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June 06, 2025
 

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DEBT

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (center) attends a news conference at the Capitol on May 22 after the House narrowly passed a sweeping budget bill that some worry could add trillions to the country's deficit over the next decade.
COMMENTARY
May 28, 2025
The U.S. is about to discover if deficits actually matter
It turns out that this pattern — the bigger the debt, the less likely politicians are to address it — is lurking in the data, and not just in the U.S.
Workers assemble a Nissan Juke at the production line at Nissan's factory in Sunderland, England, in November 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 28, 2025
Nissan seeks to raise $7 billion with backing from U.K. government
The struggling automaker plans to issue debt and sell assets to raise funds for keeping its operations on track, according to internal documents.
Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi before their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on May 14
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2025
Developing nations face 'tidal wave' of China debt, report finds
The poorest 75 countries are set to make "record high debt repayments" to China in 2025 of a combined $22 billion.
The U.S. debt crisis can’t be fixed without reforming entitlements, and that means Americans must retire later and pay more in taxes.
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2025
To fix the U.S. debt problem, Americans must retire later
The House’s proposed $3.7 trillion tax bill isn’t what sparked that Moody’s downgrade — it was the runaway growth of entitlement spending.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba takes part in deliberations on pension system reform in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Ishiba’s comparison of Japan’s finances to Greece’s during a tax debate drew backlash for spooking markets and misrepresenting the country’s debt situation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 22, 2025
Ishiba's Greece debt comparison risks deeper crisis
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s comparison of Japan’s finances to Greece’s during a tax debate drew backlash for spooking markets and misrepresenting the country’s debt situation.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba
JAPAN / Politics
May 19, 2025
Ishiba rebuffs tax cut demands with Greek debt comparison
The premier said he disagrees with the idea of funding tax cuts with Japanese government bonds, signaling caution over additional government spending.
Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating reflects growing concern over Washington’s unwillingness to confront rising debt, soaring deficits and interest costs — even as global investors keep piling into Treasuries.
COMMENTARY
May 19, 2025
Moody’s tells us what we already know about U.S. debt
Take the firm’s decision to strip the country of its top AAA credit rating seriously, not literally.
Moody's first gave the United States its pristine "Aaa" rating in 1919 and is the last of the three major credit agencies to downgrade it.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 17, 2025
Moody's cuts America's pristine credit rating, citing rising debt
The move that could complicate U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to cut taxes and send ripples through global markets.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (right) speaks during a news conference in Milan on Sunday.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2025
Finance chief Kato walks back idea of U.S. Treasury sales as trade chip
Japan held roughly $1.13 trillion in Treasury Securities at the end of February — making it the biggest overseas holder of U.S. debt.
Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa in Damascus on March 10
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2025
Saudi Arabia to pay off Syria's World Bank debts, paving way for further funding
Plans would be the first known instance of Saudi Arabia providing financing for Syria since Islamist-led rebels toppled former leader Bashar al-Assad last year.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and Argentinian President Javier Milei talk pose for a photo during a Group of Seven summit in Borgo Egnazia, Italy, last June.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 12, 2025
Argentina lands $20 billion IMF agreement and eases FX rules
Negotiations dragged on for months as stakes remain high for a successful program after the past two went off the rails in the crisis-prone nation.
Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Akio Isomata (left) and secretary to Sri Lanka's Finance Ministry, Mahinda Siriwardana, attend a joint news conference after the signing of debt restructuring agreements between the two countries in Colombo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2025
Sri Lanka signs $2.5 billion debt deal with Japan
Japan said it was granting concessions on a ¥369.45 billion ($2.5 billion) loan under a comprehensive debt treatment plan.
Debt servicing costs are estimated to increase, reflecting the Bank of Japan's interest rate hikes.
BUSINESS
Feb 10, 2025
Japan's government debt climbs to record ¥1.32 quadrillion
The combined balance of Japanese government bonds, borrowings and financing bills swelled by ¥7.2 trillion from the end of September 2024.
While the ruling minority government’s weakened position has emboldened opposition parties to push for more spending across multiple policy fronts, the International Monetary Fund has warned there is limited space today in Japan to address the risks of natural disasters and mounting social security costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 7, 2025
Japan needs immediate deficit cut to fix fiscal path, IMF warns
The government needs to prepare now to avoid negative surprises four or five years down the road, the IMF’s Japan mission chief says.
The latest projection underscores the growing financial strain Japan will likely face amid anticipated additional rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2025
Japan sees debt-service costs jumping 25% by 2028 as BOJ hikes
The latest projection underscores the growing financial strain Japan will likely face amid anticipated additional rate hikes by the central bank.
People were more concerned about the direct and specific impact of the Bank of Japan's latest rate hike on their personal lives, according to an artificial intelligence-driven analysis of various platforms, including social media.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 29, 2025
Japan begins feeling the pain of BOJ rate hikes more concretely
As time goes on, the BOJ’s rate increases appear to be having a stronger impact on people’s everyday lives, shifting from more abstract concepts to more concrete effects.
The country's net assets, or the value of properties, cash, deposits, stocks and other assets in the country minus that of loans and other debts, totaled ¥4,158.4 trillion at the end of 2023, up 4.1% from a year before, a Cabinet Office estimate showed Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 21, 2025
Japan's national wealth hit record ¥4 quadrillion at end of 2023
Of the total, households accounted for a record ¥2.97 quadrillion, up 3.7%, marking the fifth consecutive year of growth.
Japan’s primary balance is once again set to miss its long-standing target of achieving a balanced budget by the year ending March 2026.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2025
Japan now expects to miss its 2025 primary balance goal
The primary balance, which excludes interest payments on public debt, is projected to remain in the red with a deficit of around ¥4.5 trillion.
The number of corporate bankruptcies with liabilities of ¥10 million or more in Japan last year marked the third consecutive year of increases as rising prices due to the yen's weakening and labor shortages caused business failures in a wide range of industries.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 14, 2025
Japan business failures top 10,000 in 2024, worst in 11 years
The annual figure marked the third consecutive year of increases as rising prices due to the yen's weakening and labor shortages caused business failures.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will launch a program to support the repayment of student loans for those who will start working as teachers or technical civil servants in the capital.
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2025
Tokyo to help teachers repay student loans
The metropolitan government also plans to start providing financial assistance to students who study abroad.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
South Korea’s Lee pledges to heal deep wounds as ‘president for everyone’
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung waves with his his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, following his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima dies at 89
Shigeo Nagashima (left), then the manager of the Tokyo Giants, waves to fans with players and coaches during a victory parade in central Tokyo in 2000. Nagashima died at the age of 89 on Tuesday.
‘A garden is a grand teacher’: The Kamakura Gardener nurtures via YouTube
American Robert Jefferson runs a YouTube channel called The Kamakura Gardener that invites viewers to enjoy the pleasures of gardening, cooking and slow living.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

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