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May 19, 2025
 

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ECONOMY

COMMENTARY / World
Dec 31, 2023
The outlook for 2024 appears grim — but nothing is preordained
Given the complex landscape of 2024, we can expect to navigate uncertainty, geopolitical shifts and a myriad of pivotal elections.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida makes a toast with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at a Japan-ASEAN luncheon meeting at the Japan Business Federation in Tokyo on Dec. 18. Kishida’s chance of reelection in the LDP presidential race in September will largely depend on his administration’s response to the current funding scandal and its entanglement in it.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 31, 2023
Scandal, economic policy and LDP race to weigh on Kishida in 2024
How he balances all three will determine whether he keeps his job as LDP party president and, by extension, prime minister.
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.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2023
Japan saw price hikes on over 30,000 food items in 2023
The figure marks a 25.7% rise from 2022, when prices went up for 25,768 food items.
As Japan's productivity declines due to the shrinking working-age population, policies that allow for everyone’s full participation in the labor force, especially women, are needed more than ever.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 29, 2023
A look back at Japan’s gender laws and fairness in 2023
Gender equality needs to improve to boost Japan’s prospects. What hits and missed opportunities will we remember from 2023?
Hideki Kuriyama, who guided Samurai Japan to the World Baseball Classic title in March, rings a bell during a ceremony marking the end of trading in 2023 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 29, 2023
Japanese stocks post best yearly gain since Abenomics jolt
The benchmark Topix posted an annual return of 25%, and the 225-issue Nikkei average rallied 28%. That’s the best performance for both gauges since 2013.
Daihatsu Motor President Soichiro Okudaira speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 20. 
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2023
Daihatsu scandal is a warning for Japan Inc.
Investigations indicate that improprieties at Daihatsu stretch as far back as 1989, indicating a profound problem with the company’s culture.
People walk in the Zhujiang New Town area of Guangzhou.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 29, 2023
China’s richest provinces promise to take lead in driving growth
Almost all 31 mainland provinces held meetings to discuss next year’s priorities after the Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing this month.
After being whipsawed by false starts calling for the end of the Fed’s rate hiking regime, a Bloomberg gauge of the greenback is down nearly 3% since January in the steepest annual drop for the U.S. currency since 2020.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 29, 2023
U.S. dollar is set for worst year since 2020
The dollar’s fall stands in contrast to the pound, which is set for its best year since 2017.
Japan's industrial production fell 0.9% in November from the previous month, weighed down by a decline in auto production.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 28, 2023
Japan's November factory output falls on weaker autos
Industrial production fell 0.9% in November from the previous month, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed on Thursday.
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.
Economists often struggle to predict business downturns and different economic theories may apply in different situations.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2023
What economists got wrong about the Great Recession
Macroeconomics faces challenges and limitations in predicting and understanding economic events.
Business service prices for hotels rose 51.8% in November compared with the previous year, on the back of a surge in inbound tourism following the lifting of pandemic controls and domestic demand for travel.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2023
Japan's service price growth holds steady, maintaining 30-year high
Prices for services rising at the fastest pace since April 1992 will likely fuel speculation that the Bank of Japan may normalize policy in coming months.
An electronic board displays various companies' share prices at a business district in Tokyo in October.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2023
Japan’s labor demand holds steady in positive sign for wages
The job-to-applicants ratio eased a tad to 1.28, meaning there were 128 jobs offered for every 100 applicants, the labor ministry reported.
The yuan's stealthy climb in global payments could see it pose a challenge to the U.S. dollar's dominance.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2023
The yuan is finally showing some muscle in international trade
The yuan's stealthy climb in global payments could see it pose a challenge to the U.S. dollar's dominance.
Japan's core consumer prices rose 2.5% in November from a year earlier, marking the slowest pace of increase in over a year in a sign of easing cost-push pressures in the world's third-largest economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 22, 2023
Japan’s cooling inflation also offers encouraging signs for BOJ
Consumer prices excluding fresh food items rose 2.5% from a year earlier as falls in energy costs deepened and gains in processed food prices eased.
Japan's real economic growth rate for fiscal 2023 ending in March 2024 is estimated at 1.6%, up from 1.3% seen half a year ago.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 21, 2023
Japanese government lifts economic growth estimates
The real economic growth rate for fiscal 2023 ending in March 2024 is estimated at 1.6%, up from 1.3% seen half a year ago.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 20, 2023
Japan to partially lift ban on ride-hailing services from April
Drivers will be allowed to operate in specific areas at certain times under the guidance of taxi companies when there is a lack of rides available.
Japan's exports in November fell for the first time in three months, dragged down by China-bound chip shipments, underscoring worries that slowing overseas economies will complicate policymakers' efforts to wind back on stimulus.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 20, 2023
Japan’s exports dip as global slowdown puts pressure on recovery
Exports fell 0.2% from a year earlier despite weakness in the yen, dashing economists' hopes for a 1.4% increase and support from overseas demand.
Some analysts believe Japan's stock market will be fragile in the coming months due to such factors as weak consumer spending and political instability.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 20, 2023
Japanese stocks expected to face early hurdles in 2024
Analysts see the nation’s equities indexes struggling over the next few months due to factors such as a stronger yen and weak consumer spending.
Nissan to solicit early retirements while eyeing plant closures in Japan
Nissan's Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, may be closed as part of the struggling carmaker's streamlining efforts.
Australian firm produces heavy rare earth, in first outside China
The Lynas Rare Earths processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia
Police arrest Chinese man in Saitama hit-and-run case
Police questioned a man who turned himself in as he closely resembled the driver recorded on the dashcam of another vehicle that happened to pass by the scene of a hit-and-run incident in Saitama Prefecture.
Wholesalers may be behind elevated retail rice prices
Wholesalers added ¥7,593 on average to their selling prices for stockpiled rice, far more than the ¥2,206 to ¥4,689 added for the 2022 rice.
Success of Chinese-made fighter jets against India raises alarm in Asia
Chinese J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in November 2015.
Agnes b. Japan CEO hopes to evolve the brand with focus on sustainability
Laurent Patouillet, the CEO and president of Agnes b. Japan, says the focus of its business is to remain independent, and evolve and adapt.
In Nintendo’s backyard, foreign indie game devs are thriving
Kyoto's gaming landscape is dominated by Nintendo's headquarters, but a contingent of foreign-born indie developers is also working in the gaming giant's shadow.
Akazawa's dilemma: no tariff deal or a half-baked deal
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and his delegation in the Oval Office of the White House in April. Since then, Japan's trade negotiations with the U.S. have produced no tangible results.
Nissan hoping to electrify home crowd as Formula E returns to Tokyo
Nissan's Oliver Rowland drives during qualifying for Miami E-Prix at Homestead Motor Speedway in Homestead, Florida, on April 12.
For his first feature film, director Ryuya Suzuki created a masterpiece
"Jinsei," which follows its protagonist over a century, probes themes of identity and societal issues with a dark comic touch. The director, however, says he created the story without knowing where it would lead.

Podcast

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

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
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Fujitsu crafts sustainable innovation for itself, society

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