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"The main message we have on monetary policy is that in times of heightened uncertainty, flexibility and data dependence become paramount,” said Nada Choueiri, the International Monetary Fund’s Japan mission chief, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 24, 2025

IMF urges BOJ flexibility on rates as tariffs dent outlook

Along with downgraded global growth projections, the IMF's forecast for Japan’s expansion in 2025 was trimmed by 0.5 percentage points to 0.6%.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is seeking a "fair deal with China."
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 24, 2025

Trump seeks 'fair deal' with China but pathway unclear

Trump told reporters his country would have a "fair deal with China," adding that "everything's active" when asked if Washington was talking to Beijing.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura says he hopes the prefecture's new rule prohibiting older people from using ATMs while talking on phones becomes widely known and eventually accepted as common sense.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 24, 2025

Osaka to ban older people from using ATMs while on the phone to help stop scams

While the ban does not include penalties, the Osaka prefectural government hopes to build public consensus to help prevent scams.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks during an event in Chicago earlier this month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 24, 2025

Federal Reserve at a policy and political crossroads poses global risks

A divergence between the Fed and other central banks could stress dollar funding markets and make financing more expensive for less-developed countries.
A Nucor steel factory in Blytheville, Arkansas. Foreign competition isn't the biggest challenge for steel companies — it's finding workers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025

Steelmakers already short-staffed as Trump pushes for U.S. factory revival

The U.S. stopped training factory workers decades ago, and retirements and immigration crackdowns are draining the pool of labor available.
New vehicles for sale at a Toyota dealership in El Centro, California. Toyota is planning to spend $88 million at an engine factory in West Virginia to widen its manufacturing footprint in the United States.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2025

Toyota to invest ¥12.5 billion in West Virginia plant amid Trump tariff push

The spending will secure the continued employment of some 2,000 workers at the factory, but a spokesman said it won’t result in any new jobs.
Regional lenders Daishi Hokuetsu Financial Group and Gunma Bank have entered into an agreement to consolidate their businesses in 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025

Regional lenders Daishi Hokuetsu and Gunma Bank agree to consolidate

The banks have entered a memorandum of understanding to integrate their businesses under a holding company structure on or around April 1, 2027.
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025

Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?

The tariffs add another layer of uncertainty for consumers already hesitating due to the yen's weakness and inflation.
Toyota Motor’s sales rose 8% from a year earlier to 231,336 units, while Honda Motor recorded a 13% jump, according to data released Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025

Japanese carmakers’ U.S. sales surge ahead of Trump tariffs

Toyota Motor’s sales rose 8% from a year earlier to 231,336 units, while Honda Motor recorded a 13% jump, according to data released Thursday.
KDDI President and CEO Hiromichi Matsuda is interviewed in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025

KDDI aims to use direct satellite link for drones

A direct link with satellites will make it easier to operate drones in mountainous areas and other regions where radio waves are hard to reach
Panathinaikos BC celebrates after winning the Euroleague title in Berlin on May, 26, 2024.
BASKETBALL
Apr 24, 2025

Euroleague CEO pushes back as NBA ponders new league in Europe

Motiejunas said the Euroleague is staunchly opposed to a new operator in the region.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato is is expected to meet with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 24, 2025

U.S. indicates no hard target for yen ahead of key trade talks

The United States has argued that the yen is too weak, making its value against the dollar a top agenda item in trade discussions.
Fiscal 2024 supermarket sales in value terms grew on higher prices including for food, especially rice and vegetables, but sales in volume terms continued to decline as consumers remained reluctant to spend.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2025

Japanese supermarket sales up for fifth straight year in fiscal 2024

Sales in value terms grew on higher prices including for food, especially rice and vegetables, but sales in volume terms continued to decline.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

No discussion of yen target, Kato says after Bessent meeting

The two countries possibly committing to a specific number in terms of the yen-dollar exchange rate has helped drive up the value of the Japanese currency.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in Tokyo gained 3.4% in April from a year earlier, as a mixture of impacts from last year’s school fee cuts and higher food and energy costs accelerated inflation, according to the internal affairs ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Tokyo prices rise most in two years, backing central bank's hike path

Consumer prices excluding fresh food gained 3.4% in April from a year earlier. Tokyo's figures are a leading indicator for national price gains.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Trump’s trade whiplash sinks world into dreaded ‘uncertainty’

