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January 22, 2025
 

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Elizabeth Beattie
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda is still signaling caution ahead of the central bank's January meeting.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 21, 2025
BOJ likely to raise rates this week in absence of immediate Trump tariffs
The possibility is "quite high" if markets remain calm following Trump's inauguration on Monday as the 47th president of the United States.
U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Braddock, Pennsylvannia, in 2019. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel face significant legal challenges in their case against the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 15, 2025
Nippon Steel’s case against Biden probably unwinnable, attorneys argue
A U.S. president's rejection of a deal following review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has only been successfully challenged once.
A brewer stirs the mix for making sake at a brewery in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 3, 2025
Brooklyn brewers take on sake, America's new hip tipple
The ancient Japanese drink, which has been exported to the United States for at least a century, is being increasingly localized.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left), Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe (second from left) and Takao Kato, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, hold a news conference on merger talks on Monday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 23, 2024
Honda-Nissan megamerger in the works
Both carmakers are facing overcapacity and the need for huge investments related to electric-vehicle and self-driving technologies.
Dining habits have changed since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, with alcohol consumption experiencing a drop.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 9, 2024
Hundreds of izakaya going bust as prices rise and customers change
In the first 11 months of this year, 203 of these establishments went out of business, more than the entire year of 2020 when COVID-19 became a pandemic.
A screen displays market data at Hana Bank in Seoul on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 4, 2024
Yoon’s gambit a tempest in a teapot for financial markets
Tokyo stocks opened flat and the yen was little changed from a day earlier, when the South Korean president declared martial law in a late-night address.
Female company presidents are mostly found at small businesses in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 2, 2024
8.4% of Japanese companies led by women in 2024
Female presidents tend to be found at smaller companies, with 11.9% of companies with less than ¥50 million in annual sales having a female boss.
SoftBank is unhappy that Moody's continues to issue ratings on the company.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2024
SoftBank blasts Moody’s for unsolicited ratings
It says it is considering legal action against the agency, which has continued to publish unsolicited ratings of the company over the past several years.
Packages move along a conveyor belt at an Amazon warehouse
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2024
Japan investigating Amazon for allegedly bullying other businesses
Tactics allegedly employed by the retailer involve the squeezing of business partners in exchange for visibility.
According to Similarweb, average monthly user numbers for Bluesky on Android in Japan quintupled in the 12 months to October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 25, 2024
Bluesky is booming in Japan — mainly for reasons other than U.S. politics
Average monthly user numbers for Bluesky on Android in Japan quintupled in the 12 months to October, while figures for X were down over that time.
Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, California. Replicas of the giant doughnut sculpture will be installed, where possible, at shops in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 24, 2024
An iconic 32-foot doughnut might give Randy’s an edge in Japan
The doughnut had a cameo in “2012,” where it is seen rolling down the street as an enduring symbol of end-time. Now the brand looks to tackle the tough Japanese market.
An infrastructure project in the city of Mumbai. The International Monetary Fund forecasts 7.0% growth for India in 2024 and 6.5% in 2025, compared with 0.3% growth for Japan this year and 1.1% next year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 12, 2024
India set to overtake Japan in GDP rankings
Economic stagnation and a weak yen could take Japan's economy to fifth place globally as early as next year.
Japanese exporters could be hit by higher U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 11, 2024
Trump tariffs could have a significant impact on Japanese exports
The U.S. president-elect has promised 10% to 20% duties on all goods coming into the United States.
Tokyo stocks rallied on Wednesday as ballots were counted in the U.S. presidential election.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 6, 2024
Tokyo stocks rally and yen falls as Trump nears election win
The 225-issue Nikkei stock average rose 2.61% on the day while the yen fell 1.6% against the dollar as it became increasingly apparent that Donald Trump would likely win.
A perfect storm of political uncertainty at home and abroad is brewing for markets in Japan.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 1, 2024
Investors in Japan place — and hedge — their bets ahead of U.S. election
Donald Trump's lead in U.S. battleground-state polls, coupled with the outcome of Sunday's Lower House election, is fueling bets on the dollar against the yen.
Gov. Kazuo Ueda has made it clear over the past few months that any monetary policy moves are dependent on inflation and growth data being aligned with forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2024
Bank of Japan keeps policy rate steady at 0.25%, as expected
The central bank held its ground this week even as it faced considerable political and economic pressure and significant uncertainty on the horizon.
After a two-day meeting of the Bank of Japan policy board ends on Thursday, Gov. Kazuo Ueda is likely to stick to the script and repeat almost verbatim his previous remarks.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 30, 2024
Bank of Japan set to stay course with Ueda seen sticking to script
Deviations from expectations in the statement could have an impact on markets, analysts say.
People from Thailand look at used smartphones in Tokyo's Akihabara district in October 2022.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 23, 2024
Japan's secondhand smartphone market booms as households struggle
Sales of used goods in Japan have grown rapidly as households struggle to make ends meet.
Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of Mt. Gox, speaks at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on Oct. 11.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 21, 2024
The unsinkable Mark Karpeles is willing to give Tokyo another shot
The former CEO of Mt. Gox, which once processed the majority of bitcoin transactions globally before it blew up in 2014, is looking to set up shop in Japan again.
Traders borrow in currencies where rates are low and put that money to work in economies where rates are high, pocketing the difference.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Oct 2, 2024
Massive carry trade still lurks in the shadows and looms over markets
Trillions might remain, slightly different, less obvious and all but forgotten by a market eager to move on.
Trump pledges to save U.S. from 'decline,' vowing new 'golden age'
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
Cedar pollen is already in the air in Tokyo
Climate change and urbanization are believed to have contributed to the earliest ever observation of cedar pollen in Tokyo, on Jan. 8, an expert says.
What went wrong at Fuji TV's news conference on allegations against Nakai?
Fuji TV President Koichi Minato speaks at a news conference on Friday in Tokyo.
BOJ likely to raise rates this week in absence of immediate Trump tariffs
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda is still signaling caution ahead of the central bank's January meeting.
Survey finds 80% of people want to take leftover restaurant food home
52.0% of people questioned in a survey said they want to use containers to take leftovers home if they are provided free of charge, and 28.8% showed willingness to use takeout containers whether they are free or not.
Japan looks to learn from the past with bid to build Australian warships
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami frigate, of the class of the same name, is anchored at the MSDF's naval base in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in September 2022.
Amid rising world hunger, a Japan-inspired group in Kenya is making a big impact
Wawira Njiru, the founder of Food4Education, serves food during the opening of a new kitchen in Mombasa County, Kenya, in 2022. The organization started in 2012 by feeding 25 children out of a single kitchen. Now it feeds nearly half a million every day.
From Tokyo to Manhattan, Takuma Watanabe stirs up a stiff drink
It's taken Takuma Watanabe little time to establish himself as one of New York's hottest bartenders.
For tourists in search of seasonal sights, Yamagata makes its case
For some time away from Tokyo's suffocating urban sameness, Yamagata Prefecture is home to a soothing array of natural abundance.
A slow dive into ‘a moment and an eternity’ with Ryuichi Sakamoto
From the mid-2000s onward, Ryuichi Sakamoto created a number of installation works, often in collaboration with Shiro Takatani, of multimedia art collective Dumb Type.

Podcast

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

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go
By Kazuaki Nagata and Richard Meyer

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