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July 12, 2025
 

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Masahiro Hidaka
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance's headquarters in Tokyo. Japanese life insurance companies are holding off on buying superlong-term Japanese government bonds as further interest rate hikes loom.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2025
Meiji Yasuda Life to shun superlong Japanese debt for year or more
The insurer is expecting the Bank of Japan to continue to raise rates.
The BOJ holds its next policy meeting on June 16-17, when the board is widely expected to keep the benchmark rate unchanged.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025
Pressure mounts for Japan to adjust bond sales as soon as July
The BOJ holds its next policy meeting on June 16-17, when the board is widely expected to keep the benchmark rate unchanged.
As the global trade war intensifies, the debt, the main investment for Japan’s life insurers, has seen wild swings along with its U.S. counterparts.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 18, 2025
Major Japan life insurer to pile into domestic superlong bonds
Investment decisions by Japan’s life insurers can move global markets, and Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance will be the first among its major peers to report such plans.
The Government Pension Investment Fund's holdings of government bonds increased 25% to ¥50.3 trillion in fiscal year ended in March.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 11, 2024
Japan’s public pension fund steps up as BOJ mulls bond cuts
The BOJ is expected to release a plan to substantially reduce its debt buying at the next policy decision later this month.
Japan Post Insurance, one of the nation’s biggest life insurers, held about ¥60.9 trillion in assets as of the end of March, of which around ¥47.7 trillion were securities, mainly government bonds.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 3, 2024
Japan Post goes slow in buying longest bonds after BOJ rate hike
Japan Post forecast in April that the 30-year government bond yield will be 2% at the end of March 2025
The Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo. The insurer isn't interested in buying Japan’s superlong sovereign bonds until yields start rising.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 16, 2024
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance to avoid Japan sovereign bonds for now
Japanese life insurers are the main buyer of bonds due in more than 10 years and typically increase purchases toward the end of the fiscal year.
A damaged vehicle under a collapsed house following an earthquake in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Tuesday. Speculation that the Bank of Japan might shift its policy this month is receding, as the central bank has to assess the adverse impact from the Noto Peninsula disaster on the economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 5, 2024
Yen falls as earthquake raises bar for BOJ to end negative rates
While speculation about a January tweak is receding, many still expect an end to negative rates in April, or later in 2024.
Traders are betting that the Bank of Japan will almost certainly end its negative interest rate policy by early next year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2023
Rising bets on BOJ policy move shift focus to ‘neutral’ rate
This theoretical rate that neither stimulates nor restricts the economy is likely somewhere in a wide range of 0.5% to 2%, according to analysts.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. The central bank announced an emergency bond-buying operation on Wednesday after the 10-year Japanese government bond yield hit a new decade high.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2023
Bank of Japan steps into debt market to slow rising bond yields
The operation had no immediate impact on the benchmark 10-year yield, which earlier in the day touched 0.815%, a fresh decade high.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 18, 2023
Japan insurer to sell all currency-hedged foreign debt as costs rise
The strategy, among the first to be disclosed by Japanese life insurers this fiscal year, may foreshadow a renewed wave of selling by some of the biggest investors in global bond markets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 22, 2022
Nippon Life may buy more domestic bonds after BOJ shift raises yields
Benchmark 10-year sovereign yields have almost doubled to 0.48% after policymakers raised the cap to 0.50% on Tuesday.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2021
Japan’s 2025 budget goal is near impossible, debt panel member says
Measures such as spending cuts or tax increases to meet the goal would shave 1% off the economy each year and are therefore unlikely, says Ayako Fujita.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 28, 2019
Negative yields will punish insurer profits, ex-Bank of Japan official says
Miyako Suda, who opposed the Bank of Japan's ultraloose monetary policy as a member of its Policy Board, has a warning for the nation's life insurers as bond yields sink ever lower.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 6, 2019
Fighting against Bank of Japan may not be crazy after all
Going against a central bank is an investment strategy fraught with peril, but some bond market analysts think the Bank of Japan will fail to steepen the yield curve.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 17, 2019
Yen likely to hit 80 to the dollar in next Japan recession, former BOJ official says
The yen is likely to reach its strongest level against the dollar in more than six years if Japan enters a recession, which could come as early as the fall of this year, a former central bank official has said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 19, 2018
Bank of Japan's ¥400 trillion cash injection changes little for ordinary people
It's been the most radical cash injection in history — nearly ¥400 trillion pumped into Japan's economy over more than five years to slay deflation and kick growth into higher gear.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2018
Abe rival Seiko Noda slams BOJ's 'desperate' push for 2% inflation
The Bank of Japan should drop its 2 percent inflation target and should not further expand its program of massive monetary easing, Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda, a long-shot to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said in an interview.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 19, 2018
Despite jumpy market, Bank of Japan watchers don't expect a policy change anytime soon
Economists who follow the Bank of Japan aren't buying the idea that the central bank is nearing the point where it will begin to normalize its ultraloose monetary policy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 10, 2018
Fukushima's premium sake wins worldwide acclaim, as brewers eye global markets in prefecture's push for recovery
In an area of Japan still decimated by nuclear disaster, sake is offering cause for hope.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Oct 26, 2017
Osaka's ¥1 sales energize shoppers but not good for BOJ's inflation quest
Osaka is famed for it's cheap prices, with ¥1 supermarket sales, ¥10 drinks and discount train tickets sold right next to the station. That attracts thrifty consumers and tourists, but may be undercutting the central bank's efforts to generate sustained price rises.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
Air India crash report to offer peek into last seconds
Members of the Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 14.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.
NGOs condemn rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of Upper House vote
Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya holds a board that reads "Japanese First" in Tokyo on July 2. In a joint statement on Tuesday, eight human rights nongovernmental organizations described the far-right party's stance as "hate speech."
Japanese dancers find a home abroad at Houston Ballet
“Giselle” lead Yuriko Kajiya (center), performing with Connor Walsh as Albrecht, is one of six Japanese dancers at Houston Ballet.
From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.

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