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November 22, 2025
 

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TRADE

Japan's exports measured by value gained 3.9% in March from a year earlier, slower than estimated.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 17, 2025
Japan’s exports rise at slower pace as Trump tariffs begin
The outlook for Japan's economy appears increasingly uncertain as Trump deepens his tariff campaign, prompting nations like China to retaliate.
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.
Economists fail to understand that Donald Trump's tariff policy is part of a broader strategy to prepare the U.S. for long-term competition with China, driven by national security concerns rather than traditional economic or trade policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 17, 2025
What economists 'don’t get' about Trump tariffs
My view is that the U.S. has started to prepare seriously for a long-term competition with China for global dominance.
Hyundai Motor vehicles bound for export are loaded aboard a cargo ship at the port in Ulsan, South Korea, in July 2015.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 17, 2025
Can Trump’s tariffs restore U.S. manufacturing?
Rather than encouraging foreign direct investment in local manufacturing, Trump’s tariffs are deterring it.
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.
ASEAN should use the 90-day pause on Donald Trump’s punishingly high tariffs to develop a unified position and broaden its membership by admitting East Timor and opening accession talks with Sri Lanka.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 16, 2025
ASEAN should expand to counter Trump’s tariffs
It came as no surprise that China would be the hardest hit, but the punishing duties imposed on most Asian countries were a profound shock.
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.
Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs have dealt a blow to U.S. credibility and the greenback. It’s a bigger leap to project the currency's demise.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 16, 2025
King dollar’s reign looks secure — for now
The greenback survived Trump's first term at the pinnacle and will likely endure his second.
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.
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

Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo” was released Nov. 23, 1985, and though it wasn’t a hit at the time, it has gained a cult following in the years since.
Eat, slurp, love: 'Tampopo' turns 40
By Weiwen Lin

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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