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Travel advisories, declining visitor numbers from key countries and stricter border enforcement by the Trump administration have cast doubt on tourism gains for Los Angeles, which is hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup and also the 2028 Olympics.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025

Is LA throwing a world cup party no one will attend?

At a time when the U.S. should be preparing to roll out the welcome mat to the world, President Trump’s erratic immigration policies and rhetoric are scaring tourists away.
Japan and the United States are aiming for a meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Donald Trump at the Group of Seven leaders summit on June 16 and 17.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 4, 2025

U.S. doubles steel and aluminum tariffs as Japan counts on a breakthrough

The United Kingdom is exempt from the higher rates because it struck an early trade deal with the United States.
Lawson plans to sell 1-kilogram and 2-kg bags of rice it bought from the government's stockpile at ¥360 ($2.50) and ¥700 respectively.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Aging rice? Lawson prefers to call it 'vintage.'

As convenience stores prepare to sell government stockpiled rice from older harvests to consumers, Lawson says it will offer rice balls made of "vintage rice."
A man cycles past a mural calling for the conviction of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 5, 2025

Philippines' Sara Duterte questions impeachment trial under new congress

The Philippine vice president said procedural issues may arise for her trial in the Senate due to the current body adjourning next week.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025

Trump’s late-night lament over Xi deepens impasse in trade fight

Exactly what the Chinese are asking the White House to relinquish in order to secure a phone call with their leader remains unclear.
Astroscale Holdings executives attend the company’s listing ceremony at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in June 2024.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2025

Space-debris firm that saw shares surge 62% on IPO loses half its value

Excitement over Astroscale Holdings was riding high, but it's now the worst performer among Tokyo’s 10 biggest listings in the past year.
Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, left Tokyo for Washington on Thursday for the fifth round of trade negotiations with the United States.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2025

Japan to continue to seek tariff removal in latest negotiations ahead of G7

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump are expected to meet on the sidelines of the summit, with anticipation mounting for a trade deal announcement.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivers a speech in Berlin on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025

After courting and criticizing Trump from afar, Merz now set to meet U.S. leader

Past meetings between the two countries’ leaders have often been formalities to reinforce their unshakable postwar partnership. This time is different.
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet, presented a vision of AI that was at once optimistic about the technology’s possibilities and sober-minded about some of its present limitations, at an event at the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 5, 2025

Alphabet CEO expects to keep hiring engineers while AI advances

Alphabet's CEO presented a vision of AI that was at once optimistic about the technology’s possibilities and sober-minded about some of its present limitations.
A customer picks up a bag of stockpiled rice at a Lawson convenience store in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 5, 2025

Lawson and FamilyMart begin selling government-stockpiled rice

Their sales are expected to make it easier for consumers to access stockpiled rice after it sold out quickly at major supermarkets and other places.
Wages in Japan are falling on a real basis, in part because of rising food prices.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 5, 2025

Real wages in Japan fell 1.8% year on year in April

Inflation-adjusted pay has now fallen for four straight months.
The trouble between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk started brewing days ago, when Musk denounced Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 6, 2025

Trump and Musk trade barbs on social media as alliance crumbles

Within hours of Trump criticizing Musk in the Oval Office, the once-close relationship had disintegrated in full public view.
The highly anticipated call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping came in the middle of a dispute over "rare earths" minerals that threatened to tear up a fragile truce in the trade war.
WORLD
Jun 6, 2025

Trump and Xi pledge more talks as trade disputes brew

In a rare call, Trump and Xi pledged to resume trade talks, but tensions over rare earth minerals and Taiwan remained unresolved.
Japan's household spending fell 0.1% from a year earlier in April, as the elevated cost of living weighs on consumer spending.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025

April household spending drop deals blow to Japan's shrinking economy

Domestic demand will likely be a key factor in determining whether a technical recession can be avoided after the economy shrank in the first quarter.
A Mercedes-Benz production line in Rastatt, Germany, earlier this month. European auto suppliers alone have filed hundreds of requests to China for rare earths since early April, with only about a quarter granted.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025

