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The Japanese national flag waves at the Bank of Japan building in Tokyo on March 18.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2024

Moody's Japan analyst urges reform while BOJ takes time to raise rates

Christian de Guzman said he did not expect the budget-balancing target for fiscal 2025 to be met, but failure would not trigger a negative rating action.
Fast fashion e-commerce company Shein's logo outside its office in Guangzhou, China, on June 11
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 25, 2024

What is at stake for China-founded Shein as EU rule looms

Shein has faced more than 90 lawsuits alleging it plagiarized others’ designs or products.
Toyota has been looking to cash in on stakes in affiliates as it steps up development and production of battery-powered vehicles.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2024

Toyota and affiliates to offload some $1 billion in Aisin shares

Toyota Motor and two affiliates will divest at least 12.5% of supplier Aisin
Ryosuke Kunisawa hopes his "concept brewpub" serves as a focal point to an image change for the salaryman epicenter that is the Shimbashi neighborhood.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2024

Craft beer, craftsmanship and a family of reinvention

On the first two floors of his family’s slender eight-story building, Kunisawa launched the Kunisawa Brewing Company, Shimbashi's first beer brewery, in May 2022.
American sprinter Noah Lyles poses with a "Yu-Gi-Oh!" card after winning at the U.S. Olympic track-and-field finals on Sunday. The image went viral, once again showing the popularity of Japanese cultural exports like manga.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 28, 2024

Blackstone sees billions in manga. You should too.

Investment firm Blackstone's move to buy manga platform Mecha Comics, betting on the strength of Japan's soft power, looks further ahead than other players have.
Inside the TikTok office in Singapore in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 1, 2024

China’s AI startups head to Singapore in a bid for global growth

Singapore offers many Chinese artificial intelligence startup companies better access to global investors and customers than China does.
Sumitomo Corp. President Shingo Ueno speaks during an interview at the company's head office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2024

Sumitomo looks to tap U.S. shale boom despite exiting production

The company will seek to boost sales of pipelines used in U.S. shale fields.
A Chinese worker organizes plastic doll heads after painting them at a toy factory in Xietang, Zhejiang Province, China, in 2015.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 2, 2024

China’s plastics boom is set to create another trade headache

Parts of the country’s sprawling petrochemicals sector are running at as little as half capacity as producers cut back.
The supply of super-long Japanese debt is projected to total almost ¥30 trillion in the fiscal year that started on April 1.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 2, 2024

Big risks hound Japan’s longest bonds despite move to cut supply

Japan's government appears to be striving to calm down a market that’s wracked by rising yields.
The Otemachi One Tower building, which houses the Norinchukin Bank head office, in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2024

Norinchukin is at risk of downgrade by Moody’s on bond losses

The unlisted agricultural bank warned last month that it may incur losses of ¥1.5 trillion ($9.3 billion) this fiscal year.
Masahiko Kato, president and chief executive officer of Mizuho Bank
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2024

Mizuho seeks to back more strategic deals by Japan’s mid-caps

Though companies such as automakers grab the attention of global investors, smaller firms dominate in terms of the number of companies in Japan.
The China World Office 2 building, which houses the headquarters of China International Capital Corp. (CICC), in Beijing May 6. One official gauge of foreign direct investment clocked its lowest monthly reading since mid-2018 in May, as investors show caution amid Chinese President Xi Jinping’s conflicting campaigns to bolster national security against foreign threats and further open up the economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 4, 2024

Xi’s China proves a hard sell at officials’ overseas roadshows

Their pitch to foreign investors is being met with doubt, partly due to the policies of their big boss.
A nursing home in Ishikawa Prefecture. Wage increases in other industries have made the nursing care sector less attractive.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 4, 2024

Over 80 nursing homes in Japan went bankrupt in first half

Rising costs and a severe manpower shortage are the main reasons driving care providers out of business.
Seven-Eleven Japan holds a demonstration of delivering freshly baked pizza in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 5, 2024

Japan convenience stores boosting quick delivery services

Over 3,000 products such as drinks, snacks and daily goods are currently available for delivery from 7-Eleven.
Power lines in the Yanqing district of Beijing in 2021
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 5, 2024

