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Comedian-turned-investor Toshiya Imura (left) and former Goldman Sachs analyst Keizo Takeiri pose prior to an interview in Tokyo on Dec. 3.
BUSINESS
Dec 26, 2024

Japanese comedian-turned-investor launches fund with 'stock geek'

The one-time entertainer, Toshiya Imura, has teamed up with Keizo Takeiri, a former Goldman Sachs analyst, to launch Japan's newest stock fund.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at the meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2024

Japan wage growth projected to outpace inflation in fiscal 2025

In fiscal 2025, nominal wages are projected to increase 2.8% from the previous year, while the overall consumer price index is forecast to rise 2.0%.
The Japanese economy is expected to grow 1.2% in fiscal 2025 in price-adjusted real terms, according to a government forecast.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2024

Japan's government expects 1.2% economic growth for fiscal 2025

The government maintained its view that personal consumption will be solid thanks to stable inflation and the effects of its economic package.
The latest sale plan of Japanese government bonds reflects the government's efforts to fill a huge hole left by the BOJ's diminishing presence in the JGB market.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 26, 2024

Government plans to sell more JGBs for first time in four years, draft shows

Much of the increase will be made in shorter-dated debt to tap demand from Japanese banks.
According to Teikoku Databank, January price markups will center on bread products.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2024

Prices of 1,380 food items set to rise in Japan in January

According to a private research firm, January markups will center on bread products.
Nippon Steel's headquarters in Tokyo. The Japanese steelmaker said Thursday it has extended the closing period for its $15 billion purchase of U.S. Steel to the first quarter of 2025.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 26, 2024

Nippon Steel extends closing date for U.S. Steel acquisition

The estimated closing date has been revised to the first quarter of 2025.
Inflation in Tokyo accelerated for a second month in December, as the government temporarily phased out utility subsidies, a result that will likely support expectations of an interest rate hike next year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 27, 2024

Inflation in Tokyo accelerates, keeping rate hike prospects intact

The Tokyo core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food costs, rose 2.4% in December from a year earlier.
In the health ministry's report, customer harassment is defined as "behavior by customers, business partners, facility users and others that goes beyond what is socially acceptable and harms the environment for workers."
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024

Japan eyes law requiring measures against harassment by customers

A new health ministry report urges companies to create an environment in which employees can work without major mental or physical concerns.
For the 20 Questions column this year, writers asked their interview subjects about everything from their lives in Japan to their thoughts on news topics.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 28, 2024

There were plenty of hot topics to opine on in 2024

We take a look back at some of the best answers that our interviewees gave for 20 Questions from throughout the year.
Takahiro Funamoto, deputy facility manager of elderly care facility Hyakuju-en in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, at the damaged facility building on Dec. 5
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024

Link probed between elderly deaths and Noto earthquake evacuations

Many local facilities including hospitals were left dysfunctional due to power and water outages and building damage.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo following a BOJ policy meeting on Dec. 19
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 27, 2024

Some BOJ policymakers called for rate hike soon, December summary shows

The Bank of Japan held interest rates steady at 0.25% at this month's meeting.
Cabinet ministers at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2024

Japan's Cabinet approves ¥115.5 trillion budget

The proposal exceeded ¥110 trillion for the third consecutive year in order to increase spending on defense and social welfare costs.
Some of the slush funds pooled by Kawasaki Heavy Industries were used to wine and dine Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel, the Defense Ministry said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2024

Kawasaki Heavy found to have pooled ¥1.7 billion in slush funds

Some of the funds were used by the defense contractor to wine and dine Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel, the Defense Ministry said.
A Nissan dealership and a Honda dealership in Tokyo. As the two firms negotiation a potential merger, Nomura Holdings is advising Honda, while Nissan has retained Mizuho Financial Group and Bank of America.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 28, 2024

Honda-Nissan deal sets up next fight for bankers in Japan M&A boom

At roughly $200 billion, the volume of transactions including mergers and acquisitions in the country is up 48% this year.
Makino Milling Machine's headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 27, 2024

Japan's Nidec takes aim at Makino Milling with $1.6 billion unsolicited bid

Nidec said Makino's board had not agreed to the ¥11,000 per share offer, a 42% premium to Thursday's closing share price, as it had not proposed the bid before announcing it.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief on Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his Jan. 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 28, 2024

Trump asks Supreme Court to pause law threatening TikTok ban

Trump said the court should give him time after his Jan. 20 inauguration to "seek a negotiated resolution” of the dispute over the social media platform.
Of the many new openings in Tokyo in 2024, the elegant Sushi Oya run by Yoji Oya stands out from the pack.
LIFE / Food & Drink / TOKYO FOOD FILE
Dec 29, 2024

