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May 08, 2025
 

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TRADE

The crude oil tanker New Odyssey arrives at the port in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong province on April 15. The U.S. has issued new sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports, including against a China-based independent oil refinery.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2025
U.S. issues new sanctions targeting Chinese importers of Iranian oil
The move comes as Washington seeks to ramp up pressure on Iran as it reentered talks with Tehran over its nuclear program this month.
A drone view shows a cargo ship at Kwai Tsing Container Terminals in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 17, 2025
U.S. looks to box in China by recruiting other trading partners
Washington is set to ask nations to limit Beijing’s might when they negotiate tariffs.
Bottles of Hakkaisan-brand sake for export
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2025
U.S. tariffs overshadow Japan's agriculture and food exports
Japanese goods need to be sold by "emphasizing that there are no alternatives" to them, said Kazuhito Yamashita, senior researcher at the Canon Institute for Global Strategies.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday in Washington.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 16, 2025
Trump calls the U.S.-Japan alliance ‘one-sided.’ Tokyo says otherwise.
Some observers believe the U.S. president’s worldview is stuck in the 1980s, a time when trade deficits with Japan captured the attention of U.S. policymakers.
Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, responds to a question at Haneda Airport in Tokyo ahead of his visit to the United States on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 16, 2025
Akazawa, Japan’s tariff czar, jets to Washington for mission impossible 
Tokyo realizes that achieving a satisfactory meeting of the minds with Washington will be a real challenge.
Stacked parcels are seen as an employee stands at a service counter at a post office in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 16, 2025
Hong Kong postal service halts U.S. parcels over tariff ‘bullying'
The move comes as Trump’s tariff offensive on China increasingly affects the former British colony.
Samples of rare earth minerals on display at the Molycorp Mountain Pass Rare Earth facility in California in 2015
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2025
Seven rare earth metals that China is weaponizing against the U.S.
China’s dominance of both mining and processing rare earth minerals means these niche metals have become a cudgel to use against opponents.
Facing a new round of U.S. tariffs, China may devalue the yuan — possibly by as much as 20% — if fiscal stimulus falls short, risking a global currency war as it fights to meet its growth target.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025
When will China start to devalue the yuan?
One way to think about China’s currency policy is its fiscal stance. Unless Beijing brings out the stimulus bazooka, devaluing the yuan might be the most expedient option.
The Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China, on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 16, 2025
Ground zero of China trade boom reckons with decoupling from U.S.
"The China-U.S. relation is beyond salvation — this change of gears is irreversible,” said the China director at a political risk consultancy.
A Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) logo is displayed on a wall in Hsinchu, Taiwan, on Tuesday. A recent rout saw TSMC’s forward price-to-earnings ratio hit a two-year low at one point.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 16, 2025
TSMC and ASML outlooks to reveal depth of tariff pain and AI angst
Both have borne the brunt of a broader market selloff, weighed down by both U.S. tariff threats and doubts over future AI demand.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent a delegation to Washington for high-stakes tariff talks, as other nations watch to see if Tokyo can secure favorable terms from the Trump administration.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025
If Japan can’t get a good trade deal, can anyone?
The Asian nation is the canary in the tariff coal mine. If it can’t secure a good deal, there’s little hope for others.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) speaks to Communist Party of Vietnam chief To Lam in Hanoi on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 16, 2025
Xi’s visit shows Vietnam’s balancing act amid looming U.S. tariffs
Hanoi’s initial silence on the Chinese president's request to jointly oppose "unilateral bullying” shows its attempt to walk a tightrope between the two powers.
Recently, private companies have sharply increased rice imports while paying high tariffs, against the backdrop of shortages of rice as a staple food.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2025
Finance Ministry calls for increasing tariff-free rice imports
Recently, private companies have sharply increased rice imports while paying high tariffs, against the backdrop of shortages of rice as a staple food.
