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July 21, 2025
 

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Yoshiaki Nohara
Exports measured by value dropped 0.5% in June from a year earlier, apparently reflecting the impact from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2025
Japan’s exports fall as U.S. tariffs stoke recession risks
Exports measured by value dropped 0.5% in June from a year earlier, led by cars and steel, the Finance Ministry reported.
Outlays by households in Japan, adjusted for inflation, gained 4.7% from a year ago in May, according to the internal affairs ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 4, 2025
Japan’s households boost spending by most since summer of 2022
Consumption makes up more than half of Japan’s economic output and could determine whether the economy will enter or avoid a technical recession.
Japan's factory output in May fell 1.8% from a year earlier, missing expectations of a 1.6% rise.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 30, 2025
Japan’s factory output misses expectations as U.S. tariffs hit
Industrial production increased 0.5% from the previous month, the industry ministry reported Monday.
Governments seeking agreements to whittle down country-by-country tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump announced on April 2, and then suspended until July 9, have no idea where additional levies will land.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 27, 2025
Trump’s threat of more tariffs makes U.S. trade partners wary of signing deals
The U.S. might apply levies under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act on a range of foreign-made products in certain industries.
Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa deflected a question over whether Japan will seek an extension of the deadline for the across-the-board tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 20, 2025
Japan won’t fixate on July 9 in U.S. trade talks, says Akazawa
Tokyo's top trade negotiator deflected a question over whether Japan will seek an extension of the deadline for the across-the-board tariffs.
Japan’s trade surplus with the U.S. last year stood at ¥8.6 trillion ($59.3 billion). Roughly 82% of the gap was due to Japan’s surplus in cars and auto parts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 19, 2025
U.S. focus on auto trade gap is sticking point for Japan deal
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba briefed CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda and others about the latest developments in the bilateral trade negotiations.
Exports measured by value dropped 1.7% in May from a year earlier, suggesting exporters may be absorbing the tariff shock by cutting prices, as export volume rose 1.8%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 18, 2025
Japan’s export drop raises recession risks as U.S. tariffs bite
The drop in exports and the larger trade deficit add to concerns that Japan’s economy could shrink again in the second quarter.
Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa speaks to reporters Friday at Haneda Airport in Tokyo before heading to Washington.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2025
Akazawa sees a deal with U.S. sparing Japan from higher car levies
Akazawa heads to the U.S. as the two nations eye a potential trade deal out of an expected summit in Canada between Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office after holding talks with opposition leaders Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2025
Japan and U.S. still far apart in tariff talks, Ishiba cited as saying
Ishiba is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders gathering in Canada starting Sunday, but a deal is far from certain.
Japan's exports in terms of value dropped 3% in the first 20 days of May from the same period a year earlier, indicating the impact of U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025
Japan’s early May exports drop as tariff woes upend commerce
Exports measured by value dropped 3% in the first 20 days of May, which compared with a 2% rise for April.
Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, left Tokyo for Washington on Thursday for the fifth round of trade negotiations with the United States.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2025
Japan to continue to seek tariff removal in latest negotiations ahead of G7
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to meet on the sidelines of the summit, with anticipation mounting for a trade deal announcement.
Japanese firms' capital expenditure gained 1.8% in the three months through March from the previous quarter, while inflation is keeping a lid on household spending and U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign clouds the trade outlook.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 2, 2025
Japan’s firms raised capital spending ahead of U.S. tariffs
Business spending holds the key to the country’s economic growth as inflation keeps a lid on household spending.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda
BUSINESS / Economy
May 28, 2025
Ueda to monitor risk of high long-term bond yields affecting shorter-term rates
The comments come at a time of heightened concern about volatility at the long end of the bond market.
Japan may offer cooperation on shipbuilding expertise and an Alaska natural gas project as part of trade talks with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 26, 2025
Japan touts ships expertise and LNG investment, with tariff talks key
There is rising momentum in the negotiations as the U.S. tariffs threaten to drag Japan’s economy into a technical recession ahead of the Upper House election.
Bank of Japan policy board member Asahi Noguchi says there’s no need to make major changes to the bank’s Japanese government bond purchase plan.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025
BOJ dove Noguchi sees no need to change JGB tapering plan
The BOJ is currently trimming its purchases by ¥400 billion ($2.8 billion) a quarter and is on course to reach monthly buying of around ¥2.9 trillion by the spring of 2026.
Japan’s trade balance swung into a deficit in April after two months in the black as growth in its exports slowed.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 21, 2025
Japan’s exports slow as U.S. tariffs bite, risking a recession
Exports measured by value gained 2% in April from a year earlier, slowing from March’s 4% as cars and steel dragged on shipments.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025
Ishiba rebuffs tax cut demands with Greek debt comparison
The premier said he disagrees with the idea of funding tax cuts with Japanese government bonds, signaling caution over additional government spending.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer travels to the resort island of Jeju, South Korea, to join his counterparts at the meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation members on Thursday and Friday.
WORLD / Politics
May 15, 2025
Trade chiefs jostle for time with Greer at APEC meeting in South Korea
Many will seek talks with the U.S. trade representative to try to blunt the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s barrage of tariffs.
Trade Minister Yoji Muto will skip the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, a decision that will likely lower Tokyo’s chances of securing an opportunity for bilateral talks with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 14, 2025
Japan’s key officials to skip APEC meet attended by U.S. trade representative
This won’t be the first time Japan’s trade minister will miss the APEC gathering in recent years, but sending a lower-ranking official may make it harder to hold one-on-one talks.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (right) speaks during a news conference in Milan on Sunday.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2025
Finance chief Kato walks back idea of U.S. Treasury sales as trade chip
Japan held roughly $1.13 trillion in Treasury Securities at the end of February — making it the biggest overseas holder of U.S. debt.
Japan ruling bloc loses majority in Upper House after election drubbing
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, leaves at the party's headquarters following announcement of Upper House election result projections in Tokyo early Monday.
Polls open for key Upper House election that could shake Japanese politics
People vote during Japan's Upper House election at a polling station in Tokyo on Sunday.
Sunken WWII Japanese warship Teruzuki found off Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands. A team from the U.S. nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust has discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki on the deep seabed off the Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
Japan team finds ancient ocean full of squids
The ancient ocean was full of squids, whose population exceeded that of fish or ammonites, a Japanese research team mainly from Hokkaido University has found through a new method using technology.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on July 10.
‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.
In microbes we trust: Embracing the nature of fermented food
You don't need an oven to make Kenji Morimoto's easy and delicious Miso Sticky Toffee Crepe Cake.
Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood

Podcast

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

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

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