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September 14, 2025
 

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Francis Tang
Stocks traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange continue to rally, with the Nikkei 225 up more than 20% over the past year.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 12, 2025
Nikkei 225 hits record but just misses the 45,000 mark
Japanese stocks have been rallying for months on trade optimism and now political hope.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building. Japanese stocks have been performing well in recent months.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 11, 2025
Nikkei 225 hits record for second time this week, following Wall Street up
The benchmark index broke 44,000 again and moved near 44,400 on Thursday morning.
U.S. President Donald Trump at Granite City Works in Illinois in 2018. U.S. Steel, the owner of the plant, was acquired by Nippon Steel earlier this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 10, 2025
U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works to cease steel slab processing: report
The production decision comes just three months after the acquisition by Nippon Steel.
Traders in Tokyo celebrate an earlier record high closing of the Nikkei 225. The benchmark index has been rallying in recent days on trade optimism and political hope.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 10, 2025
Tokyo stocks achieve record close after strong performance on Wall Street
A sustained rally has followed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s announcement of his resignation.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief negotiator, says that U.S. tariffs on Japanese autos will fall soon.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2025
Akazawa heralds U.S. trade deal as he moots wrinkle in it
He notes Japan cannot finance any project that contravenes its laws.
The Nikkei Stock Average's opening, high and low prices on Tuesday are seen on a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 9, 2025
Nikkei 225 hits record on Ishiba resignation news, then falls back in afternoon
The benchmark reached a new all-time high in the morning of 44,185.73
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick argues that U.S. President Donald Trump has sole authority to invest Japan's promised $550 billion.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2025
Search is on for loopholes in Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge
The pledge was described over the weekend by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as essentially a blank checkbook for U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump (right) and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House. Trade deals between Japan and the United States are expected to be respected by Japan's next prime minister.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2025
Japan-U.S. trade deal expected to hold up post-Ishiba
Inertia and fear of Trump's fury work in the agreement’s favor.
Hei Seki
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2025
Beijing sanctions China-born Upper House lawmaker over remarks
The sanctions order cited Hei Seki’s remarks and actions such as on Taiwan, the Senkaku Islands and Hong Kong, saying he "gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs.”
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, sign trade agreements on Thursday in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
Japan's $550 billion investment pledge outlined in MOU
U.S. President Donald Trump will direct the investments and the projects funded by Japan will be controlled by the United States.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, shake hands.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
Trump signs order reducing tariffs on Japanese autos
The executive order signed by the U.S. president on Thursday in Washington sets auto tariffs on Japan at 15%.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping after a group photograph before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 3, 2025
Hot mic catches Xi and Putin talking about organ transplants and immortality
The Chinese and Russian leaders, both 72, spoke of technology that could help humans live up to 150 years.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, is reportedly planning to travel to Washington on Thursday for another round of talks over tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 3, 2025
Akazawa likely to leave Thursday for 10th round of tariff talks with U.S.: report
Akazawa abruptly canceled a to the United States just before departure last week, raising concern that the trade deal reached by the two countries on July 22 was in danger.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief negotiator, said he will be watching legal developments in the United States as tariff cases there move forward.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2025
Hope in Tokyo as Trump tariffs declared illegal
The decision is seen as potentially having some significance.
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Aug 28, 2025
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Dramatic withdrawal by trading house from three projects comes amid similar moves globally.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 28, 2025
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Japan's chief tariff negotiator had been set to leave on Thursday for a 10th round of talks.
Chief negotiator Ryosei Akazawa will be pushing for U.S. auto tariffs to be lowered soon.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 27, 2025
Akazawa heading to Washington for 10th round of tariff talks
The U.S. promises clarity on Japan's $550 billion pledge by the end of the week.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that an agreement between the U.S. and Japan will be made public soon.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025
Agreement on Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge to be released this week
The U.S. commerce secretary continues to insist that the U.S. president will control the funds.
Japan Post's UGX will still be available for many rejected packages.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025
Japan Post to stop accepting some parcels for shipment to the U.S.
Packages containing commercial items or valued above $100 will be rejected.
The number of foreign residents with business management residency status had reached a record 41,615 as of the end of 2024.
BUSINESS
Aug 26, 2025
Japan aims to tighten rules for business manager visas from October
The move comes amid concerns that foreign nationals are using the visa as an easy loophole to settle in the country.
Japan's cutting-edge railgun successfully strikes target vessel
The Defense Ministry’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) conducted a ship-board railgun shooting test from June to early July this year with the support of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Is America ready for Japanese-style 7-Elevens?
Convenience stores are a fixture of Japanese life and 7-Eleven, a chain that began in the U.S. in 1927, opened its first store in Japan in 1974 — and then became wholly Japanese-owned in 2005 through parent company Seven & I Holdings.
‘Fairytale’ Shirakawago ranked one of the world’s most beautiful villages
Forbes and Unforgettable Travel Company have ranked Shirakawago in Gifu Prefecture as Asia's most beautiful village.
People rush to make furusato nozei donations ahead of tighter rules
A booth from the town of Betsukai in Hokkaido at an Amazon Japan furusato nо̄zei promotion event, on Sept. 5 in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
Aging Japan’s centenarian population nears 100,000
Shigeko Kagawa, Japan's oldest person at 114, in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, on July 30
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
As Manila modernizes its military, new opportunities emerge for Tokyo
A Brahmos missile system is displayed during a rehearsal for a military parade in New Delhi in January. The Philippines will soon receive its second batch of the supersonic cruise missiles from India.
Shizuoka farmers fight to preserve sustainable tea method that’s steeped in tradition
As of August 2024, the number of confirmed chagusaba farmers had fallen to 302, just over half the 582 reported in 2015, according to the Shizuoka Chagusaba Farming Method Promotion Council.

Podcast

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

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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