The U.S. Commerce Department has begun investigating how semiconductors and pharmaceuticals impact national security.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2025
Trump initiates chips and drug probes, ahead of more tariffs
The moves, announced Monday in the Federal Register, are a precursor to imposing tariffs and threaten to broaden the president’s sweeping U.S. trade war.
The trade war is ratcheting up tensions between Beijing and Washington. Taipei needs to be more prepared. 
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 15, 2025
Taiwan is under siege with or without tariffs
Taiwan must urgently strengthen defenses and unite politically to counter rising threats from China, despite Trump’s trade war.
Toyota and Lexus cars and sport utility vehicles unloaded from car carrier ships to the Toyota Logistics Services automotive processing terminal at the Port of Long Beach in Long Beach, California, on Thursday
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2025
Trump floats temporary reprieve for autos as parts tariffs loom
The president said he is exploring exemptions to his tariffs on imported vehicles and parts to give auto companies more time to set up manufacturing in the U.S.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping shakes hands with Vietnam's National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, in Hanoi on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 15, 2025
Xi urges Vietnam to join China in opposing ‘unilateral bullying’
The two countries signed a total of 45 deals covering areas including connectivity, AI, customs inspection, agricultural trade, culture and sports, among others.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore during an interview in Tokyo. The governor is in Japan on a four-day trade and investment mission.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 14, 2025
Maryland governor talks trains and trade while in Japan
Gov. Wes Moore said he believes the Northeast Maglev — which may use technology from Japan — could transform the region's economy.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping waves as he arrives for a two-day state visit at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 14, 2025
Xi seeks to win with Southeast Asia trip as Trump pauses some tariffs
Xi arrived in Vietnam on Monday and was due to visit Malaysia and Cambodia later this week, just days after Trump raised tariffs on China but gave everyone else a 90-day pause.
The Trump administration, in a desperate bid to cushion trade war inflation, is pushing for cheap oil, but $50-a-barrel will ultimately widen the very trade deficit the U.S. president wants to reduce.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025
$50-a-barrel oil is a problem for the U.S. trade deficit
If oil prices fall to $50, under that scenario, total petroleum production in America will probably decline by 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2025.
India strikes Pakistan over Kashmir tourist killings
Indian paramilitary personnel stand guard along a road in Srinagar on Wednesday after New Delhi launched missile strikes on archrival Pakistan in a major escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
About 30% of those in de facto marriages refuse to marry over surname change
A survey by a private group found that 30% of people in de facto marriages in Japan have not filed for marriage registration because they or their partners do not want to change their surnames.
Japan's 'ice age' employment generation is at risk of poverty during retirement
Those who entered the job market from around 1993 to 2004, when long-term stagnation started, are likely to struggle even more to make ends meet after retirement.
Driver arrested at scene of Yokosuka crash that injured eight
A 31-year-old man was taken into custody on Monday on suspicion of drunken driving after he caused a multivehicle crash in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Emperor emeritus is hospitalized for a heart exam
Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko stroll in the garden of Nikko Tamozawa Imperial Villa Memorial Park in the city of Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, on May 28, 2024.
Former sekiwake Toyonoshima is new head coach at innovative women’s club
Former sekiwake Toyonoshima and Airi Hisano train at Tachihi Sumo Club on May 1.
The drive for luxury: Aston Martin Asia's president explains the desire for more
While for Aston Martin, it’s all about delivering luxury, their regional president for Asia Gregory Adams' start in the auto industry in Japan was far more humble.
Why are rice prices still high in Japan?
Amid shortages, the price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice during the week of April 14 was ¥4,220.
Plug and Play wants to help Japanese startups go global
Phillip Vincent (right), Japan CEO of Plug and Play, and Ma Jingqian, head of ventures, at Plug and Play's Tokyo office, last month
Kotomi Li: 'I refuse to choose death'
Since 2017, Kotomi Li has won some of Japan’s top literary awards and built a formidable career in the face of persistent online harassment. “Authors are tenacious creatures to begin with,” she says.

Podcast

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

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan
By Hanako Lowry

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