China, struggling to exploit an energy storage boom, calls for more

The drive boosts home-grown battery giants but some experts say more must be done to address low utilization and losses for operators.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is struggling to stay in office amid low public approval ratings and discontent from within his party. However, it is extremely rare for a sitting LDP president running for reelection to be dethroned.
EDITORIALS
Jul 5, 2024

Kishida fights for his political life

Despite low public approval ratings and discontent in the LDP, all is not lost for Prime Minister Kishida if the summer is kind to him and he plays his cards right.
Japanese workers' base pay increased 2.5% in May from a year ago, the fastest growth since 1993.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 8, 2024

Japan base pay jumps most since 1993 in positive signal for BOJ

Base pay increased 2.5% in May from a year ago, the fastest growth since 1993.
The Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee typically meets seven times in its five-year tenure, with the third of these plenums being particularly important as it represents the first chance for the new leadership to properly introduce its broad thinking on economic and political issues.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 8, 2024

Why China’s third plenum matters for global investors

The typically once-in-five-years conclave of top officials usually deals with major economic and political policy changes.
How policymakers have responded to past economic crises, such as the 2008-09 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, will shape their preparedness in dealing with future recessions. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 8, 2024

Policy lessons from recent economic crises

Eventually, the world will face another recession. How will policymakers use the lessons learned from the 2008-09 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic to respond?
Attendees wave the flags of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region during an event aboard a Star Ferry to celebrate the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule in Hong Kong on July 1.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 9, 2024

As Singapore steps up scrutiny, affluent Chinese return to Hong Kong

Fallout from a blockbuster $2.2 billion money laundering case has put Singapore's family offices and wealthy immigrants under a microscope.
Yumiko Takano, chief executive officer of Oriental Land, speaks during a news conference in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, on Tuesday. Oriental Land has secured a deal with Disney Enterprises to launch Disney Cruises in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2024

Disney to add new ship in Tokyo to expanding cruise business

The new ship will be modeled after the Wish, the largest vessel in Disney's fleet.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games' opening ceremony, which will be held outside of a stadium for the first time in history, has attracted a lot of interest from Japanese fans.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 10, 2024

Japan fans shun pricey Olympics tickets even as top-tier packages sell out

Travel agencies report a noticeable drop in demand for Paris Olympics tours amid a weakening of the yen and the introduction of a new booking system.
Shoppers pass food stalls at a night market in Taipei.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 11, 2024

Taiwan turns to Southeast Asian tourists as Chinese stay away

The trend, if it continues, could reshape a tourism sector long reliant on arrivals from China.
Tokyo police have arrested four people for allegedly luring their targets into multilevel marketing, using dating apps, last year, despite orders for the suspension of network marketing-related business.
JAPAN
Jul 11, 2024

Four arrested in Japan over multilevel marketing using dating apps

The police believe that the four collected a total of some ¥850 million from about 2,000 people in 42 prefectures, including university students.
A supermarket in Yangon operated by Aeon
JAPAN
Jul 12, 2024

Japanese businessman taken to court in Myanmar

Hiroshi Kasamatsu, a 53-year-old employee of Japanese retailer Aeon, was detained late last month over an alleged illegal practice linked to rice sales.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in June.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 12, 2024

SoftBank buys struggling U.K. chip startup Graphcore in AI race

The deal marks Softbank's second acquisition of a U.K. semiconductor firm, following its 2016 purchase of Cambridge-based Arm Holdings.
Japanese businessman Kazunori Takishima, seen at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, has attended four Summer Games and four Winter Games since his first in 2006.
OLYMPICS
Jul 12, 2024

Japanese superfan with Olympic-sized wallet eager to make new memories in Paris

The 48-year-old Tokyo native spends large chunks of his disposable income on Olympic tickets.
Keisuke Mukunashi, CEO of Yamaguchi Financial Group, says the regional bank is ready to pay compensation comparable to that of Japan’s biggest banks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 14, 2024

Regional Japan lender dangles megabank pay for market hires

Competition among financial institutions to hire bond traders and other specialists is intensifying as the Bank of Japan nudges interest rates higher.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 15, 2024

Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve

Despite a boost and a favorable drop in U.S. bond yields, the yen still ended last week up less than 2% against the greenback.
ASML's headquarters and factory in Veldhoven, Netherlands
WORLD
Jul 16, 2024

ASML-backed university is caught in the middle of U.S.-China chip war

The Netherlands is facing increasing pressure from Washington to stem Beijing’s chip-making efforts.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb