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July 22, 2025
 

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JAPANESE ECONOMY

A monitor in Tokyo shows Japan's two major stock indexes hitting new highs on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 5, 2024
Investors hunt for Trump-win trades in Japan's stock market
The Topix index gained almost 30% in dollar terms in the year after the 2016 U.S. presidential election that Trump won, beating the S&P 500 and the MSCI World index.
Japanese household spending unexpectedly fell in May as higher prices continued to squeeze consumers' purchasing power.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 5, 2024
Japan’s household spending falls, clouding growth outlook
The yen's slide is expected to further raise prices for imported raw materials, energy, and food.
Circulators on display at a Bic Camera store in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district on June 26
JAPAN / Society
Jul 5, 2024
Japan companies beat drum for heat-beating goods
Sales of air conditioners, fans, and circulators are rising with the mercury, as high electricity prices make energy-saving products increasingly popular.
An electronic board in Tokyo shows the Topix stock index on Thursday morning. The index ended the day at 2,898.47, a record high exceeding that set in December 1989.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 4, 2024
Japan's main stock indexes close at record highs
Shares of automakers, banks and technology firms led the gains on the emergence of a robust corporate outlook for the latter half of 2024.
A Vietnamese worker harvests tomatoes at a farm in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jul 4, 2024
Japan faces shortage of almost a million foreign workers in 2040
At the current pace, 5.91 million foreign people will be working in Japan in 2040
The weakness of the yen is posing a big problem for small and midsize businesses. As for desired exchange rates, 69.5％ said they want the yen trading between ¥110 and ¥135 to the dollar.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2024
Weak yen inflicts major damage to small and midsize businesses, survey says
While some larger, export driven companies have benefited from the weak currency, smaller firms are struggling to adjust.
Restaurant chains such as Yoshinoya rely on U.S. beef imports. The price surge has led to Yoshinoya's parent company looking into developing new dishes using ingredients other than beef.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 4, 2024
Soaring prices make U.S. beef procurement hard in Japan
The yen's recent sharp depreciation compounds the problems of reduced supply and strong demand for American beef in other countries.
Workers' monthly pay will rise 5.1% on average this fiscal year, according to a survey of companies conducted since March by union group Rengo.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2024
Firms deliver biggest pay hikes in 33 years, union survey shows
Workers' monthly pay will rise 5.1% on average this fiscal year, according to union group Rengo.
The Finance Ministry and the National Tax Agency in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2024
Japan's tax revenue sets another record amid a weak yen and inflation
Even with the tax revenue gains, however, Japan’s fiscal plight is severe.
Goldman Sachs Group has hired former Bank of Japan chief economist Akira Otani as senior Japan economic adviser and managing director.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2024
Goldman Sachs hires former BOJ chief economist Akira Otani
Otani has joined the Wall Street bank’s securities arm in Tokyo as senior Japan economic adviser and managing director.
The supply of super-long Japanese debt is projected to total almost ¥30 trillion in the fiscal year that started on April 1.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 2, 2024
Big risks hound Japan’s longest bonds despite move to cut supply
Japan's government appears to be striving to calm down a market that’s wracked by rising yields.
Elliott Investment Management's sizable stake in Sumitomo reflects a growing shareholder activism in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2024
Activist investor campaigns hit record high, driven by Japan
The number of new activists campaigns totaled 147, up 7% from 138 in the same period in 2023 and 29% above the five-year average.
As interest rates rise, the Bank of Japan will have to pay more on deposits, resulting in a mismatch between what it pays out and how much it receives on bonds it holds.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jul 2, 2024
The Bank of Japan’s $3 trillion problem
As interest rates rise and the deposits it holds become far more expensive, the central bank could end up becoming unprofitable.
The yen’s depreciation is largely down to the gap in interest rates between the U.S. and Japan. Therefore, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is, to all intents and purposes, “Mr. Yen.”
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 1, 2024
There’s a new 'Mr. Yen' in town
No matter what the Bank of Japan or the Finance Ministry do, ultimate control over the yen's value lies in the hands of U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Japan's most expensive plot of land lies in front of Kyukyodo stationery store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district, according to National Tax Agency statistics.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 1, 2024
Japan's land prices rise at fastest pace since 2010, tax agency says
Average land prices climbed 2.3% last year, rising for the third straight year.
Business sentiment among large manufacturers in Japan in the April-June quarter improved for the first time in two quarters, but the mood among big service-sector firms worsened for the first time in four years, according to a Bank of Japan survey.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 1, 2024
Japan's shaky business mood and GDP downgrade cloud BOJ hike timing
A mixed economic outlook complicates the BOJ's decision on how soon to raise interest rates, analysts say.
Market participants project the pace of Japan’s stock market rally to slow in the second half of this year.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 30, 2024
Japan’s stock rally is forecast to slow in second half of 2024
The benchmark Topix index will climb about 2.9% by the end of the year, while the 225-issue Nikkei average will rise about 4.8%, according to projections.
A monitor at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo shows the yen falling below ¥161 against the dollar on Friday morning.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 28, 2024
Japan names new forex diplomat as yen hits 38-year low
Atsushi Mimura, a financial regulation veteran, replaces Masato Kanda, who launched the biggest yen-buying intervention on record this year.
Core inflation in Tokyo accelerated in June on rising fuel bills and the boost to import costs from a weak yen, keeping alive expectations for a near-term interest rate hike by the central bank.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 28, 2024
Tokyo inflation quickens, keeping BOJ on track for rate hike
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.1% in the capital, accelerating from 1.9% in May.
The rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar is displayed in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 27, 2024
Foreign funds sell Japan’s stocks, longest run in 15 months
Foreign investors sold net ¥21.4 billion ($133 million) of cash equities in the week that ended June 21.
Japan ruling bloc loses majority in Upper House after election drubbing
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, leaves at the party's headquarters following announcement of Upper House election result projections in Tokyo early Monday.
‘Japanese First’ Sanseito emerges as powerful force after Upper House poll
Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya in Tokyo on Sunday night
Foreign residents closely follow Japan's election and party pledges
A police officer walks past posters of Liberal Democratic Party candidates, as well as one showing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, outside the party's headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. As Japan’s foreign population continues to rise, one of the talking points during Sunday’s election was how the country should deal with the increase of international residents.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Voters in Tokyo reflect shifting political views across Japan
Pedestrians walk in front of an election notice board displaying posters of candidates in Tokyo on Sunday.
Japan’s top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
A coral reef in Okinawa in July 2022. Some jurisdictions around the world have moved to ban certain sunscreens in a bid to protect coral reefs, but some say the impact on reefs is far from clear.
Pentagon looks to unleash ‘military drone dominance’
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hosts a drone demonstration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on July 10.
‘Noto Democracy’ and the slow work of civic change
Yukio Iokibe’s “Noto Democracy" centers on Motoyuki Takii, a former junior high school teacher who publishes a handwritten newspaper every month to encourage the residents of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, to engage in local politics.
In microbes we trust: Embracing the nature of fermented food
You don't need an oven to make Kenji Morimoto's easy and delicious Miso Sticky Toffee Crepe Cake.
Touring the Silk Road — without leaving Tokyo
One of the entrances to Pao Compound, a nine-story Silk Road-inspired complex in Tokyo's Higashinakano neighborhood

Podcast

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

Longform

In 2020, 38% of all households were single-person. That figure is projected to rise to 44.3% by 2050.
The rise of AI companionship in a lonely Japan
By Alex K.T. Martin

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