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September 16, 2025
 

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JAPANESE ECONOMY

Gold prices in Japan are hovering around a record high of ¥10,000 per gram — up around 18% since January.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 12, 2023
Gold bugs in Japan reaping rewards as yen weakness persists
Domestic prices for the precious metal are now hovering around a record high of ¥10,000 per gram — up around 18% since January.
Banks have surged more than 50% over the past year on speculation gains in prices and wages will become sustainable enough for the Bank of Japan to end years of rock bottom rates.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 12, 2023
Top fund managers pile into Japanese banks on BOJ tightening bets
Fund managers are piling into Japanese banks on the possibility the Bank of Japan is preparing to end its ultraeasy monetary policy.
The yen remains vulnerable to sharp movements and government intervention even after its rally at the start of this week.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 12, 2023
Imminent Fed meet keeps yen intervention on agenda despite rally
U.S. inflation figures set to be released Wednesday are expected to show price growth accelerating for a second month in August versus a year earlier
Rapidus CEO Atsuyoshi Koike says his ambition is to realize a "Hokkaido Valley" that can compete against Silicon Valley in size.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2023
Japan's Rapidus aims to create a chipmaking 'Hokkaido Valley'
The startup, backed with billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, is plotting a course to mass-produce 2-nanometer logic chips by 2027.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 11, 2023
Economists question the wisdom of Kishida's new minimum wage target
Japan aims to lift the minimum wage to ¥1,500 by the mid-2030s, but macroeconomic factors could undermine that target.
Japan Exchange Group only has a female board ratio of 13%, a level that’s less than half the average of global peers.
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2023
Japan stock exchange’s board diversity is among worst in world
Japan Exchange Group’s female board ratio remains far below global peers and its own listing rule goal.
The average for summer bonuses this year was slightly higher than the ¥845,453 in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and trailed only the ¥870,731 in 2018, the labor ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2023
2023 summer bonuses second-highest on record in Japan
Bonuses at major Japanese companies this summer averaged ¥845,557, up 1.59% from a year before, the labor ministry has announced.
Kazuo Ueda
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2023
BOJ's Ueda signals chance of ending negative rates, report says
The central bank could have enough data by year-end to determine whether it can end negative rates, Gov. Kazuo Ueda said in an interview.
Japan's economy grew less than initially estimated in the second quarter as capital expenditure slid, suggesting heightening overseas uncertainties are weighing on business confidence.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2023
Japan economic growth revised down as firms and consumers cut back
Gross domestic product grew at an annualized 4.8% from the previous three months, revised figures from the Cabinet Office showed Friday.
Kohei Saito, a philosophy professor at the University of Tokyo who appears regularly in Japanese media to discuss his ideas, at home in Tokyo on March 16.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 7, 2023
Can shrinking be good for Japan? A Marxist bestseller makes the case.
Saito has tapped into what he describes as a growing disillusionment in Japan with capitalism’s ability to solve the problems people see around them.
People make their way through Tokyo's Ameyoko shopping district. In a sign rising inflation is already taking a toll on consumption, Japan's household spending suffered its biggest drop in nearly 2½ years in July.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Sep 7, 2023
China's economic gloom hangs over Japan's long-awaited recovery
If Beijing fails to shore up demand with meaningful stimulus, that could potentially delay an exit from the Bank of Japan's ultraloose monetary policy.
Hajime Takata, a member of the policy board at the Bank of Japan
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 6, 2023
BOJ policymaker sees signs of change in deflationary mindset
Conditions for phasing out the bank's massive stimulus seem to be falling into place, central bank policymaker Hajime Takata said.
Tourists drive rental go-karts while dressed up as game characters through the streets of Shibuya and other areas of Tokyo in December 2018.
COMMENTARY
Sep 6, 2023
A 10-year tourist boom and all I got was this lousy 'Mario Kart'
Like cockroaches in a nuclear apocalypse, seemingly nothing can destroy the "Mario Karts": not legal action, not the government and not even the pandemic.
Japan's household spending dropped 2.7% in July from the previous month, as persistent inflation continued to erode purchasing power.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2023
Japan’s households cut back spending as Kishida considers measures
Weak data indicate an economy struggling to build momentum as inflation outpaces wage gains and consumer spending remains below pre-pandemic levels.
The total value of unpaid household tasks was ¥111 trillion for women and ¥32 trillion for men in 2021, according to a recent Cabinet Office report, indicating the amount of men's work around the home is less than a third of what women do.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 4, 2023
Japanese women are missing out on ¥111 trillion in unpaid wages
A recent report has highlighted both the wage gap between men and women, as well as the sheer amount of uncompensated work that gets done in Japan.
Japan's economic output ran above full capacity in April-June for the first time in nearly four years, a government estimate showed, suggesting that conditions for ending its policy of ultralow interest rates could be falling into place.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2023
Japan's economic output runs above capacity in signal for BOJ
The data suggests that conditions for Japan to end its policy of ultralow interest rates could be falling into place.
Japanese companies raised spending on plants and equipment in the April-June quarter but the pace of annual gains slowed to the lowest in five quarters, reflecting global recession worries amid China's slowing growth.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 1, 2023
Japan firms cut capital spending over global growth concerns
The latest figures feed into a picture of Japan’s growth being overly reliant on overseas demand.
Bank of Japan board member Toyoaki Nakamura says it is uncertain whether smaller companies can earn enough profits to keep hiking wages next year and beyond.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 31, 2023
BOJ policymaker warns against premature monetary tightening
Tightening monetary policy before rising prices are accompanied by higher wages would hurt domestic demand and corporate profits, Toyoaki Nakamura said.
According to a survey conducted by the Tokyo Stock Exchange, 20% of the 1,235 prime-listed companies have come up with specific measures.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 31, 2023
Most Japan firms yet to disclose plans for better capital efficiency
The TSE made a rare call in March for firms to disclose plans in the long run to improve capital efficiency, but nearly 70% have yet to do so.
Manufacturing machinery and electronic components were among the biggest drags on Japan's industrial output in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 31, 2023
Japan output drops in July as global slowdown reverberates
Factory output declined 2% from June, the industry ministry said Thursday.
SDF spots China’s biggest aircraft carrier for first time
The Fujian aircraft carrier is seen in Shanghai in May 2024 as it leaves for its first sea trial.
Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
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.
Final weeks of World Expo in Osaka likely to see large crowds
With one month left to go, crowds are expected to swell at the World Expo in Osaka during its final weeks.
Japan's elderly population down at around 36.2 million
The estimated number of people age 65 or older in Japan stands at 36.19 million as of Monday, accounting for record 29.4% of the country's total population, according to the internal affairs ministry.
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

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

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