"The worry I hear more often is actually not even tariffs, it is uncertainty,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters Thursday. "Let’s have clarity.”
The activity represents the continuing evolution in the sprawling North Korean efforts to target the cryptocurrency sectors in a bid to raise cash for the North Korean government.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2025

North Korean cyber spies created U.S. firms to dupe crypto developers

The activity shows the continuing evolution in North Korea's efforts to target the cryptocurrency sectors to raise cash for the North Korean government.
Amid U.S.-China trade tensions, the U.S. may be looking at Japan as a potential country to make up for a drop in corn exports to China.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Japan looks to increase U.S. corn imports ahead of more tariff talks

The idea appears to be aimed at appeasing U.S. President Donald Trump's criticisms about Japan's tariffs and could be used as leverage in next week's bilateral negotiations.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks about U.S. tariffs in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 25, 2025

Japan doubles down on stimulus to counter effects of Trump tariffs

The government will implement measures that build on ones announced earlier with the aim of boosting domestic spending and shoring up corporate balance sheets.
A Maruti Suzuki concept electric SUV at a trade show in Gandhinagar, India, last January
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 25, 2025

Maruti Suzuki profit misses estimate on higher input costs

The disappointing earnings for the sector leader come amid a broader consumption slack in the world’s most populous country.
U.S. President Donald Trump uses a cellphone aboard Marine One before it departs Leesburg Executive Airport in Leesburg, Virginia, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 26, 2025

U.S. officials adopt ‘organized’ framework to handle trade talks

Under the blueprint, U.S. negotiators will use a template that lays out common areas of concern to help guide the discussions.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato listens to a question during an interview at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo on April 17.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 26, 2025

Yen and BOJ's rate policy may remain focus in Japan-U.S. trade talks

A look at finance officials' descriptions of a recent meeting suggests currencies and the BOJ's interest rate policy may remain key factors in broader trade negotiations.
U.S President Donald Trump meets with Japan's Ryosei Akazawa, who is in charge of trade negotiations with Washington, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on April 16.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 26, 2025

Japan is a test case for Trump's tariff deals. But talks may be tortuous.

While some expect an agreement at the June G7 summit in Canada in June, others say it will be risky for Tokyo to cede ground before Upper House elections expected in July.
World Bank Group President Ajay Banga speaks during an interview at the IMF-World Bank Group spring meetings at IMF headquarters in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 26, 2025

Developing countries should fast-track U.S. trade deals, World Bank chief says

"You need to negotiate trade systems with the U.S. at the earliest possible (opportunity)," Ajay Banga said. "If you delay, it hurts everyone."
A broken Buddha statue inside a damaged pagoda following a strong earthquake in Amarapura township, Myanmar, on April 4.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 26, 2025

Myanmar junta defies quake ceasefire to continue deadly attacks, data shows

The military launched at least 207 attacks, including 140 airstrikes and 24 artillery barrages, according to data from the U.N. Human Rights Office.
Pope Francis leads a prayer in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Dec. 31, 2023.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Apr 26, 2025

Pope Francis saw defending the climate as an urgent priority for the world

Pope Francis spoke and wrote often about climate change, telling oil and gas executives in 2018 that transitioning to clean energy was a "duty” to humanity.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at Rengo's May Day event alongside the union's chief, Tomoko Yoshino, on Saturday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2025

Ishiba vows wage hikes that keep up with inflation at May Day event

Ishiba's participation marks the third year in a row for a Japanese prime minister to attend Rengo's May Day event.
Vehicles travel along the 110 freeway in downtown Los Angeles. California's GDP has overtaken Japan's to become the world's fourth largest economy, according to the U.S. state.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 27, 2025

California says it overtakes Japan to become world’s No. 4 economy

Japan's annual GDP was surpassed by China in 2010 and Germany in 2023, positioning the country in fourth place.
The Bank of Japan will release its quarterly report on the Japanese economy and prices at its two-day policy meeting from Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 27, 2025

BOJ may lower economic and price forecasts

Amid Trump's global trade war, the central bank is also likely to keep its monetary policy unchanged.
Trumpism is attacking America's core institutions to gain unchecked power, and only a united civic uprising that defends and reforms these institutions can stop it and build a better future.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 27, 2025

Time for a civic uprising

What’s happening is not normal. America needs an uprising that is not normal.

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