For Toru Fujioka's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Global financial turmoil is turning up the heat on the Bank of Japan, raising the question of how much pain it can take before it is forced to act. The BOJ faces two market-driven problems as the U.S.-China trade war escalates — a strengthening yen ...
A majority of economists now see the Bank of Japan expanding its stimulus as its next move, with a strengthening of the yen from Federal Reserve rate cuts seen as a key factor for triggering action, according to a Bloomberg survey. While all 50 polled ...
The hottest economic doctrine around says governments should stop worrying and learn to love their public debt. Japan has been more relaxed than most — but a looming tax hike suggests it may be about to blink. Modern Monetary Theory, or MMT, posits that countries ...
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should postpone the consumption tax increase scheduled for October or face the failure of Abenomics, his six-year economic revival program, according to one of the architects of that program. "Abenomics will fail for real if the tax is raised now," Etsuro ...
In the land that gave us Hello Kitty, it's no surprise the government employs an endearing mascot to sell its bonds. His name is Kokusai-sensei. A pint-size rendition of him welcomes visitors to the investor relations office at the Finance Ministry. Pudgy and professorial, ...
Central bankers searching for options to fight the next downturn should look to Japan, where policymakers are gathering for a regular review of the world’s most epic monetary stimulus program. The Bank of Japan's two-decade journey from zero interest rates to massive asset purchases, negative ...
Japan Inc. is pushing back after years of pressure to give bigger pay raises that has been a key part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's campaign to restore stable economic growth. While wages have never reached the level sought by Abe, the results from annual ...
Long before the U.S. and Europe embraced radical monetary policies last decade during the global financial crisis there was the Bank of Japan. Twenty years ago this month — back when the American economy was running hot under Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and the ...
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. "I don't think it will ...
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. That's still not enough to save Tomoaki Nagai's metal parts factory near Osaka, and ...
