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June 06, 2025
 

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JAPANESE ECONOMY

Japan's household spending fell 0.1% from a year earlier in April, as the elevated cost of living weighs on consumer spending.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025
April household spending drop deals blow to Japan's shrinking economy
Domestic demand will likely be a key factor in determining whether a technical recession can be avoided after the economy shrank in the first quarter.
Wages in Japan are falling on a real basis, in part because of rising food prices.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 5, 2025
Real wages in Japan fell 1.8% year on year in April
Inflation-adjusted pay has now fallen for four straight months.
The draft also expresses strong concern about China's attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Japan to name China as its biggest strategic challenge
It is unusual for the annual economic and fiscal policy guidelines to criticize China for its coercive behavior toward neighboring countries.
Japan and the United States are aiming for a meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Donald Trump at the Group of Seven leaders summit on June 16 and 17.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 4, 2025
U.S. doubles steel and aluminum tariffs as Japan counts on a breakthrough
The United Kingdom is exempt from the higher rates because it struck an early trade deal with the United States.
Solar panels at an industrial complex in Rajasthan, India, are an example of India-Japan renewable energy cooperation. The two countries can strengthen their ties by co-developing green and advanced technologies, solar energy among them.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 4, 2025
The ground is fertile for Japan-India green economy partnerships
Japan and India can build on their long-standing relationship to spearhead the development of green and advanced technologies such as renewable energy and chips.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 4, 2025
Komeito to propose sales tax cut on food, Yomiuri reports
A Komeito official confirmed the report, saying the tax cut idea will be among proposals in the campaign pledge due on Friday.
Business and household sentiments "have deteriorated recently," Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said Tuesday at an event in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 4, 2025
Uncertainties over Trump tariffs extremely strong, BOJ chief says
The Bank of Japan will continue to raise interest rates if the Japanese economy and prices move in line with the central bank's outlook, Gov. Kazuo Ueda added.
The number of "zombie companies" in Japan, which do not make enough to cover their interest payments, was estimated to have grown some 228,000 in fiscal 2023, one of the highest in a decade.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 3, 2025
'Zombie company' apocalypse might be the point of Japan's minimum wage push
Government efforts to accelerate the pace of pay increases could lead to poorly performing companies going out of business.
Japanese firms' capital expenditure gained 1.8% in the three months through March from the previous quarter, while inflation is keeping a lid on household spending and U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign clouds the trade outlook.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 2, 2025
Japan’s firms raised capital spending ahead of U.S. tariffs
Business spending holds the key to the country’s economic growth as inflation keeps a lid on household spending.
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.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 2, 2025
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
Labor shortages and shifting mindsets are driving younger Japanese workers to challenge the country’s traditional office culture.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, is in Washington again for a fourth round of high-level negotiations with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025
Tariff talks with U.S. a mix of slow progress, ever-present uncertainty 
Japan's chief negotiator is back in Washington for another round of high-level negotiations.
Prices of more than 1,900 food items, including precooked rice products, will be raised next month, three times the year-before level, according to research company Teikoku Databank.
JAPAN
May 30, 2025
Prices to rise for 1,932 food products in Japan in June
The number marked the sixth consecutive month of increase, boosted by rising prices of rice.
Tokyo’s consumer price index that serves as a leading indicator for national inflation trends posted in May the biggest year-on-year rise since January 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025
Tokyo prices rising most in two years keeps BOJ on hike path
The food price gains are a worrisome sign for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of a summer election expected to be held by July.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda
BUSINESS / Economy
May 28, 2025
Ueda to monitor risk of high long-term bond yields affecting shorter-term rates
The comments come at a time of heightened concern about volatility at the long end of the bond market.
The Finance Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
BUSINESS / Markets
May 28, 2025
Weak 40-year bond sale keeps pressure on Japan to tweak issuance
The 40-year yield rose 5 basis points following the sale, to 3.335% as of 4:20 p.m. in Tokyo, while the 30-year rate jumped 7 basis points.
The Japanese government will spend ¥288 billion to lower the cost of electricity and city gas by ¥3,000 for an average household from July to September.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2025
Japan to subsidize home energy bills through summer amid U.S. tariff impact
The government will spend ¥388 billion from budget reserves for the measures in its first fiscal spending in response to the Trump tariffs.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a meeting of the government's advisory Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Monday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2025
Japan private sector backs 1% real wage growth per year over next five years
The plan was first mentioned by the government’s "new capitalism" panel earlier this month.
Japan lost its position as the world’s largest creditor nation for the first time in 34 years despite posting a record amount of overseas assets, with Germany overtaking the country.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2025
Japan loses top creditor status for first time in 34 years
Despite Japan’s net external assets rising to a record high, it lost the top position to Germany.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a conference hosted by the bank's Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies in Tokyo on Tuesday. Ueda gave the yen a boost by clearly indicating his intention to continue raising the benchmark interest rate if the economy improves as expected.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2025
Yen rises as Ueda indicates BOJ is still eyeing more rate hikes
The yen rose as high as 142.12 against the dollar immediately after Ueda's remarks.
Despite the stereotypes, Japan is one of the most permissive places for non-residents to buy property.
COMMENTARY
May 27, 2025
It’s too easy for foreigners to buy Japanese property
Foreign buyers are driving up Tokyo housing prices amid Japan’s lack of property restrictions, sparking calls for tighter rules to protect residents and limit speculation.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
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.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
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.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
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.
Six months into 2025, J-pop is having a full-on identity crisis (and a great time)
The year so far is only proving that Mrs. Green Apple is the biggest band in Japan. Their success also seems to be hinting at a change in the musical landscape more broadly.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.

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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