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June 09, 2025
 

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FINANCE

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.
Stuffed toys of Custom-kun, an official mascot character of Japan customs, and a birthday cake made by a customs official depicting the character
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2025
Japan customs character goods to go on sale
The Finance Ministry hopes that selling character goods such as stuffed toys and stationery will make customs more familiar to people.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato holds a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in October last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
Finance chief vows to balance economic revival and fiscal consolidation
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato highlighted the need to improve Japan's fiscal health, which is the worst among major countries.
A business district in Tokyo. Japan plans to strengthen pre-screening measures for overseas investors that could potentially cooperate with foreign intelligence gathering efforts, addressing rising national security concerns.
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2025
Japan to tighten investment pre-screening amid security concerns
While the updated regulations will impose an additional step for a broader range of investors, those who pass the screening can still invest in Japanese companies.
A visitor holds a ¥1,000 banknote to offer a prayer on the first business day of the year at the Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo on Monday. The yen has declined against the dollar for four straight years amid a wide gap between interest rates in Japan and the United States.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 10, 2025
Yen intervention risk creeps higher as U.S. jobs report approaches
The yen is within reach of ¥160 per dollar, a breach of which would increase concern about the weak currency’s impact on business and consumers.
The yen hit its lowest level against the dollar since July on Tuesday, prompting a warning from Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato over speculative moves.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 7, 2025
Japan warns on speculative FX moves after yen hits six month low
Any further changes in expectations over the trajectory of rates in the U.S. or Japan could sharply ramp up speculation of renewed intervention.
Atsushi Mimura, vice minister of finance for international affairs, speaks during an interview at the ministry on Dec. 20.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 30, 2024
Japan sees G7 role increasing in divided world
"There are not many countries like Japan that can speak with the U.S. on equal terms," said top financial diplomat Atsushi Mimura.
Official prices of nearly half of drugs in Japan will be reduced to lower the burden on patients.
JAPAN
Dec 25, 2024
Japan ministers agree on price cuts for half of all drugs
Ministers also agreed to raise the upper limit on out-of-pocket medical expenses.
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda said in July that the central bank’s holdings would decrease by 7% to 8% in about two years’ time, but they are set to stay at higher-than-desirable levels in the long-term.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 23, 2024
Japan's bond supply set to reach decade high as BOJ bond purchases slow
The BOJ’s plan to almost halve bond purchases comes as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba plans additional spending in an extra budget.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said Friday that Japan will take appropriate action if there are excessive moves in the currency market, as the yen resumed its rapid downturn.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 20, 2024
Japan warns on yen after BOJ’s dovish messaging extends slide
Recent sharp movements in the yen feed into concerns that the government may intervene in the currency market.
Honmoku pier in Yokohama. While the value of exports has risen, trade is giving limited support to the economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 18, 2024
Weak yen helps Japan’s exports rise ahead of BOJ meet
Exports measured in value rose 3.8% from a year earlier led by chipmaking machinery and nonferrous metals.
A photo of Yasutaka Yoneda from the website of the Japan Science and Technology Agency
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 16, 2024
Finance Ministry official arrested over alleged 'upskirting' photo
The official, who is also a temporary associate professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, denies the allegation, according to police sources.
Nobuhiro Ito, who runs casting-maker Ito Tekko, which employs about 100 people, in front of his company's factory in the city of Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 13, 2024
BOJ's rate hike plans clouded by small firms' wage woes
Next year's wage prospects are crucial for sustaining a consumption-led recovery — a prerequisite for further rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.
Japan's current account surplus declined 13% in October from a year earlier to ¥2.46 trillion.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 9, 2024
Japan's current account surplus declined 13% in October
The country's trade deficit decreased to ¥155.7 billion from the year-before level of ¥487.4 billion.
Masato Kanda, then the foreign ministry's vice minister for international affairs, speaks during a news conference in Sao Paulo in February.
BUSINESS
Nov 28, 2024
Former top Japanese currency diplomat Masato Kanda chosen as next ADB chief
Masato Kanda will be tasked to navigate the ADB through fresh challenges such as helping Asia reduce poverty and mitigate risks from climate change.
Japan’s megabanks have resumed trading activities with Nomura Holdings, people with knowledge of the matter said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 18, 2024
Nomura's trading clients return after market manipulation probe
Many of the firms returned to Nomura after the brokerage explained measures it is taking to prevent a recurrence of the breach, sources said.
Masato Kanda, then-vice minister of finance for international affairs, in January 2022
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2024
As pain from weak yen deepens, Japan's ex-currency chief Masato Kanda warns of action
Kanda's warning came as the Japanese currency weakened to a three-month low of near ¥155 to the dollar.
Japan spent ¥3.17 trillion on dollar-selling intervention on July 11 and ¥2.37 trillion on July 12, quarterly data from the Finance Ministry showed on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 8, 2024
Japan intervened twice last quarter to bring yen below ¥160
The Finance Ministry intervened on July 11 and 12, spending ¥3.17 trillion and ¥2.37 trillion respectively to prop up the yen.
The Finance Ministry noted firm private consumption in raising its economic assessments in the Kanto region and other areas.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 7, 2024
Government upgrades economic views for five regions
In a quarterly report, the Finance Ministry raised its views for the Kanto, Hokuriku, Tokai, Shikoku and Okinawa regions.
The vote of confidence in Masaso Kanda, former Japanese vice finance minister for international affairs, will be taken over a period of a month from Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2024
Masato Kanda, former top currency diplomat, sole candidate to head ADB
A vote of confidence in 59-year-old Kanda, who was recommended by the Japanese government, will be taken over the course of a month from Monday.
Japan won’t wait for G7 summit for possible U.S. trade deal
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's top negotiator in tariff talks with the U.S. speaks to reporters at the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Friday.
Japanese universities step up to help international students after Harvard ban
The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University. U.S. President Donald Trump has barred Harvard from accepting international students, prompting Japanese universities to offer support.
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.
Foreign tourists with unpaid medical bills in Japan to be denied entry
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during ministerial meeting meeting on foreign residents in Japan on Friday at the Prime Minister's Office.
Victims mourned 17 years after Akihabara indiscriminate attack
A mourner prays for the victims of an indiscriminate fatal attack on a street of Tokyo's Akihabara area on the 17th anniversary of the incident on Sunday.
What can Kenji Yanobe’s cosmic cats teach us about humanity?
Kenji Yanobe’s spacesuited cats are the main characters of “Ship’s Cat Island,” the inaugural exhibition at Hyper Museum Hanno in Saitama Prefecture.
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
New Naoshima museum bets on Asia, not the West
Detail of Takashi Murakami, “Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu Byobu: Iwasa Matabei RIP” (2023-25)
Japan’s prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
Accidents raise concern over how Japan vets foreign drivers
Keita Ueno (right), the owner of Kiki Driving School and an instructor who supports both foreign nationals and Japanese citizens returning from abroad in getting their foreign driver’s licenses converted, is worried about the current lax system for the process.

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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