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September 14, 2025
 

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INFLATION

Government-stockpiled rice distributed to help bring down high prices is displayed at an Ito-Yokado grocery store in Tokyo on May 31.
JAPAN
Sep 13, 2025
Rice prices in Japan rebound to 13-week high
The average price rose ¥264 from the previous week to ¥4,155 in the week through Sunday, up for the second straight week.
Orix's real estate investment unit has increased the target size of one of its funds by 33%, reflecting a rebound in Japanese institutional investor demand for property market deals.
BUSINESS
Sep 12, 2025
Top Japan leaser Orix plans to boost property fund size by 33%
Investor demand in Japan for alternative assets including real estate has climbed in part due to their resilience against inflation.
Residential buildings in the Harumi district of Tokyo. Condominium associations have started to invest in bonds to try and keep pace with inflation.
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2025
Japan’s condo associations start buying bonds to fund repairs
The move by the associations is meant keep pace with inflation amid rising repair costs.
The Bank of Japan's wait-and-see approach is likely to continue given the political climate and the tariff situation.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 11, 2025
Rate increase in Japan less likely following Ishiba's resignation
Political uncertainty will make a move higher in October difficult.
Kono Taro, Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and former digital transformation minister, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2025
BOJ should raise rates to strengthen yen and curb inflation, says Taro Kono
The comments come days after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s decision to resign raised questions about the outlook for economic policies.
A customer shops at a Takeya store in Tokyo in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2025
Hidden inflation drives Japanese consumers to price-tracking sites
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.1% in July from the previous year.
Gross domestic product grew at an annualized pace of 2.2% last quarter, the revised report said, indicating that consumer spending is gaining momentum.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2025
Japan confirms GDP growth as spending holds up amid U.S. tariffs
The Japanese economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.2% in April-June, exceeding an initial estimate of a 1.0% expansion, the Cabinet Office said.
A man harvests coffee beans in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Among other issues, a poor crop yield has caused coffee prices to surge in the country.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 3, 2025
Coffee roasters hike prices in Brazil as raw bean costs surge
The price increases come as the world's top producer of coffee has experienced a poor crop yield and other issues impacting the industry.
Tourists order sushi using an interactive touchscreen at a Sushiro restaurant in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 1, 2025
Growth overseas aids sushi chain Sushiro amid rice inflation at home
Osaka-based chain has been able to avoid across-the-board price hikes at its Japanese restaurants to offset volatile rice costs that have nearly doubled from a year ago.
Sukiya plans to cut prices for its beef bowls for the first time since 2014 starting on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 31, 2025
Sukiya to slash beef bowl prices for first time in 11 years
The move, which comes after a hike in March, will effectively bring prices back down to levels below its major rivals Yoshinoya and Matsuya.
In September, prices will rise for seasoning products, such as sauce and mayonnaise, as well as for many frozen food products and confectionery items such as chocolate, according to research firm Teikoku Databank.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 29, 2025
Prices of 1,422 food items, including chocolate, to rise in Japan in September
The monthly total of food products and beverages with higher prices will rise 0.6% from a year earlier, up for the ninth consecutive month.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.5% in Tokyo in August from a year earlier, versus a 2.9% clip in the previous month, according to the internal affairs ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 29, 2025
Tokyo inflation slows on subsidies as BOJ stays on hike path
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.5% year on year in the capital in August, versus a 2.9% clip in July.
Bank of Japan rate hikes may continue though trade uncertainties remain, board member Junko Nakagawa says.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 28, 2025
BOJ board member reaffirms stance on raising interest rates
Junko Nakagawa's remarks indicate there’s at most a low chance of a move coming at the board's next meeting, which concludes on Sept. 19, as of now.
For Suzunobu, a small rice specialty shop in Tokyo's Meguro Ward, distribution delays have resulted in it struggling to sell stockpiled rice secured from the government, owner Toyozo Nishijima said.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Aug 26, 2025
Rice woes weigh down Koizumi's first three months as farm minister
Early forecasts have also indicated that the relatively poor rice harvest this year will drive the price of the staple back up.
An employee at a wholesaler puts a price tag on a package of sea urchins from Hokkaido at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 26, 2025
Warming seas add to food inflation woes as urchin rice bowls hit ¥18,000
Policymakers have mostly blamed rising food prices on the weak yen's upward pressure on import costs, but the effects of global warming now also loom as a risk.
The ministry of labor has suggested a 6% minimum wage increase, but most prefectures reporting so far are opting to go slightly higher.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 25, 2025
Japanese prefectures break with labor ministry on minimum wage
Many prefectures are choosing increases higher than the 6% suggested by the ministry.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (second from left) walks with Fed Chair Jerome Powell (left), European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde (second from right) and Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey outside the Fed’s Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 24, 2025
BOJ's Ueda expects tight labor market to keep upward pressure on wages
The remarks are likely to support growing speculation of another interest rate hike this year, although the BOJ governor didn’t directly discuss monetary policy in a presentation.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell attends the Kansas City Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium in Moran, Wyoming, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 23, 2025
U.S. Fed chair opens door to rate cut as Trump steps up pressure
But Fed chief Jerome Powell also continued to argue that policymakers must guard against the prospect that President Donald Trump’s tariffs lead to persistent inflation.
Consumer prices in Japan rose 3.1% from a year earlier in July, slowing from a 3.3% gain in the previous month but still suggesting that inflation remains relatively sticky.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 22, 2025
Japan’s inflation hovers well above BOJ’s goal even as it slows
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.1% from a year earlier in July, slowing from a 3.3% gain a month earlier.
The agriculture ministry believes it is difficult to sell all of the stockpiled rice by the original deadline set at the end of this month due to slow deliveries to retailers.
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2025
Government extends deadline for stockpiled rice sales
While a new deadline will not be set, the ministry will ask businesses concerned to make sure the rice sells out within a month of delivery.
Japan's cutting-edge railgun successfully strikes target vessel
The Defense Ministry’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) conducted a ship-board railgun shooting test from June to early July this year with the support of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Is America ready for Japanese-style 7-Elevens?
Convenience stores are a fixture of Japanese life and 7-Eleven, a chain that began in the U.S. in 1927, opened its first store in Japan in 1974 — and then became wholly Japanese-owned in 2005 through parent company Seven & I Holdings.
‘Fairytale’ Shirakawago ranked one of the world’s most beautiful villages
Forbes and Unforgettable Travel Company have ranked Shirakawago in Gifu Prefecture as Asia's most beautiful village.
People rush to make furusato nozei donations ahead of tighter rules
A booth from the town of Betsukai in Hokkaido at an Amazon Japan furusato nо̄zei promotion event, on Sept. 5 in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
Aging Japan’s centenarian population nears 100,000
Shigeko Kagawa, Japan's oldest person at 114, in Yamatokoriyama, Nara Prefecture, on July 30
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
As Manila modernizes its military, new opportunities emerge for Tokyo
A Brahmos missile system is displayed during a rehearsal for a military parade in New Delhi in January. The Philippines will soon receive its second batch of the supersonic cruise missiles from India.
Shizuoka farmers fight to preserve sustainable tea method that’s steeped in tradition
As of August 2024, the number of confirmed chagusaba farmers had fallen to 302, just over half the 582 reported in 2015, according to the Shizuoka Chagusaba Farming Method Promotion Council.

Podcast

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

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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