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August 28, 2025
 

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Nicholas Takahashi
Nissan workers walk outside its Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. Nissan plans to shut the plant by the end of fiscal 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Aug 18, 2025
A factory town in crisis shows Japan’s fading manufacturing era
Nissan directly employs almost 10% of Oppama’s 29,700 residents, but its factory is set to shut down by 2028.
Honda said its net profit halved in the first quarter because of U.S. tariffs, but upgraded its annual profit forecast after Tokyo finally hammered out a trade deal with Washington.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2025
Honda raises annual profit guidance despite U.S. tariff impact
The upward revision to operating profit was because of the tariff level and foreign exchange outlook, according to Honda.
New vehicles for sale at a Toyota dealership in California
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2025
Toyota logs record global sales despite Trump tariff turmoil
The carmaker’s sales were bolstered by a last-minute rush from customers to lock-in purchases before U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened 25% tariff on car imports.
The dashboard screen of a Toyota RAV4 compact crossover vehicle at an event in May
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 28, 2025
Toyota’s internal inertia stifles digital transformation effort
Inside Toyota, a group of employees are worried about the company’s future in an era when a car’s software matters just as much as its sheet metal.
Car dealerships in Tokyo. Some of Japan's automakers are raising loan rates amid higher costs for servicing loans.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2025
Japan carmakers put squeeze on households with higher loan rates
More than a year after the Bank of Japan’s first interest rate increase in 17 years, the volatile march higher in superlong bonds is raising the cost of servicing loans.
Toyota’s global sales that include subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino reached 955,532 vehicles last month, up 8% from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025
Toyota sales hit third monthly record on Japan and U.S. demand
Toyota’s global sales — including subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino — rose 8% from a year earlier to reach 955,532 vehicles in May.
"I am confident that we have what we need to rebuild our company," said Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa at its headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 24, 2025
Investors grill new Nissan CEO over job cuts, losses and mounting debt
"We understand your frustration,” Espinosa told stakeholders. "It will not be easy to deliver. But I am confident that we have what we need to rebuild our company.”
Japanese companies are rushing to protect their employees and brace operations in the Middle East for the fallout from U.S. strikes on Iran.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025
Japan’s banks pull staff from Middle East after U.S. strikes Iran
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has started to pull staff out of locations including Dubai, and halted unnecessary travel in and out of the region.
An electric motor, jointly developed by Honda and Daido Steel, for hybrid cars that uses no heavy rare earth metals is displayed at an unveiling in Tokyo in July 2016.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025
Honda supplier rethinks China relationship as trade war bites
For Daido Steel, the trade war has meant renewing a push to build rare earth supply routes outside of China.
KG Motors CEO Kazunari Kusunoki with the ultra compact electric vehicle Mibot
BUSINESS
Jun 19, 2025
This $7,000 single-seat electric car has become a hit in Japan
In the rural suburbs of Hiroshima, a Japanese startup is trying to kick-start the nation’s electric vehicle market with the smallest, cheapest car it can possibly make.
Mitsubishi Motors is raising prices on some of its models, including the gasoline version of Outlander Sport sold in the U.S. market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 18, 2025
Mitsubishi Motors raises U.S. prices as tariffs roil carmakers
The new prices will affect vehicles delivered after Wednesday and won’t be applied to cars currently on display in showrooms.
The all-electric Nissan Leaf has sold almost 700,000 units since it was originally released in 2010, making the Japanese carmaker an EV pioneer.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2025
The world’s first mass market electric car is getting a facelift
Nissan Motor's push to breathe new life into its lineup will see the debut of an updated version of the Leaf.
Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda’s reelection garnered almost 97% of voted shares during the carmaker’s annual meeting, the company said in a statement Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2025
Toyota chair reclaims support after scandals that hurt last vote
The rebound in Toyoda’s popularity suggest tacit shareholder approval of how he handled the certification issues.
Shareholders passed a motion to reappoint Chairman Akio Toyoda during Toyota Motor's general shareholders' meeting on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2025
No mention of buyout as Toyota shareholders reappoint Chairman Akio Toyoda
Questions about the privatization of Toyota Industries and Toyoda’s role in it never came up, in stark contrast to earlier this week at Toyota Industries’ annual meeting.
A Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus eCanter electric truck. The merger between Toyota Motor and Daimler Truck comes as the commercial vehicle industry faces mounting pressure to adapt as electrification, autonomous driving and emissions compliance reshape global transport.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2025
Toyota and Daimler finalize plan to merge truck units in 2026
The tie-up comes amid a mutual desire to boost margins and develop new technologies.
A ¥4.7 trillion ($32.4 billion) buyout bid by an entity led by Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda wasn’t formally on the agenda, but it overshadowed Toyota Industries' annual meeting on Tuesday as shareholders aired their grievances and sought clarity about the proposal.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2025
Toyota Industries shareholders question buyout at annual meeting
The Toyota group’s plan to privatize Toyota Industries has drawn sharp criticism from investors and analysts since it was announced a week ago.
Toyota group companies could establish a new holding company to privatize Toyota Industries.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2025
Toyota Industries receives $33 billion buyout offer from group companies
The deal would be in line with government efforts to encourage big companies to unwind cross-held shares with subsidiaries and other businesses.
Honda will provide a fleet of cars for athletes, officials and stakeholders, along with motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and other multipurpose vehicles during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2025
Honda joins 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as major partner
The carmaker will provide a fleet of cars for athletes, officials and stakeholders, along with motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and other multipurpose vehicles during the event.
Toyota's global sales reached 936,718 units in April, a 12% increase from a year earlier year and a record for the month.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 29, 2025
Toyota sales hit second monthly record on U.S. demand amid tariff rush
Toyota and Lexus brand sales jumped 10% in the U.S. last month thanks to steady demand and an influx in orders as duties on imported cars and parts kicked in.
Institutional Shareholder Services backed the reappointment of Chairman Akio Toyoda to Toyota’s board, reversing its position from a year ago.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025
ISS reverses stance and backs Toyota chief's reappointment
"There are no particular concerns about the nominee,” Institutional Shareholder Services said of Akio Toyoda in a report Thursday.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Japan Post to stop accepting some parcels for shipment to the U.S.
Japan Post's UGX will still be available for many rejected packages.
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
Philippines quietly deepening ‘unofficial’ defense ties with Taiwan
Filipino soldiers take part in a flag-raising ceremony on Mavulis Island during a visit by the Philippines' Armed Forces chief of staff, in Batanes, the Philippines, in June 2023. Batanes, a group of idyllic islands at the country’s northernmost tip, sits about 160 kilometers from Taiwan.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

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