Japan Post Bank Co. plans to spend an initial ¥100 billion directly buying stocks — when it finds the right opportunities. The nation's second-largest bank by deposits, which currently invests in equities only through passive investments in funds, is eventually aiming to boost active stock ...

Investors' wait-and-see approach this year is leading to a growing problem. Cash. Having sold a record amount of overseas bonds in April, as well as domestic debt, Japanese investors have mostly held off reinvesting the proceeds. Excess reserves at the Bank of Japan from the ...

The Bank of Japan is caught in a quandary: to let bond yields rise or not. Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda wants to make longer-maturity debt more attractive by letting yields move higher, yet doing so will put pressure on his efforts to keep 10-year borrowing costs ...

Ryohei Nomoto wants to put fresher sashimi on your plate, and more money in the wallets of Japan's struggling fishermen. His venture air-freights freshly caught fish from across Japan, processes them on the grounds of Tokyo's Haneda airport, and distributes the produce to the city's ...

A former coal-mining town in Hokkaido is taking unprecedented measures to combat its biggest challenge: a devastating shrinking of its population. Its success could decide the future for hundreds of other local governments waging the same battle for survival. Since its peak in the post-war ...

Chinese tourists tumbling off buses into the Laox duty-free store in Tokyo's bustling Ginza district say the yuan's drop against the yen may make them think twice about splurging during their shopping tours. "Many things are better than China," said a 27-year-old Beijinger called Wang, ...

Toyoo Gyohten, a former currency policy chief at the Finance Ministry, says 2016 will be the year for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to take up the mantle of stimulus from the Bank of Japan, which has done all it can to revive the economy. While ...

The era of a weaker yen is coming to an end and Japan's currency may strengthen toward 115 per dollar, according to Eisuke Sakakibara, a former vice finance minister. The yen was little changed at 119.42 per dollar as of 5 p.m. in Tokyo Friday, ...

The third time inflation has fallen to zero in this year persuaded some market watchers that "Abenomics" needs to be taken back for an overhaul. The government will be forced to delay an increase in the sales tax scheduled for April 2017 and the Bank ...