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The yen strengthened dramatically this month — hitting ¥139.9 to the dollar on Tuesday — and could become a topic of conversation in trade talks between the United States and Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 22, 2025

Yen on the march as Plaza Accord 2.0 debate grows

The U.S. has claimed that Japan's currency is undervalued, with some in the administration of President Donald Trump calling for a Plaza Accord 2.0.
 Toyota Motor and Daimler Truck are expected to finalize the merger agreement as early as May.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2025

Toyota and Daimler near merger of truck units, report says

The two auto groups aim to establish a holding company for the truck units and list it on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime market in April 2026.
A man sprays paint graffiti against Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on a Tesla showroom in New York on Tuesday in this screen shot taken from video.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2025

Musk to reduce White House role as Tesla profits plunge

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would cut back "significantly" the time he devotes to the Trump administration from next month.
U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell holds a news conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington last September.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025

Trump says he has no intention of firing Fed chief Jerome Powell

Trump’s National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Friday said the president was studying the question of whether he’s able to sack Powell.
U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent says a de-escalation between the U.S. and China will come in the very near future.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025

Bessent expects tariff standoff with China to deescalate

The U.S. Treasury secretary is optimistic that tensions could cool in the coming months but cautioned that a larger deal could take longer.
A farmhand prunes trees on a 4-year-old cocoa plantation, replanted after swollen shoot disease, in Enchi, Ghana, on March 4.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2025

Cocoa crunch isn’t over yet as top growers struggle with supply

Africa’s cocoa heartland has long grappled with blight and aging trees, leaving farms vulnerable as severe weather hammered crops in recent years.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a meeting of the Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias Task Force, at the Justice Department in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 23, 2025

Hegseth delivers what Trump wants but with unwanted controversy

Hegseth has done most everything so far that Trump hoped he would — and for now, that’s been enough to keep Trump on Hegseth’s side.
Milled rice at a rice mill in Nakhon Pathom province, Thailand
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025

Trump tariffs threaten to pile more pain on Thailand's rice sector

Thailand is among the Southeast Asian nations hardest hit by Trump's proposed measures, facing a 36% tariff on goods unless ongoing negotiations are successful.
MUFG Bank, a unit of the nation’s biggest banking group, is among firms that recently scrapped a clerical job category that consisted almost exclusively of women, a sign that the financial sector is finally getting more serious about reducing gender inequalities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2025

Top Japanese firms scrap employment system that held women back

Abandoning the clerical job category may increase opportunities for women to advance to more senior positions.
The United Steelworkers union headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2025

Union tells Bessent risks of Nippon Steel deal are too great

The United Steelworkers said the risks cannot be overcome in any scenario in which Nippon Steel exercises influence over U.S. Steel’s decision-making.
Japan has started discussing specific measures to expand liquefied natural gas imports from the United States to reduce its trade surplus, as demanded by Washington.
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025

Japan mulls expanding imports of LNG from the U.S. for tariff negotiations

In 2024, Japan imported ¥542.6 billion of LNG from the U.S.
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025

Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono

Kono said matters related to regional security shouldn’t be discussed as part of the trade talks, nor should the question of how best to manage relationships with China.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a campaign rally in Laval, Quebec, Canada, on Tuesday. Carney was the subject of at least 16 books published in March and listed on Amazon, according to a review of the site on April 16.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2025

AI floods Amazon with strange political books before Canadian election

The development adds to concerns about how new technologies are affecting the information voters receive during the election campaign.
Japan has walked a delicate path — taking steps to hedge its dependence on China while distancing itself from the politics of Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025

Trump’s trade war with China puts Japan in a tight spot

Japan had long maintained deep economic ties with both China and the United States. Recent trade tensions may challenge that approach.
Pope Francis was known for his strong environmentalism, highlighted by his influential 2015 encyclical calling for global climate action.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 23, 2025

The next pope will help decide the planet’s fate

As much of the world retreats from climate activism, the Vatican has a chance to stand out by choosing another vocal environmentalist to lead 1.4 billion Catholics.
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025

Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump

The government hopes an import quota will give them more cards to play in tariff negotiations with the U.S.
Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa last week at Haneda Airport. The chief tariff negotiator believes the gap between the United States and Japan on trade issues remains wide.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025

Mood shifts to measured optimism in U.S.-Japan trade dispute

Japan has so far engaged in a charm offensive aimed at staying onside while politely poking holes in the president's arguments and expectations.
An attendee plays with the Nintendo Switch 2 gaming device at a media event in Tokyo on April 3.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025

Nintendo says demand for Switch 2 console in Japan is overwhelming

"We have received 2.2 million applications for the lottery sale at our official online store for customers in Japan alone," said Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa.
Elon Musk confirmed plans on Tuesday to reduce his government time commitment to one or two days a week to focus on his battered car company Tesla.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 24, 2025

Trump's Cabinet ready to take back power with Musk stepping back, sources say

Elon Musk plans to reduce his government time commitment to one or two days a week to focus on his battered car company, Tesla.
A tourist sits on the banks of Dal Lake with her belongings as she waits for transport to leave for Srinagar airport, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir’s scenic Pahalgam, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 24, 2025

Kashmir killings shatter Modi's tourism success in troubled region

Tuesday's attack by suspected militants has left panicked tourists seeking an early exit at the start of the busy summer season.
A bereaved family member prays at a port in Shari, Hokkaido, to mourn the victims of the Kazu I boat sinking on its third anniversary on Wednesday.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 24, 2025

Hokkaido fisher to hold memorial service for tour boat accident victims

Sakurai instantly decided to organize the offshore memorial service when he saw photos recovered from a 34-year-old Kazu I passenger's digital camera.
"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.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past