From Michelin stardom to humble meals, Tokyo dining had an eclectic 2024

As traditional pubs close and inbound tourism spurs openings, this year saw plenty of new faces make their mark on the city’s dining landscape.
A Toyota RAV4 at a car dealership in California on Dec. 18. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to impose additional tariffs on imports has sparked concern among Japanese automakers with significant operations in Mexico.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Dec 29, 2024

Trump tariffs spark concern among Japanese automakers

The pressing question now is how Japan will navigate and respond to the emerging order shaped by deepening global divisions.
People cover themselves with umbrellas during a hot summer day in Tokyo's Ginza district in August. Temperatures shot up in early July, even before the official end of the rainy season, and the high temperatures persisted well into the fall.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Dec 29, 2024

Japan’s weather in 2024: Record temperatures hurt people’s health and wallets

Average temperatures across the nation and surrounding seas exceeded last year’s record-breaking levels "by a significant margin," affecting everything from well-being to farming.
Former U.S. President Jimmy in 1996. Carter, who rose from Georgia farmland to become the 39th president of the United States on a promise of national healing after the wounds of Watergate and Vietnam, then lost the White House in a cauldron of economic turmoil at home and crisis in Iran, died on Sunday at his home in Plains, Georgia. He was 100.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2024

Jimmy Carter, president known as a peacemaker, is dead at 100

While Carter's presidency was remembered more for its failures than for its successes, his post-presidency was seen by many as a model for future chief executives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during a meeting in Moscow on Dec. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2024

Ukraine-Russia gas transit deal faces critical moment of truth

As its year-end expiry looms, Slovakia and a group of central European companies are putting pressure on Ukraine to keep Russian gas flowing.
Atsushi Mimura, vice minister of finance for international affairs, speaks during an interview at the ministry on Dec. 20.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 30, 2024

Japan sees G7 role increasing in divided world

"There are not many countries like Japan that can speak with the U.S. on equal terms," said top financial diplomat Atsushi Mimura.
Climate demonstrators protest against investments in fossil fuels during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington on Oct. 21.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 30, 2024

After a year of hard climate talks, ‘minilateralism’ is an alternative

Global environmental agreements have never been simple, but a variety of factors, such as political polarization, make countries less willing to compromise.
Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, South Korea's main opposition party, leaves after delivering a public statement on the impeachment motion against acting President Han Duck-soo at the National Assembly in Seoul on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2024

In South Korea’s impeachment saga, who’s really in trouble?

Lee Jae-myung, facing six criminal cases, needs an election before any convictions are finalized, as a conviction could disqualify him from running for president.
An advertisement in Tokyo's Kabukicho, Japan's largest red-light district. The country is home to a thriving adult entertainment industry and has recently seen a boom in sex tourism fueled by the weak yen and availability of red-light services.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2024

From geisha to oshikatsu, toxic tropes fuel sex industry

It isn't only the foreign gaze that produces stereotypes of Japanese women as submissive and promiscuous. Local laws and cultural norms play just as important a role.
Thaleon Tremain, chief executive of Pachamama Coffee, holds a cup of coffee beans in Sacramento, California, on Feb. 27. Wholesale coffee prices are trading near a 50-year high because of shortages related to extreme weather and increased global demand.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 30, 2024

Why coffee prices are soaring (again)

The wholesale price of beans has jumped more than 30% just since the start of November.
A Nissan dealership and a Honda dealership in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 30, 2024

Nissan shares fall, pressured by Honda deal concerns

The stock fell as much as 6.7% on Monday in Tokyo. The carmaker’s shares had soared more than 60% since Dec. 17, a day before news of the deal broke.
A monitor in Tokyo shows the Nikkei stock average closing at its best year-end level ever, topping the previous high marked in 1989.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 30, 2024

Japan's Nikkei ends 2024 with nearly 20% rise

At 39,894.54, the benchmark index finished at its best year-end level ever, topping the previous high from the end of 1989 at the height of the country's bubble economy.
Yasushi Dozen, chief investment officer at Kepple
BUSINESS
Jan 2, 2025

Japan's ¥10 trillion startup investment target more improbable than ever

Investors and startup supporters say Japan is still in the seed-planting phase of startup development and must address some structural issues.
A woman walks past a store of Ukraine's telecommunications company Kyivstar in Kyiv on Dec.12, 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2024

Starlink to roll out direct-to-cell services in Ukraine

Ukraine will be one of the first countries in the world with direct-to-cell connectivity and the first conflict zone where Starlink will roll out this technology.

Longform

Eme-Ima Kitchen is one of over 10,000 kodomo shokudō in Japan. A term first used in 2012 to describe makeshift eateries offering free or cheap meals to disadvantaged kids, it now refers to a diverse range of individuals, groups and organizations working to provide not only food but a sense of belonging to both children and adults.
Japan’s ‘children’s cafeterias’ are booming — but is that a good thing?