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July 05, 2025
 

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JAPANESE ECONOMY

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a Liberal Democratic Party executive meeting in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025
As election looms, Ishiba pledges ¥1 quadrillion GDP by 2040
Ahead of the Upper House election, the prime minister has unveiled the ambitious target, along with raising the average income by at least half.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, is expected to head to Washington soon for a sixth round of high-level trade talks with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 10, 2025
Akazawa talks of 'dense fog' in U.S. trade talks ahead of G7 summit
Japan is sticking to its demand that all new tariffs be removed, the country's tariff czar insists.
Japan faces soaring rice prices, a powerful farming cooperative resistant to change, declining farmer numbers, falling rice consumption and conflicting government policies that hinder effective reform of the sector.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2025
How ‘vintage’ rice is shaking up Japanese politics
Rice is where consumers have drawn the line. The staple rose by 98% in the past year, adding almost half a percentage point to headline inflation.
Japan's gross domestic product shrank at an annualized pace of 0.2% in the three months through March, the revised data showed, confirming the country's economy shrank even before U.S. President Donald Trump amped up tariff pressure in April.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 9, 2025
Japan confirms GDP contraction, backing BOJ’s cautious stance
GDP shrank at an annualized pace of 0.2% in the three months through March, a less severe drop than the initial estimate of a 0.7% decline.
Nomura Holdings predicts the dollar to trade around ¥136 by the end of September, against around ¥145 currently.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 8, 2025
Nomura flags risk of sharp yen rally on U.S.-Japan policy pressure
The investment bank, among Japan’s largest, now recommends shorting the greenback versus the yen, targeting a move in the pair to ¥136 by the end of September.
Tokyo's Asakusa district near Sensoji Temple. The Japanese government vowed to realize pay raises that exceed price increases in a stable way.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 7, 2025
Japan highlights wage hikes as cornerstone of economic growth strategy
Seeing wage hikes as a key part of its growth strategy, the government vowed to realize pay raises that exceed price increases in a stable way.
Japan's exports in terms of value dropped 3% in the first 20 days of May from the same period a year earlier, indicating the impact of U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025
Japan’s early May exports drop as tariff woes upend commerce
Exports measured by value dropped 3% in the first 20 days of May, which compared with a 2% rise for April.
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.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jars Tokara Islands amid flurry of seismic activity
A strong quake struck off the Tokara Islands on Thursday afternoon, with the island chain having recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since a burst of seismic activity first began on June 21.
Japan to require flight passengers to keep power banks within sight
The transport ministry has announced new regulations requiring flight passengers to keep power banks within sight to mitigate fire risks while on board planes.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

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