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August 05, 2025
 

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MANUFACTURING

China is not merely moving more goods; it is exporting a new, ruthlessly efficient production model powered by automation, AI and state-guided industrial optimization.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2025
China’s unbeatable new production model export
The more pressing concern, however, is not what China exports, but how. Global cost structures are indeed being reshaped.
The Nippon Steel logo is displayed at the company's East Nippon Works Kimitsu Area plant in Kimitsu, Chiba Prefecture, in May.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 2, 2025
Nippon Steel swings into quarterly loss
The Japanese steelmaker said Friday that it had posted a consolidated net loss of ¥195.8 billion for the fiscal first quarter, against the year-before profit of ¥157.5 billion.
Tokyo Electron is seeing slower-than-expected recovery in demand from producers of logic chips.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2025
Tokyo Electron cuts outlook on canceled logic chip tool orders
The Tokyo-based company now sees operating income of ¥570 billion in the year to March, down from a previous forecast of ¥727 billion.
Industrial production gained 1.7% from the previous month, according to the industry ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2025
Factory output gain in Japan shows firms’ resilience amid tariffs
Though economists had expected a 0.8% loss, industrial production gained 1.7% from the previous month while output rose 4% from a year earlier, topping expectations of a 1.3% gain.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) shakes hands with economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, at the Osaka Expo in the city of Osaka on July 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 28, 2025
Japan expects only 1% to 2% of $550 billion U.S. fund to be investment
The bulk of the fund, agreed as part of Japan's trade deal with the U.S., will consist of loans, says chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jul 26, 2025
Trump tariffs leave costly China supply question unanswered
The U.S. president has threatened to rocket rates up to 40% for products deemed to be transshipped, or re-routed, through Southeast Asia.
A boy and his father walk through the toy section of Walmart in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 29, 2019.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 24, 2025
Toy makers nix batteries and other materials to save costs amid tariff war
The duties imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump are particularly painful for companies like Hasbro and Mattel, as 80% of toys sold in the U.S. come from China.
A member of staff works on a production line that manufactures small metal coils at Mitsuwa Electric in Tokyo on July 11.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025
Japan's smaller firms say they are ready to adapt to Trump tariffs
Millions of small- and medium-sized firms that make up 99.7% of Japan's companies are world-class in their specialist niche, giving rise to confidence about weathering tariffs.
Mazda employees walk at the company's main plant in the town of Fuchu, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025
Japan voters see little hope for tariff reprieve in carmaker Mazda's hometown
The economic engine of Hiroshima Prefecture faces U.S. tariffs of 25% on cars, a dispiriting prospect for an electorate already battling inflation.
The Nissan Motor Oppama Plant in Yokosuka. The company will wind down production at the plant and transfer assembly of vehicles to a factory in Kyushu.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2025
Nissan to close Oppama plant as part of wider restructuring push
Oppama, which has been in operation since 1961 and employs roughly 2,400 workers, will cease production by March 2028.
Orders from the automobile and auto parts industries decreased 7.1% in May after a 20.3% drop the previous month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 14, 2025
Japan core machinery orders down 0.6% in May
The government kept its basic assessment unchanged, saying that machinery orders are showing signs of picking up.
Copper rods are wound at a workshop that recycles the metal in Anqing, China, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jul 12, 2025
Trump's copper tariffs pile more metal misery on U.S. auto industry
The duties on their own may be manageable, but prices of the red metal vital for making cars have soared to record highs.
The Maruti Suzuki India e-Vitara during the Bharat Mobility Global Expo in New Delhi in January
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2025
Suzuki is becoming a top Japan importer with made-in-India cars
Suzuki beat out Mercedes-Benz to become Japan’s top car importer in June, thanks to the Jimny Nomad and another popular small SUV assembled in India.
