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October 17, 2025
 

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DEBT

Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2019
SoftBank's giant debt burden looks worse than it actually is, analysts say
As SoftBank Group Corp. continues its transformation into a giant investment fund, some analysts are increasingly watching a metric more familiar to lenders as they judge its creditworthiness. And by that gauge, they say, its massive debt pile looks manageable.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 17, 2018
Deep in the red: Chinese county pays price for vanity-project binge
In the heart of an impoverished village in southern China, a life-sized statue of Mao Zedong sits on a platform adorned with intricate stonework, flanked by a diorama of Red Army soldiers and traditional brick-and-tile homes with curved roofs.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 16, 2018
Fate of $1 trillion in risky U.S. loans may be in Japan's hands
Japanese banks might have snapped up a third of the loans made to highly indebted U.S. companies, propelling the size of the market past $1 trillion.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2018
High debt limits China's range of weapons in defending against Trump's tariff blitz
Ten years ago, China shielded itself from the global financial crisis with a wall of stimulus. Facing U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff onslaught, that feat of self-preservation looks much harder to repeat.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 14, 2018
China's industrial output tops forecasts but investment growth sinks to new low
China reported better-than-expected industrial output and retail sales on Friday, but a key investment gauge fell to a fresh record low, highlighting the challenges facing Beijing as it tries to support the economy in the face of rising U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS
Jun 18, 2018
China seen flexing loan muscle as it pushes further into Pacific
In the gritty, steamy streets of Papua New Guinea's capital Port Moresby, signs of China's push into the Pacific island nation are inescapable.
EDITORIALS
May 31, 2018
Face up to harsh reality of fiscal consolidation
As the government struggles to put together a credible road map to fiscal consolidation, the public should also grapple with the question of how the nation's fiscal health can be regained.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 9, 2017
E-sports to chocolates: Chinese cities rush into risky specialization projects
The first plan was for an "eco-city" that would help pull Zhongxian, a remote city on the hilly banks of the Yangtze River in southwest China, out of poverty.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 23, 2017
Will America's bankers oblige Donald Trump?
The debt that should worry Abe's team the most over the next few months is Tokyo's $1.1 trillion of U.S. treasuries.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 3, 2017
Venezuela to restructure foreign debt, raising the possibility of massive default
Venezuela on Thursday announced plans to restructure its burgeoning foreign debt, a move that may lead to a default by the cash-strapped OPEC nation whose collapsing socialist economy has left its population struggling to find food and medicine.
EDITORIALS
Dec 2, 2016
Extra budgets and fiscal discipline
Despite promises to the contrary, the Abe administration keeps boosting government spending by making use of supplementary budgets.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Society
Nov 24, 2016
In Japan, world's gloomiest millennials see a future of struggle
Youthful optimism can be hard to find in Japan, where millennials rank as the gloomiest of those in the world's biggest economies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 7, 2016
China names new finance minister to replace veteran Lou Jiwei
China has replaced veteran reformer Lou Jiwei with a new finance minister who will be tasked with juggling fiscal stimulus and efforts to rein in excess leverage in the world's second-largest economy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 4, 2016
China's robotics industry provides lesson in out-of-control debt
Down a side street bracketed by massage parlors and cheap hotels in this city on the banks of the Yangtze River, a humanoid food service robot trundles around the corner of a table in a cafe, red eyes flashing in tune with synthesized classical music.
COMMENTARY / World
May 12, 2016
Trump's trolling of American bankers is just plain crazy
China and Japan hold $2.4 trillion of Treasuries, a reminder the U.S. is financed by the kindness of strangers.
COMMENTARY / World
May 2, 2016
Managing debt in our overleveraged world
Since the 2008 global financial crisis, austerity and balance-sheet repair have been the watchwords of the global economy. And yet today, more than ever, debt is fueling concern about growth.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 29, 2016
Fashion maven asked to tell women about national debt
As the editor of a string of successful fashion titles, Hiromi Sogo has spent three decades telling Japanese women what to wear. Her new task is to try to interest them in a drier topic: fiscal policy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2015
How analysts calculate China's true — and huge — burden of bad loans
Corporate investigator Violet Ho never put a lot of faith in the numbers on bad loans that are reported by China's banks.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 28, 2015
China had better avoid global debt-deflation trap
China now faces the same debt-deflation challenge that much of the rest of the world must address. The question, of course, is how.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 2, 2015
China has lots of U.S. Treasuries, little leverage
The U.S. has little reason to worry about China selling off its Treasuries, and Shinzo Abe's desire to keep Washington happy is one of them.
Coalition talks could bring Takaichi closer to being PM
Nippon Ishin no Kai leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura meets with Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Trump declares U.S.-China trade war as Bessent floats long truce
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference in Washington on Wednesday.
Asia can learn from Europe’s immigration mistakes
Refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, crowd a platform at a train station in Budapest in September 2015. Hungary's focus on pro-natalist policies and minimal immigration has led to a significant improvement in its fertility rate compared to Japan.
Singapore thrived in a U.S.-led world. Now what?
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt moors at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in April 2018.
Sumo is about to hit London and the West with a force previously unseen
Preparations advance on Monday for the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Sumo is about to hit London and the West with a force previously unseen
Preparations advance on Monday for the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Number of scenarios now on the table for who might be Japan’s next prime minister
Newly-elected leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi (right) celebrates with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning the LDP leadership election in Tokyo on October 4.
Pace eyes great strides for Japan’s art market
Pace Japan Vice President Kyoko Hattori, the de facto head of the nation’s business, believes a larger, more lucrative art market will allow Japan to be more attractive for collectors.
A frenetic diplomatic schedule looms for Japan’s next leader — whomever that may be
As horse-trading and speculation surge over who will be elected the next prime minister in parliament — the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Sanae Takaichi or a possible candidate put forward by a unified opposition — Japan’s next leader will be confronted with a quick succession of key diplomatic events.
Ghost of Yotei’s bloodstained fun sidesteps Ainu identity
Ghost of Yotei, the follow-up to 2020's smash hit Ghost of Tsushima, is a violent, vengeful and engaging romp through 17th-century Hokkaido that fails to stick the landing on its most sensitive cultural material.

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

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