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April 30, 2024
 

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BOJ¥

At stake in this year's spring negotiations between trade unions and large Japanese firms, analysts say, is whether wages will rise far enough to ignite the sustainable inflation that policymakers consider a prerequisite for ending negative interest rates.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2024
Japan's top business lobby calls for worker pay raises above inflation
The call sets the tone for annual wage talks that may pave the way for the Bank of Japan to exit its ultraeasy monetary policy.
Japan's input inflation was flat in December, the weakest showing in almost three years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024
Japan’s input inflation flatlines for weakest result since 2021
Input prices were unchanged last month from a year earlier, the weakest showing in almost three years as the yen’s recent gains helped cap import costs.
Stronger annual wage negotiation results are likely to pave the way for the Bank of Japan to end its negative interest rate by this spring, a former BOJ official says.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024
Wage gains of 4% would pave way for BOJ rate hike, ex-official says
Market participants are monitoring annual wage talks closely as they may be a decisive factor in prompting Japan's central bank to end the world’s last negative rate.
The Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo. The insurer isn't interested in buying Japan’s superlong sovereign bonds until yields start rising.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 16, 2024
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance to avoid Japan sovereign bonds for now
Japanese life insurers are the main buyer of bonds due in more than 10 years and typically increase purchases toward the end of the fiscal year.
Former finance ministry official Michio Saito says Japanese long-term yields won’t climb much beyond 1% even if the Bank of Japan revises its yield curve control program.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 15, 2024
Mr. JGB says end of BOJ’s negative rate won’t set yields on fire
Yields won’t keep shooting up after the initial jump as the central bank will still be offering support for the economy, says Nomura's Michio Saito.
The yen's exchange rate against the dollar on Wednesday. The yen declined from ¥103 against the dollar in 2020 to as little as ¥151 in late 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 11, 2024
Is a weak yen good for Japan’s economy?
The yen's fast depreciation is boosting overseas investment and sectors like tourism, but could also trigger inflation. In response, the BOJ should raise interest rates.
Monitors at a foreign exchange dealer show the Nikkei Stock Average rising above 35,000 during morning trading in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 11, 2024
Nikkei breaches 35,000 for the first time in 34 years
Wall Street's tech-driven gains and a weakening of the yen give Japanese stocks a boost for third day in a row.
The Bank of Japan is fully prepared to put an end to the world’s last negative interest rate, an ex-official has said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 11, 2024
BOJ fully prepared to end negative rate, likely in April: ex-official
"They are just waiting for one last push from one or two economic data,” said former board member Makoto Sakurai.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 11, 2024
OECD urges Bank of Japan to gradually raise interest rates
The central bank should thus continue efforts to make the yield curve control more flexible, the organization said.
Monitors at a firm in Tokyo shows the 225-issue Nikkei average topping the 34,000 mark on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 10, 2024
Nikkei stock index surges to near 34-year high for second day
The 225-issue Nikkei average ended up 678.54 points, or 2.01%, from Tuesday at 34,441.72, its highest close since February 1990.
Japanese workers' real wages kept shrinking for a 20th month in November, raising fresh alarm for the sustainability of the country's economic recovery as firms enter the period of annual pay negotiations with labor unions.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2024
Japan’s slower wage growth adds to reasons for BOJ to hold
Nominal cash earnings for workers rose 0.2% from the previous year, decelerating sharply from a 1.5% increase in October, the labor ministry said.
The yen extended gains Tuesday after the Bank of Japan indicated it will reduce monthly buying of superlong government bonds.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 9, 2024
Yen rises after BOJ indicates cut in superlong bond buying
The BOJ bought ¥150 billion ($1.04 billion) of 10-to-25 year debt on Tuesday.
Consumer price gains in Tokyo slowed for a second month in December.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 9, 2024
Tokyo inflation slows as thrifty consumers curb some outlays
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.1% in the capital, decelerating from 2.3% in November.
A damaged vehicle under a collapsed house following an earthquake in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Tuesday. Speculation that the Bank of Japan might shift its policy this month is receding, as the central bank has to assess the adverse impact from the Noto Peninsula disaster on the economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 5, 2024
Yen falls as earthquake raises bar for BOJ to end negative rates
While speculation about a January tweak is receding, many still expect an end to negative rates in April, or later in 2024.
A store in the Akihabara district of Tokyo in December
BUSINESS
Jan 3, 2024
Over 70% of firms expect Japanese economy to keep growing in 2024
In the survey of 113 companies, including Toyota Motor and SoftBank Group, 72% said they expect moderate growth and 1% see solid expansion.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda gives a news conference after a policy meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 31, 2023
BOJ likely to finally seek normalization 2024
A turn in Japan's economic tide is in view as the Bank of Japan signals readiness to wind down its aggressive monetary stimulus.
A Nikkei stock board after a ceremony marking the end of trading in 2023, in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 30, 2023
Tokyo stocks to reach new highs in 2024 despite strong yen headwinds
After declining in 2022, the Nikkei advanced around 28%, its fastest pace in a decade, to end 2023 at its highest finish since 1989.
The Bank of Japan's headquarters in Tokyo. In 2023, the dollar surged from around ¥130 at the start of the year to above ¥151.90 in mid-November as the gap between U.S. and Japanese interest rates widened on the back of the U.S. Federal Reserve's rapid rate hikes to curb inflation.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 30, 2023
Dollar could fall to around ¥130 in 2024, analysts say
Six of eight analysts predict that the lower end of the greenback's range against the yen next year will be between ¥130 and ¥135.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visit the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima on May 21 during the Group of Seven summit. Zelenskyy’s visit to one of the two cities attacked with a nuclear weapon came amid Russia’s veiled threats to use its nuclear arsenal in its war against Ukraine.
JAPAN
Dec 28, 2023
Images of 2023: Japan
Outside of the successful G7 summit, the year was not kind to PM Fumio Kishida's unpopular administration. A kickback scandal provided one final headache.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda addresses a council meeting at business lobby Keidanren in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 27, 2023
BOJ summary suggests Ueda can wait for wage results before hike
Bank of Japan board members discussed the potential timing of ending the negative rate policy during their meeting last week.
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

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