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September 06, 2025
 

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JAPANESE ECONOMY

Hideyuki Okamoto, ice pop maker Akagi Nyugyo's marketing team leader, says the public is more accepting of price hikes as he holds the company's flagship Garigari-kun ice pop.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jul 29, 2025
Enough apologies: How Japan is shaking off its price hike phobia
A shift in consumer mindset about such increases is driven by the biggest pay hikes in three decades and has given companies more confidence to pass on rising costs.
Prolonged high prices for food and other goods have pushed down consumer sentiment and real wages, according to the Annual Report on the Japanese Economy and Public Finance for fiscal 2025.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 29, 2025
Japan should take all possible measures to raise wages, white paper says
Prolonged high prices for food and other goods have pushed down consumer sentiment and real wages, while predictions for continued price climbs have curbed consumption.
Who will buy the cars, SUVs, and trucks like the F-150 Donald Trump has promised to sell in Japan? Who will purchase 100 Boeing jets? And what will the $550 billion Tokyo-backed fund actually look like?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 29, 2025
Who buys the F-150s, and more Japan deal mysteries
The long-awaited trade deal between the U.S. and Japan has investors celebrating after months of uncertainty. But as the song goes, nagging questions always remain.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a speech at an event in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, on Friday afternoon.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2025
Ishiba rules out joint document on U.S. tariffs as deal's details trickle out
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has faced criticism from the opposition as numerous details about the agreement remain unclear.
Bank of Japan officials view the trade deal with the U.S. as reducing a key source of uncertainty for Japan’s economy and businesses, allowing the central bank to focus on monitoring the tariffs’ actual impact in incoming economic data, according to people familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2025
BOJ is said to see potential rate hike environment this year
Assuming there’s no change to the U.S. tariff deal, the central bank will likely have enough data by the end of the year to be able to consider whether a rate hike is appropriate.
Government Pension Investment Fund President Kazuto Uchida says there is no need to change the fund's portfolio even after a trade deal was reached between Japan and the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2025
Japan’s top pension fund keeps strategy amid volatility
As it seeks to ride out the turmoil, the Government Pension Investment Fund aims to enhance portfolio rebalancing with futures and analyze correlations between different assets.
While the pace of gains in consumer prices in the capital slowed in July from a year earlier, the data send a fresh reminder that households are still coping with higher living costs overall.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2025
Tokyo inflation slows while staying well above BOJ’s target
A decline in utility costs helped slow the overall gauge, but households are still coping with higher living costs overall.
International Monetary Fund spokesperson Julie Kozack said any fiscal stimulus measures Japan takes to address economic shocks should be temporary and targeted at vulnerable households and companies, during a news conference on Thursday in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 25, 2025
IMF advises Japan to avoid broad tax cuts and handouts
Tackling inflation was a major campaign issue in the Upper House race, with opposition parties having called for reducing or abolishing the consumption tax.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday in Washington, the day after he agreed to an 11th-hour trade deal with Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 24, 2025
Big unanswered questions follow Japan's big, beautiful deal with the U.S.
The $550 billion investment plan, in particular, is the subject of doubt and discussion.
The diffusion index on living conditions in Japan is at its lowest level in nearly 16 years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 24, 2025
Japan might be in a technical recession already
GDP appears to have declined for a second consecutive quarter, while wages remain stagnant and consumer sentiment weak.
As U.S. tariffs caused global uncertainty, Japanese carmakers in particular have been losing momentum as the industry faced pressure from levies.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 24, 2025
Firms in Japan likely to log lower profits amid tariff and political uncertainty
While tariffs caused global uncertainty, Japanese carmakers in particular have been losing momentum as the industry faced pressure from the levies.
