Tag - economy

 
 

ECONOMY

The draft also expresses strong concern about China's attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Japan to name China as its biggest strategic challenge
It is unusual for the annual economic and fiscal policy guidelines to criticize China for its coercive behavior toward neighboring countries.
Japan and the United States are aiming for a meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Donald Trump at the Group of Seven leaders summit on June 16 and 17.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 4, 2025
U.S. doubles steel and aluminum tariffs as Japan counts on a breakthrough
The United Kingdom is exempt from the higher rates because it struck an early trade deal with the United States.
Solar panels at an industrial complex in Rajasthan, India, are an example of India-Japan renewable energy cooperation. The two countries can strengthen their ties by co-developing green and advanced technologies, solar energy among them.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2025
The ground is fertile for Japan-India green economy partnerships
Japan and India can build on their long-standing relationship to spearhead the development of green and advanced technologies such as renewable energy and chips.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2025
Komeito to propose sales tax cut on food, Yomiuri reports
A Komeito official confirmed the report, saying the tax cut idea will be among proposals in the campaign pledge due on Friday.
Business and household sentiments "have deteriorated recently," Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said Tuesday at an event in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 4, 2025
Uncertainties over Trump tariffs extremely strong, BOJ chief says
The Bank of Japan will continue to raise interest rates if the Japanese economy and prices move in line with the central bank's outlook, Gov. Kazuo Ueda added.
OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann delivers a speech at OECD headquarters in Paris on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 3, 2025
Trade war cuts global economic growth outlook: OECD
After 3.3% growth last year, the world economy is now expected to expand by a "modest" 2.9% in 2025 and 2026, the OECD said.
The number of "zombie companies" in Japan, which do not make enough to cover their interest payments, was estimated to have grown some 228,000 in fiscal 2023, one of the highest in a decade.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 3, 2025
'Zombie company' apocalypse might be the point of Japan's minimum wage push
Government efforts to accelerate the pace of pay increases could lead to poorly performing companies going out of business.
Despite doubts and talk of alternatives in Asia and beyond, the dollar remains dominant because there are no viable rivals and it continues to serve as the world’s key safe asset.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 3, 2025
The problem with Asia's ‘sell America’ moment
The region’s currencies are enjoying a healthy rally. History warns against anti-dollar triumphalism.
Japanese firms' capital expenditure gained 1.8% in the three months through March from the previous quarter, while inflation is keeping a lid on household spending and U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign clouds the trade outlook.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 2, 2025
Japan’s firms raised capital spending ahead of U.S. tariffs
Business spending holds the key to the country’s economic growth as inflation keeps a lid on household spending.
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.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 2, 2025
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
Labor shortages and shifting mindsets are driving younger Japanese workers to challenge the country’s traditional office culture.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, is in Washington again for a fourth round of high-level negotiations with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025
Tariff talks with U.S. a mix of slow progress, ever-present uncertainty 
Japan's chief negotiator is back in Washington for another round of high-level negotiations.
Prices of more than 1,900 food items, including precooked rice products, will be raised next month, three times the year-before level, according to research company Teikoku Databank.
JAPAN
May 30, 2025
Prices to rise for 1,932 food products in Japan in June
The number marked the sixth consecutive month of increase, boosted by rising prices of rice.
Shipping containers at the port of Oakland, in California. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the U.S. will find other ways to impose tariffs if the current plan doesn't work.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 30, 2025
If trade court ruling stands, Trump seen shifting to other options for tariff assault
Legal and trade experts' advice to foreign governments, companies and other clients: Assume the tariffs will resume in one form or another.
Tokyo’s consumer price index that serves as a leading indicator for national inflation trends posted in May the biggest year-on-year rise since January 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025
Tokyo prices rising most in two years keeps BOJ on hike path
The food price gains are a worrisome sign for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of a summer election expected to be held by July.
Shipping containers from China at the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro, California.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 30, 2025
Trump's tariff tally: $34 billion and counting, global companies say
Many companies said the erratic nature of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies has made it impossible to accurately estimate costs.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs at the White House in April.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025
Trump's tariffs to remain in effect after appeals court grants stay
The move comes a day after a trade court had ruled Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing the duties and ordered an immediate block on them.
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.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda
BUSINESS / Economy
May 28, 2025
Ueda to monitor risk of high long-term bond yields affecting shorter-term rates
The comments come at a time of heightened concern about volatility at the long end of the bond market.
The Finance Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
BUSINESS / Markets
May 28, 2025
Weak 40-year bond sale keeps pressure on Japan to tweak issuance
The 40-year yield rose 5 basis points following the sale, to 3.335% as of 4:20 p.m. in Tokyo, while the 30-year rate jumped 7 basis points.
Despite the stereotypes, Japan is one of the most permissive places for non-residents to buy property.
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2025
It’s too easy for foreigners to buy Japanese property
Foreign buyers are driving up Tokyo housing prices amid Japan’s lack of property restrictions, sparking calls for tighter rules to protect residents and limit speculation.

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