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November 22, 2025
 

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TRADE

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (center) during a photo session with her new Cabinet ministers including Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (right) at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday
BUSINESS
Oct 22, 2025
Japan’s new leader to woo Trump with promises on pickups and soybeans
The two leaders will sit down in Tokyo during Trump's first visit to Japan since his re-election.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent takes a picture during the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23 in New York.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 22, 2025
Supply-chain economics beat tariff politics
Twenty years ago, China learned the hard way that once supply chains reorganize, they never return to their previous form.
Ships and containers at a port in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 22, 2025
China’s $1 billion of daily U.S. exports show Xi bargaining power
Despite double-digit drops in the value of overall trade during the past half a year, some products have recently seen an increase from 2024.
The seaport of Buenaventura in Colombia on June 28. Shipments to the U.S. account for 35% of Colombia's exports, according to the Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce, while 70% of imports from the U.S. are items not produced in the country.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 22, 2025
Trump's Colombia tariffs would flip U.S. policy on drugs and trade
Trump's tariff threat was a rejection of an idea about countering the narcotics business that free trade can make legitimate exports more appealing than drug trafficking.
Japan's exports gained 4.2% in September from a year earlier, with analysts noting the strong euro and China’s domestic demand-stimulating policies benefiting the country.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 22, 2025
Japan’s exports advance for first time since April on chips
Exports rose for the first time in five months as shipments of chips and electronic parts advanced, while goods destined for the U.S. continued to decline.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (left) and French President Emmanuel Macron. Germany and France are supporting a push to discuss China’s increasingly restrictive trade measures at a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 22, 2025
Germany and France back China trade discussion at EU summit
The bloc is scrambling to protect its industries from a glut of subsidized Chinese competition and Beijing's recently announced export controls on rare earths.
A sample of monazite, a mineral used in the rare-earth industry to extract elements such as cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium, is displayed at the Geological Museum of China in Beijing on Oct. 14.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2025
'They can shut us down in two months': Carmakers race China's rare-earths curbs
Most motors that don't rely on rare earths are years away, as are efforts to develop new rare-earth mines and processing plants outside China, industry experts say.
The U.S.-China trade war has escalated as both sides use economic leverage, with China asserting dominance over rare earths to retaliate against U.S. tariffs, while the U.S. seeks a collective global response and long-term strategy to reduce dependency on China's supply chains.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
This is what a real trade war looks like
China has leverage over trading partners every bit as powerful as what Trump seeks to wield.
A displaced Palestinian girl carries water containers in Gaza City on Monday. Israel and Hamas have both recommitted to a ceasefire plan since Sunday's flare-up in which a Palestinian attack that killed two soldiers prompted an Israeli bombardment killing at least 28 people in Gaza.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 21, 2025
U.S. steps up diplomacy after Gaza truce shaken
The weekend violence reflected the stumbling blocks to keeping the long-sought ceasefire from unraveling and securing a lasting peace in Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump points to a reporter during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 21, 2025
Trump expects Taiwan on agenda for Xi meeting, predicts trade deal
The U.S. leader underlined a number of divisive topics the two sides plan to tackle at a meeting on the sidelines of a regional summit in South Korea next week.
Magnetic slices made from rare earth metals. Beijing last week announced a sweeping set of rules that are set to restrict the flow of rare earths worldwide.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2025
China’s rare earth restrictions aim to beat U.S. at its own game
The impacts of the Chinese licensing system would be much broader than U.S. technology controls, which have targeted only more advanced computer chips.
As governments race to deepen ties with Vietnam for strategic and economic gain, they must not ignore the country’s escalating human rights crackdown, which threatens both its people and the long-term sustainability of its growth.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025
Vietnam’s rights suppression carries a heavy price
Some Vietnamese say, "The government allows freedom of speech — just no freedom after you speak."