The world's auto supply chain is in the hands of a few Chinese bureaucrats

China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets — a crucial component in EV motors — and it added them to an export control list in April.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Tokyo. Stock traders are looking for signs of activist holdings in Japanese firms, with more than 80% of Tokyo-listed companies, whose fiscal year ends in March, expected to hold shareholder meetings in the last five days of June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 6, 2025

Traders scouring annual meeting filings for traces of activist shareholdings

Multiple stocks jumped last week after activist investor Aya Nomura’s name appeared in annual general meeting letters, listed as a stakeholder.
Japan's exports in terms of value dropped 3% in the first 20 days of May from the same period a year earlier, indicating the impact of U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025

Japan’s early May exports drop as tariff woes upend commerce

Exports measured by value dropped 3% in the first 20 days of May, which compared with a 2% rise for April.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick held a 110-minute meeting on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025

In tariff talks with the U.S., Japan may have blinked

Tokyo is backing off from its insistence that all new tariffs be removed, according to a Friday report by the Asahi Shimbun.
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.
The Bank of Japan's headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 6, 2025

Bank of Japan considering smaller reductions in bond buying

The internal debate is centered on whether to slow the pace of reductions to ¥200 billion per quarter from April next year or maintain the current pace.
Elon Musk watches as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the White House in Washington in March.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2025

Trump says he has no plans to speak to Musk as feud persists

Trump said a review of Musk's extensive contracts with the federal government was in order. "We'll take look at everything," the president said.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 7, 2025

Xi bets Trump detente leads to future wins on chips and tariffs

The Chinese leader hopes for tangible wins in the weeks and months ahead, including tariff reductions, an easing of export controls and a generally more civil tone.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top negotiator in tariff talks with the U.S. speaks to reporters at the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 7, 2025

Japan won’t wait for G7 summit for possible U.S. trade deal

Trade discussions between Japan and the U.S. have "progressed” but have not yet reached a consensus on a deal to revisit sweeping U.S. tariffs, Tokyo's top negotiator said.
Tokyo's Asakusa district near Sensoji Temple. The Japanese government vowed to realize pay raises that exceed price increases in a stable way.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 7, 2025

Japan highlights wage hikes as cornerstone of economic growth strategy

Seeing wage hikes as a key part of its growth strategy, the government vowed to realize pay raises that exceed price increases in a stable way.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visits Jins Park in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 7, 2025

Ishiba vows to set up council for regional revitalization

He hopes to include the plan in a basic concept of his signature "Regional Revitalization 2.0" program.
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka in 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 8, 2025

Trump’s China gambit belies rocky road ahead on tariff deals

The U.S. president has scheduled a call with Xi Jinping, paving the way for a new round of talks on Monday in London.
Lee Sang-il’s "Kokuho" stars Ryo Yoshizawa as an orphan from a yakuza clan who rises through the world of kabuki to become a star performer.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 8, 2025

‘Kokuho’ finds riveting drama on and off the kabuki stage

Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama deliver stage performances that are both convincing as kabuki and arresting as drama in Lee Sang-il’s ambitious film.
Nomura Holdings predicts the dollar to trade around ¥136 by the end of September, against around ¥145 currently.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 8, 2025

Nomura flags risk of sharp yen rally on U.S.-Japan policy pressure

The investment bank, among Japan’s largest, now recommends shorting the greenback versus the yen, targeting a move in the pair to ¥136 by the end of September.
A worker at a rare earth metals mine in Jiangxi province, China, in 2012
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 8, 2025

China says it may speed up rare earths application approvals from EU

Beijing's recent suspension of rare earths-related exports upended the supply chains central to numerous industries around the world.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top tariff negotiator, speaks to reporters in Washington on Friday after holding talks with U.S. officials.
BUSINESS
Jun 8, 2025

Akazawa vows to redouble efforts for tariff accord with U.S.

Ishiba and Trump may hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the three-day Group of Seven summit in Canada from June 15.

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