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The stakes are high for the unveiling of the Switch 2 console on Wednesday, with the stock trading near its priciest level in seven years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Stakes are high for Switch 2 after Nintendo’s stock valuation surges

The company's stock is trading near its priciest level in seven years ahead of a reveal of the new console's details.
Takashi Murata, head of Japan at Warburg Pincus in Tokyo, says the private-equity firm is confident about market growth in Tokyo despite the overall depopulation of Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Warburg purchases Tokyo rental houses and plans Japan office

The New York-based private equity firm said it acquired a portfolio of 1,195 shared rental houses in the greater Tokyo area.
A report from Dai-ichi Life Research Institute shows that the cost of typical food items eaten at the gatherings known as hanami has risen 21.4% in the past six years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2025

Inflation casts shadow over Japan’s cherry blossom season

A report shows that the cost of typical food items eaten at flower viewing gatherings has risen 21.4% in the past six years.
A Bank of Japan rate hike in May would likely be too early given the need to assess the impact of upcoming U.S. tariffs and ongoing wage talks, Kazuya Shimba, Secretary General of the Democratic Party for the People, said on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2025

A May BOJ hike would be too early given tariffs and wages, DPP says

Most economists see the next increase in borrowing costs coming in June or July, but many have said a May hike is possible.
Japanese cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama. The United States will start collecting new 25% import duties on cars and car parts from Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

Japan has some cards to play in trade war with the United States 

It could offer voluntary restraints on exports, or it could offer to buy more from the U.S. in order to reduce the trade surplus with that country.
Aeon launches blended rice "Nisui no Takumi" on Wednesday in the city of Chiba.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Retailer Aeon to sell Japan-U.S. blended rice

Under the name "Nisui no Takumi," the blended rice will be sold from around April 10 at some 2,000 stores across Japan except the Hokkaido and the Tohoku region.
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%

The higher "reciprocal” rates are based on a government tally of levies and nontariff barriers that countries impose on U.S. goods.
Japan’s stocks plunged after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped the nation with a 24% levy as part of tariffs on trading partners worldwide.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 3, 2025

Japan’s stocks slump on Trump’s 24% tariffs and stronger yen

The Topix Index fell 4% to 2,544.41 as of 9:12 a.m. Tokyo time, while the blue-chip Nikkei declined 4.1% to 34,281.76.
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs

The duty rate for Japanese products is the "worst among the scenarios that had been imagined" by the market.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks and signs tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 3, 2025

With Trump’s tariffs, the chasm between allies and the U.S. widens

Trump’s plan, which he unveiled on Wednesday and is calling "reciprocal,” would impose a wave of tariffs on dozens of countries.
Among those arrested, 1,011 were ringleaders or individuals who gave instructions. About 90% were perpetrators, including people who received defrauded money, and around 40% became involved in the crimes through recruitment via social media.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025

New ‘tokuryū’ crime groups outpace yakuza in arrests

The term was coined by the National Police Agency to describe a new form of criminal group that has emerged as an alternative to traditional yakuza organizations.
Suntory President Nobuhiro Torii says the company has the option of simply changing the target market if prices of Hibiki and Yamazaki become up too high for U.S. consumers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 3, 2025

Suntory may shift focus to Japan, Asian markets to counter U.S. tariffs

Its president, Nobuhiro Torii, says it has the option of simply changing the target market if prices for its whiskys become too high for American consumers.
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
JAPAN
Apr 3, 2025

Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway

The line will become a pedestrian-focused green space called Tokyo Sky Corridor, with sections opening in phases before its full relaunch in 2035.
Aeon has released a ¥321 ($2.20) frozen bento boxed meal containing peperoncino pasta and a hamburger steak with tomato sauce, which went on sale on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 3, 2025

Japan retailers boost own-brand products amid inflation

Private-label products, which retailers develop with manufacturers, can be sold at lower prices than those of name-brand products because of reduced costs.
Yuki Tsunoda wears his special kabuki-themed helmet on Thursday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Apr 3, 2025

Five drivers to watch at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix

From Lewis Hamilton to Yuki Tsunoda, here are five of the drivers to keep an extra close eye at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani rounds the bases after his walk-off home run against the Braves at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday.
BASEBALL / MLB
Apr 4, 2025

