eyes stimulus package to jump-start growth plan
Takaichi has signaled a shift toward more expansionary fiscal policy and said that Japan remains only halfway toward achieving stable inflation supported by wage growth.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks after the October rate-setting meeting, where the policy rate was kept at 0.5%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 10, 2025
Bank of Japan signals it's inclined to increase rates, with the usual caveats
The central bank will make the move as long as wages keep moving up at a healthy pace, and there are no big surprises.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at a Lower House Budget Committee session in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 7, 2025
Takaichi makes the case for economic growth in parliament debate
Friendly and smooth-sailing exchange between Takaichi and her LDP colleagues in the morning was followed by a more critical line of questioning from CDP lawmakers.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to a panel on promoting economic security in Japan on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 7, 2025
Takaichi calls for the updating of Japan's economic security law
The prime minister argues that the geopolitical situation has changed and economic threats are increasing.
Outlays by households gained 1.8% in September from a year earlier, led by transportation and entertainment, but the rise was lower than expected, reflecting falling spending on housing and education.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 7, 2025
Japanese households boost spending despite inflation hit
Outlays by households adjusted for inflation gained 1.8% in September from a year earlier, led by transportation and entertainment.
UA Zensen, a major labor union covering service sectors, plans to push for a 6% bump in overall wages for regular employees in negotiations set to conclude in March.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 6, 2025
Major Japan union group seeks 6% wage hike as BOJ watches
UA Zensen said it plans to target the same level of wage gains for regular workers in next year’s pay negotiations as it did for this year.
Japan Innovation Party co-leader Fumitake Fujita said on Wednesday that a Bank of Japan rate hike amid government calls for more corporate investment would likely send a mixed policy message.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 6, 2025
JIP cautions against mixed message of a BOJ hike
Such a move could seem contradictory amid calls for more investment in the private sector, Japan Innovation Party co-leader Fumitake Fujita says.
Real cash earnings fell 1.4% in September, marking the ninth consecutive monthly decline in line with analyst forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 6, 2025
Japan’s wage growth stays firm, keeping rate hike bets alive
Nominal wages rose 1.9% from a year earlier, accelerating from August, the labor ministry reported Thursday, coming in line with economist expectations.
The Bank of Japan's September meeting minutes make clear that Japan’s experience with more than a decade of deflation is keeping some members cautious as they await more data.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 5, 2025
BOJ minutes highlight caution rooted in Japan’s deflationary era
The minutes shed light on the discussions surrounding policy at the September meeting, when Gov. Kazuo Ueda faced for the first time two votes against keeping rates on hold.
Global firms are racing to carve out space in Japan’s lending market, betting that demand for private credit will surge, albeit slowly.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 5, 2025
Private credit dealmakers face years of heavy lifting in Japan
Building deal flow will require time — and education — as Japanese borrowers grow familiar with how private debt works and what it can offer.
Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor, speaks during a media preview at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 29. Minority investors are challenging the carmaker's bid to take affiliate Toyota Industries Corp. private.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 5, 2025
The Toyota buyout is a major test for Japan’s reforms
A letter signed by two dozen investors addressed "widespread concern” about the plan to buy out Toyota Industries Corp., also known as TICO.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and minister in charge of growth strategy Minoru Kiuchi (center right) attend a meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 4, 2025
Takaichi eyes economic growth plan by next summer
A newly established government panel has been tasked with mapping out a growth plan for 17 key sectors, including AI, chips and defense.
"She has a good vision,” says Masahiro Kihara, CEO of Mizuho Financial Group, referring to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's pro-growth policies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 4, 2025
Mizuho's CEO says he sees policy tailwinds from Takaichi and BOJ
Masahiro Kihara said Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had "good vision," referring to her policy initiatives, while the central bank has "room for another hike or two.”
Japanese companies have raised $132 billion in foreign-currency bond and loan deals arranged by banks so far in 2025, up 56% from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 4, 2025
Japan’s $132 billion borrowing binge reshapes global credit
Underscoring the unprecedented shift onto the global stage, annual overseas note issuance is on course to exceed debt sales in yen for the first time ever.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi holds a news conference in Gyeongju, South Korea, following the end of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 2, 2025
Takaichi rules out dissolving Lower House for snap election
The prime minister said her government must focus on accelerating the rollout of economic measures, including steps to tackle inflation.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her first policy speech in parliament, on Oct. 24, 2025.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025
Takaichi might be more of a supply-sider than a Keynesian
It's not all about Abenomics, one economist argues.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama issued her first clear warning on currency moves in noting the government is monitoring the yen with a strong sense of urgency.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025
Japan’s Katayama warns on FX as yen hits eight-month low
The yen traded around an eight-month low after the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged, with markets unconvinced by Gov. Kazuo Ueda offering hints a rate hike is coming.
Job hunting and recruitment both may have become less active in September ahead of minimum wage hikes beginning in October.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025
Japan's September job availability ratio stays unchanged
Job hunting and recruitment may have become less active in September ahead of minimum wage hikes in October, and some companies may have curbed hiring due to earnings drops.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food gained 2.8% in October from a year earlier in the Tokyo area, with subsidies for water having run their course.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025
Faster Tokyo inflation supports BOJ rate hike case and boosts yen
Consumer prices excluding fresh food gained 2.8% in October from a year earlier in the capital.
Tokyo ranked world’s richest city by GDP, with Osaka-Kobe also rated highly
Tokyo has a gross domestic product of $2.55 trillion, just ahead of New York’s $2.49 trillion and Greater Los Angeles’ $1.62 trillion, according to CEOWorld’s global wealth index.
Takaichi stands firm on controversial Taiwan contingency remarks
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a session of the House of Representatives' Budget Committee in parliament in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Tokyo looks to keep ‘monster parents’ at bay with new protocols
New guidelines are addressing struggles by teachers to deal with the burden of parents who make irrational complaints that go beyond what is considered socially acceptable, often referred to as "monster parents," which is overwhelming their workload.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.
Jenson Button brings end to an illustrious racing career intertwined with Japan
Jenson Button races for Honda during the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2008.
Cleanliness gets competitive at Tokyo’s Spogomi world cup
On Oct. 29, teams from 33 qualifying countries scoured the streets of Shibuya for all manners of trash as part of the Spogomi litter-picking competition.
Jon Homewood: ‘There’s beauty in what we throw away’
After a peripatetic childhood around the world, teacher and artist Jon Homewood ended up coming to Japan in 2012 for a professional opportunity.
High-speed rail is expensive and difficult, but seen as a key to growth
Achal Khare, former managing director at India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation, gives a presentation during the IHRA Forum 2025 in Tokyo on Oct. 23.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Bear attacks have dominated Japanese news headlines in recent months, with 13 people so far having been killed by the animals.
Japan’s bears have been on their killing spree for more than 100 years
By Yukana Inoue

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