A worker installs part of a business-class aircraft seat at the factory of Safran Seats GB in Cwmbran, South Wales, Britain, on Feb. 20.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jul 3, 2025
Airline seat industry crisis delaying jet deliveries
Certification bottlenecks and growing demand for bespoke features make it hard for the fragmented sector to achieve economies of scale after the pandemic.
The Bank of Japan's latest <i>tankan</i> survey beat consensus forecasts as the economy held up better than expected.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 1, 2025
Large Japanese companies surprisingly optimistic as U.S. tariffs bite 
In the tankan survey, automakers and smaller companies were relatively pessimistic.
Nissan will begin talks this week to seek job cuts at its Sunderland plant in Britain.
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2025
Nissan says it will seek voluntary job cuts at U.K. plant
Nissan said the move was aimed at increasing the efficiency of the Sunderland plant in northeastern England to make it a "leaner, more flexible" operation.
Japan's factory output in May fell 1.8% from a year earlier, missing expectations of a 1.6% rise.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 30, 2025
Japan’s factory output misses expectations as U.S. tariffs hit
Industrial production increased 0.5% from the previous month, the industry ministry reported Monday.
Pat Gelsinger (left), former Intel CEO and general partner at Playground Global, and Peter Barrett, co-founder and general partner of Playground, in Tokyo on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2025
Former Intel CEO Gelsinger has some advice for Japan's Rapidus
He encourages the chipmaker to distinguish itself in some way from TSMC.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator (left), meets with Nippon Steel Chairman and CEO Eiji Hashimoto.
BUSINESS
Jun 24, 2025
Japan needs a big, beautiful trade deal with the United States
A creative solution along the lines of the U.S. Steel "golden share" has been suggested.
An electric motor, jointly developed by Honda and Daido Steel, for hybrid cars that uses no heavy rare earth metals is displayed at an unveiling in Tokyo in July 2016.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2025
Honda supplier rethinks China relationship as trade war bites
For Daido Steel, the trade war has meant renewing a push to build rare earth supply routes outside of China.
Australia announces new warships will come from Japan
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate Niyodo sails at an undisclosed location in this image released Tuesday.
How Pakistan shot down India's cutting-edge fighter using Chinese gear
An Indian Air Force pilot gets out of a Rafale fighter jet during its induction ceremony at an air force station in Ambala, India, September 2020.
China and Russia start joint military drills in Sea of Japan
Russian and Chinese naval officers take part in a ceremony Thursday ahead of the start of joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan, following the arrival of Chinese military vessels in Vladivostok, Russia.
Kamchatka quake may have awakened volcano dormant for 600 years, Russia says
Kamchatka. Krasheninnikov Bay
Italy's fast fashion hub becomes Chinese mafia battlefield
Signs for fast-fashion factories in Prato, Italy, on Friday. Chinese crime groups in the district thrive on the "Prato system" rife with corruption in the fast-fashion sector.
Fuji Rock's weekend of surprises was one of its best yet
Radwimps lead singer Yojiro Noda threw himself into the rock band’s Green Stage performance ahead of headliner Vampire Weekend.
How Trump is gaslighting on climate change — with Japan’s help
The Bishu Maru LNG tanker, owned by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, next to the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas
With a new distillery, Suntory makes a spirited move on gin market
A staff inspects a distillation pot still at Suntory's new Osaka Spirits & Liqueurs Craft Distillery, which will focus on gin production and help Suntory capture a bigger slice of the fast-growing gin market.
Junglia brought dinos back to Okinawa. But will it bring tourists?
At Panorama Dining, one of Junglia’s two proper restaurants that also doubles as the rooftop Inifinity Terrace overlook, guests can pay extra to sit in balcony tables made to look like birds’ nests overlooking the park grounds.
From Osaka to the NHL: Jordan Spence hopes to inspire young Japanese hockey players
Ottawa Senators defenseman Jordan Spence helps lead the Dreamskate Japan hockey camp in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, on July 5.

Podcast

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

Longform

Ichiro Suzuki, one of the most iconic players in NPB and MLB history, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 99.7% of the vote.
With Hall of Fame induction, Ichiro makes himself heard loud and clear
By Jason Coskrey

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