Dodgers look almost unbeatable after latest heroics from Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani's walk-off home run on Wednesday night in Los Angeles lifted the Dodgers to a dramatic 5-4 come-from-behind win over the Atlanta Braves.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on Wednesday, the day of his remarks on tariffs.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

For Trump, tariff gamble brings political risk

If his promises to recast the economy don't work out, it could cause political headwinds for his party and economic pain for his constituents.
Wall Street stocks sank in early trading on Thursday, joining a global equity selloff after U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff announcement exacerbated worries about a trade war.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 4, 2025

S&P 500 suffers worst drop since COVID as tariffs rattle traders

The S&P 500 Index sank 4.8% — its biggest drop since June 2020 — to enter a technical correction again following a brutal global rout in markets from Tokyo to London.
Household outlays declined 0.5% in February from a year earlier, led by falling outlays on clothes and footwear, housing and food.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 4, 2025

Japan’s household spending drops for first time in three months

The drop, ahead of sweeping tariffs announced by the U.S., was led by falling outlays on clothes and footwear, housing and food.
Containers stacked up at the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port in Phnom Penh on Thursday. Southeast Asian countries with a significant trade surplus with the U.S. came in for harsh treatment from Trump's stinging tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 4, 2025

Trump tariffs are a ‘disaster’ for world’s poorest countries

Poor nations' labor-intensive export industries face new risk in trade war.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Osaka in 2019. With his global tariffs announcement, Trump may have undercut his own China strategy.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 4, 2025

Trump's global trade war may defeat U.S. strategic goals on China

Tariffs could cause an economic moat to form around the U.S. that ultimately undermines Washington's strategic goals on Beijing, analysts warn.
A new study questioning human-induced global warming — which claims to be entirely written by Elon Musk's Grok 3 AI — has gained traction online.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 4, 2025

Experts warn 'AI-written' paper is latest spin on climate change denial

The surge of AI in research, despite potential benefits, risks triggering an illusion of objectivity and insight in scientific research, they warn.
Labor Party MP for Bennelong Jerome Laxale and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong pose for pictures with residents in Sydney in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 4, 2025

In a tight Australian election, a Chinese app could make a difference

Politicians are turning to Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle app also called RedNote, to appeal to Chinese communities who will be a crucial voting bloc.
A man places a sign outside a Tesla dealership during a protest against its CEO Elon Musk, in Los Angeles, California, last month.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Apr 4, 2025

Tesla investors brace for further sales decline as Musk backlash grows

Protests in many countries against Musk's involvement in the Trump administration and far-right politics in Europe have tarnished the image of the once-leading EV brand.
After getting her career started in Japan, Courney Kaplan has become one of Los Angeles' leading sake evangelists from her base at Ototo.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Apr 6, 2025

In Los Angeles, Courtney Kaplan says sake is having a moment

Los Angeles has no shortage of Japanese restaurants, but Ototo makes the country's national drink an easy sip.
Japanese stocks have been falling for two days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new round of tariffs. This picture was taken on Thursday, the first trading day in Tokyo after the U.S. president's announcement of the tariffs.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 4, 2025

Tokyo stocks fall for another day as reality of Trump tariffs sets in

Some analysts say financial markets will likely be volatile in the short term, but their longer-term outlook remains optimistic.
A Nissan manufacturing complex in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Nissan says it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs following new auto tariffs levied by the U.S.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 4, 2025

Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs

It says it will maintain two shifts of production of its Rogue SUV at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant following the announcement of new U.S. tariffs on automobiles.
Tokyo Humanities Cafe was launched in 2017 by Laurence Williams (left) and Alex Watson, professors at Sophia and Meiji Universities, respectively.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Apr 7, 2025

Tokyo Humanities Cafe feeds hungry minds

A free quarterly event invites everyone to explore what it means to be human.
Bickering siblings Sota (Masaaki Nakano, left) and Akira (Hirota Otsuka) attempt to dispose of their father’s body in “The Brothers Kitaura.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 10, 2025

‘The Brothers Kitaura’: A sordid tale of filial impropriety

Masaki Tsujino’s dark comedy of errors unpacks family dysfunction and middle-class mediocrity.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 5, 2025

Nowhere to hide: Trump tariffs leave trading partners cornered

Hit by 10% to 50% tariffs on their exports, most countries lack the firepower to hit back or the political will to slug it out.

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