European Council President Antonio Costa (left) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (right) join hands with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba prior to a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 23, 2025
Japan and EU launch trade ‘alliance’ amid concerns over U.S. and China
The new agreement will expand bilateral trade ties, promote business cooperation and explore ways to diversify critical mineral supply chains.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan chief tariff negotiator, in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jul 23, 2025
Japan and U.S. both claim win in surprise 11th-hour tariff deal
The "reciprocal" rate is set at 15%, while the rate on autos is 12.5%
Car dealerships in Tokyo. Some of Japan's automakers are raising loan rates amid higher costs for servicing loans.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2025
Japan carmakers put squeeze on households with higher loan rates
More than a year after the Bank of Japan’s first interest rate increase in 17 years, the volatile march higher in superlong bonds is raising the cost of servicing loans.
Sohei Kamiya, founder of the Sanseito, which campaigned on a “Japanese first” message and tough immigration rhetoric, speaks at a rally in Gunma Prefecture on July 6.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 23, 2025
Ignore the election hype, foreign residents are here to stay
While the number of foreign residents reached a record high last year, it’s still barely over 3% of the total population, low by international standards.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan on Tuesday, saying the agreement would create "hundreds of thousands of jobs."
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 23, 2025
Japan and U.S. reach tariff deal with ‘reciprocal’ rate at 15%
The U.S. president did not mention sector-specific tariffs currently in place, but NHK reported the overall tariff rate on autos will be 15%.
A lack of clarity around fiscal and economic policies is likely to dim the global appeal of Japanese assets, analysts say.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 22, 2025
Japanese bonds remain vulnerable as unpopular Ishiba holds on
Benchmark 10-year bonds fell only slightly as trading resumed in Tokyo, pushing yields up by 1.5 basis points.
Upper House votes being counted on Sunday. The Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition lost its majority in the upper chamber of parliament, but could still be effective in thwarting the opposition.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 21, 2025
Consumption tax cut not a given even after Upper House election
Political and economic realities suggest that opposition policies will not skate through.
Chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa in Osaka on Saturday. On Monday, Akazawa flew to the United States for another round of tariff negotiations.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 21, 2025
Akazawa jets to Washington for tariff talks after historic election
If an agreement with the U.S. can't be reached before Aug. 1, the "reciprocal" tariff rate imposed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump rises to 25%.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, delivers a campaign speech in Yokohama on July 6.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2025
Japan's minority government faces election snub as economic storm brews
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's LDP and its partner Komeito are forecast to lose their majority in a repeat of last year's Lower House election.
Bangladesh is a South Asian time bomb
Many Bangladeshis hoped that the overthrow of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina last year would revitalize the country’s democracy after an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.” Instead it has led to proliferating human-rights abuses, intensifying repression and widespread Islamist violence.
Tropical Storm Peipah brings heavy rain to parts of western Japan
Tropical Storm Peipah made landfall in western Japan on Friday, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue warnings of landslides and other disasters due to heavy rainfall in several areas.
Trump signs order reducing tariffs on Japanese autos
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, shake hands.
Tamagotchi hatches 100 million shipments worldwide thanks to ’90s nostalgia
The latest version of Tamagotchi, called Tamagotchi Paradise, is awarded the best digital toy at Tokyo Toy Show on Aug. 28.
Japan alerting consumers to cash-on-delivery problems
In fiscal 2024 through March this year, the National Consumers Affairs Center received inquiries and gave advice on problems associated with cash-on-delivery services.
London’s calling and sumo’s top division — along with Hello Kitty — are ready to answer
Yokozuna Hoshoryu and Hello Kitty, an ambassador for sumo's upcoming tour to London, at Tokyo's Kokugikan on Tuesday
Resonac creates 27-member consortium to pursue advanced chip developments
Representatives from member companies of JOINT3, a consortium working together on semiconductor-related developments announced by Resonac, pose for a photo in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Haru Nemuri’s radical new album refuses easy listening
Musician Haruna Kimishima, better known as Haru Nemuri, confronts Japan’s politics, nationalism and censorship on her recent output.
Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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