An aerial view shows the oil tanker named Boracay (also called Pushpa), a vessel being investigated by French authorities and suspected of belonging to the so-called "shadow fleet" involved in the Russian oil trade, off the coast of Saint-Nazaire, France, on Oct. 2.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2025
EU seeks maritime declaration to inspect Russia's 'shadow fleet'
Beefing up inspection rights is the latest EU proposal aimed at curbing Russian oil and gas revenue being used by Moscow to finance its war in Ukraine.
People participate in a "No Kings" national day of protest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 19, 2025
'No Kings' protesters emerge en masse for anti-Trump rallies
Organizers said 7 million people marched in protests spanning New York to Los Angeles, with demonstrations popping up in small cities across the U.S. heartland.
A port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 18, 2025
Trump says 100% tariffs on China unsustainable and he still plans to meet Xi
The new trade actions were Trump's reaction to China dramatically expanding its export controls on rare earth elements.
U.S. President Donald Trump has signed orders expanding credits for U.S. auto and engine production and setting new 25% tariffs on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks and parts starting Nov. 1.
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2025
Trump OKs expanding credits for U.S. auto production and issues 25% truck duties
The tariffs, which the orders say are being made on national security grounds, are aimed at shifting more auto production to the United States.
Silicon semiconductor wafers pass through a wet chemical cleaning machine at a Nexperia plant. The company is the latest to be caught in an escalating global trade spat leading up to China’s high-stakes talks with the United States.
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2025
Carmakers push to secure chips as China trade spat escalates
While Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump are to meet this month to hammer out a trade accord, both sides announced restrictions that have raised tensions.
Greenpeace activists hold signs reading "COP30 act for forests,” during the ministerial preparatory meeting, ahead of the COP30 climate summit, in Brasilia, Brazil on Monday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Oct 16, 2025
Trump’s team weighs COP attendance, but influence looms either way
Experts say whatever decision the U.S. makes, its action or inaction will have a major impact.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato meet in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 16, 2025
Japan’s Kato calls for G7 unity over China’s rare earth curbs
"Japan is deeply concerned about these measures,” Kato told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, referring to China’s latest trade measures.
A Chinese trade delegation in Madrid for talks with its U.S. counterpart holds a news conference on Sept. 15. Rare earths, along with tariffs and other key issues, will define the next phase of the China-U.S. rivalry as both sides escalate tensions, vie for leverage and leave room for tactical negotiation.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 16, 2025
The Sino-U.S. economic cage match heats up
Notwithstanding momentary attempts at detente, the long-term path is toward competitive confrontation.
Japanese court orders Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million over manga piracy
Cloudflare has been ordered to pay ¥500 million after four major publishing firms accused the firm of copyright infringement for its role in hosting sites that distribute pirated copies of manga titles.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
¥21.3 trillion stimulus package approved by Cabinet
The Cabinet is expected to submit an extra budget bill to finance the package to parliament, which is in session until Dec. 17.
First foreign president of Hosei University looks abroad for change
Hosei University President Diana Khor, who herself was an international student, aims to encourage students to look outward and cultivate a global mindset.
Japan plans higher visa fees for foreign residents
Along with planned higher fees for foreign residents to stay, Japan is looking to raise the ¥3,000 single-entry visa fee for inbound tourists to Western standards in the next fiscal year.
First foreign president of Hosei University looks abroad for change
Hosei University President Diana Khor, who herself was an international student, aims to encourage students to look outward and cultivate a global mindset.
Japanese companies advised to change mindset about investment in Africa
Bernard Laurendeau, chief of Enkopa Lab Japan, in Tokyo last month
Munetaka Murakami headlines quartet looking to move to MLB via posting system
The Swallows' Munetaka Murakami has 246 career home runs in eight NPB seasons.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
Why we can’t get enough of the sham of the rental family
“Rental Family,” directed and co-written by the single-named Hikari, follows out-of-work actor Phillip (Brendan Fraser), who is hired as the “token white guy” at a Tokyo agency called Rental Family.

Podcast

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

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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