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February 23, 2025
 

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BUDGETS

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in parliament on Friday
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 21, 2025
LDP and opposition lock horns over Japan budget
Mindful of how much the ruling coalition needs their support, Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Democratic Party for the People are digging their heels in.
Prime Minister Shiger Ishiba waits for the Lower House Budget Committee session to begin in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 20, 2025
Dispute over funds scandal questioning delays budget talks as CDP seeks leverage
Veering off schedule, even for a day, is detrimental to securing passage of the fiscal 2025 budget in the Lower House by March 2 — a priority for the government.
DPP tax chair Motohisa Furukawa speaks during a meeting of the party's tax committee in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2025
Debate over income tax threshold reform hits roadblock with new LDP proposal
Neither Komeito, the ruling coalition's junior partner, nor the opposition Democratic Party for the People supported the LDP's new income tax plan.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba replies to Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara at a Lower House budget committee session in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
Government makes slow progress on budget concessions
Opposition parties are making known their policy demands, and even seeking legal guarantees, in return for their support in passing the budget for fiscal 2025.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda says that his party aims to revise the budget for fiscal 2025 by a scale of ¥1 trillion ($6.6 billion).
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 18, 2025
CDP may not approve fiscal 2025 draft budget, Noda says
Its approval depends on how far the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling coalition accepts the opposition party's proposed amendments.
Opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Seiji Maehara suggested his party would accept postponing to fiscal 2026 the abolition of the income cap on financial aid for households with students attending private high schools.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 17, 2025
Nippon Ishin to accept fiscal year 2026 income cap abolition for tuition aid
Making education free is one of Nippon Ishin's conditions for supporting the fiscal 2025 state budget bill.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a session of parliament on Thursday afternoon.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 14, 2025
Budget talks intensify between ruling coalition and opposition parties
The minority government is looking to pass its budget by March 2 to give Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba some breathing room.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba talks with executives of his Liberal Democratic Party in the parliament building in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 11, 2025
Japan's ruling-opposition talks reach a critical point
For its enactment by the end of March, the fiscal 2025 budget bill needs to clear the Lower House on March 2, at the latest.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 10, 2025
Ishiba builds inroads with Trump, but challenges still loom
Ishiba won praise for his deft handling of Trump, squelching critics’ predictions that the president would walk all over the bookish Japanese leader.
Rapidus, which is expected to begin pilot production of chips in April and achieve mass production in 2027, is the cornerstone of the government’s effort to revive its domestic semiconductor industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2025
Cabinet approves bill to fund Rapidus semiconductor production
Rapidus is the cornerstone of the government’s effort to revive its domestic semiconductor industry.
While the ruling minority government’s weakened position has emboldened opposition parties to push for more spending across multiple policy fronts, the International Monetary Fund has warned there is limited space today in Japan to address the risks of natural disasters and mounting social security costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 7, 2025
Japan needs immediate deficit cut to fix fiscal path, IMF warns
The government needs to prepare now to avoid negative surprises four or five years down the road, the IMF’s Japan mission chief says.
The ruling coalition has put forward a plan to make public school tuition free, with costs of up to ¥118,800 yearly subsidized for all families regardless of income.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 6, 2025
Recent talks on education funding for all might be missing the point
As the government works to pass its budget without a majority, the issue of free education for all has become key to negotiations for support in parliament.
A farm laborer stands next to sacks filled with harvested potatoes at a field in Subhri village, in the northern state of Haryana, India, on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 3, 2025
In first budget of third term, Modi puts short-term tax cuts above deep reforms
But the year's top economic policy event passed up a chance to go big on reforms needed to reignite rapid growth — once the envy of the world at more than 8%.
Yoshihiko Noda, the head of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, attends a news conference last week.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 2, 2025
CDP to present 'full package' of budget revisions in mid-February
The opposition party's upcoming revisions will include a gasoline tax cut, free school lunches and tuition-free high school education regardless of parents' income levels.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions during a Lower House budget committee meeting on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 31, 2025
LDP gets a taste of life with an opposition-led budget committee
A move to summon a former LDP faction accountant risks upsetting the party's parliamentary timetable and exposing it to criticism.
Nippon Ishin no Kai leaders Hirofumi Yoshimura (left) and Seiji Maehara attend the party's executive meeting in the city of Osaka in December.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 30, 2025
Shared concerns could bring LDP and Nippon Ishin together on 2025 budget
Nippon Ishin's challenge is to get the LDP to secure free high school education and ensure support for the financially troubled Osaka Kansai Expo.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba answers questions during a Lower House plenary session on Monday. Ishiba needs to secure passage of the annual budget to demonstrate he can run policy effectively with his minority government.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 28, 2025
Japan's opposition DPP to block budget without higher tax allowance
The ruling LDP and Komeito are also negotiating with Nippon Ishin no Kai, who want the government to make school education free for all students.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato holds a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in October last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
Finance chief vows to balance economic revival and fiscal consolidation
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato highlighted the need to improve Japan's fiscal health, which is the worst among major countries.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo in May 2019.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 19, 2025
As Trump returns, will Japan be able to weather the storm?
Tokyo may be surprisingly more suited to work with Trump — and beat back any exorbitant demands — than it was during his first stint.
Japan’s primary balance is once again set to miss its long-standing target of achieving a balanced budget by the year ending March 2026.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2025
Japan now expects to miss its 2025 primary balance goal
The primary balance, which excludes interest payments on public debt, is projected to remain in the red with a deficit of around ¥4.5 trillion.
Japan's Prince Hisahito to hold first news conference on March 3
Prince Hisahito heads to greet the Emperor and Empress on the occasion of his 18th birthday in Tokyo on Sep. 6.
Special website created 30 years after Tokyo subway sarin attack
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1995 sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system by Aum Shinrikyo, the Public Security Intelligence Agency launched a special website Friday.
LDP and opposition lock horns over Japan budget
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in parliament on Friday
Japanese nationals returned from Myanmar as scam probe continues
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were allegedly trafficked into working in Myanmar and were sent to Thailand on Feb. 12 amid a mounting crackdown on scam centers operating along a porous border, queue to get food at a shelter in Tak province, Thailand, on Wednesday.
Over 80% of Japanese say death penalty system is 'unavoidable'
Former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata (left) and his sister, Hideko, attend a gathering of his supporters after his acquittal in a retrial over a 1966 murder case was finalized in October last year.
As Ukraine rift emerges, Kyiv's envoy says Japan must take on bigger global role
Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky speaks during an interview at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo on Monday.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown ready to sprint past Paris disappointment
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (center) runs during a 100-meter heat at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3, 2024.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).

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