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April 01, 2025
 

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ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Japanese stocks declined on Monday as auto and electronics shares were hit hard.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 31, 2025
Japanese stocks fall about 4% ahead of Trump's 'Liberation Day'
Traders and analysts are expecting a week of volatility as the U.S. tariff situation becomes clearer and waivers, if any, are granted.
Factory output in February marked the fastest gain since March last year thanks to strong demand before the U.S. implements new tariffs on autos and auto parts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 31, 2025
Japan production rises most in 11 months ahead of new U.S. tariffs
Factory output increased in February by 2.5% from January, the first advance in four months and marking the fastest gain since March last year.
According to the internal affairs ministry on Friday, consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.4% in March from a year earlier as inflation in processed food accelerated.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 28, 2025
Tokyo inflation exceeds forecasts, keeping BOJ on rate hike path
The leading indicator for nationwide inflation is likely to keep BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda mulling over the right timing for further rate hikes.
A survey of 12,817 companies by Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute found that only 51% committed to base wage hikes, the think tank announced on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2025
Japan’s wage growth isn’t as rosy as Rengo’s data indicate
The broader picture for pay trends may not be as rosy as the union group expects, according to one think tank.
A kitchenware recycling team collects equipment at a closed hotpot restaurant in Beijing last month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 22, 2025
China's restaurants race to the bottom in deflation-hit economy
A restaurant in China has an average lifespan of just about 500 days, analysts say, falling to as low as a year in Beijing.
Citizens’ holdings of cash in the three months ended in December was down 3.4% from a year earlier in the biggest drop in the data going back to 1998.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025
Japan’s households slash cash at record pace as inflation bites
The decline mostly likely reflects the wider adoption of cashless consumption as well as a rise in nominal consumer spending due to inflation.
While headline inflation cooled in February, underlying price pressure remains steady, raising concerns for households as real wages remain stagnant.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025
Japan’s inflation slows less than expected, backing BOJ hikes
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.0% from a year ago in February, decelerating from a 3.2% pace in January.
Japan's shipments abroad have advanced in the first two months of this year, as Japanese companies brace for the rollout of higher tariffs in the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2025
Japan’s exports rose more quickly in February ahead of Trump tariffs
Global trade flows face potential major disruptions as the U.S. continues to escalate its tariff campaign, targeting nations where Japanese carmakers have manufacturing bases.
One year on from the Bank of Japan's historic rate hike, the biggest winners are the banks.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 17, 2025
Banks boom and shoppers scrimp a year after Japan’s rate pivot
Higher borrowing costs are also fueling a political battle over how the government can rein in its outlays.
The gloom is a sign of just how much U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, particularly around trade, have rattled Wall Street nerves.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 14, 2025
Stocks tumble into correction as Trump policies roil sentiment
The gloom is a sign of just how much U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies, particularly around trade, have rattled Wall Street nerves.
Japan's economy expanded in the October-December quarter at a slower pace than earlier reported as consumption came in weaker than expected.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 11, 2025
Japan’s economic growth revised lower ahead of BOJ meet
The revised figures highlight pockets of weakness in the Japanese economy even as it continues to moderately expand.
Japan logged a deficit of ¥257.6 billion in the current account, a measure of trade and investment flows, compared with a surplus of ¥334.3 billion a year before, according to the Finance Ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 10, 2025
Japan logs its first current account deficit in two years in January
The nation logged a deficit of ¥257.6 billion in the current account compared with a surplus of ¥334.3 billion a year before.
Qianmen street, Beijing, in March 2023. Though the immediate shock has passed, COVID-19's legacy continues to reshape global economies and markets.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2025
Five years on, the economic impact of COVID-19 lingers
Though the immediate shock has passed, COVID-19's legacy continues to reshape global economies and markets.
The weighted average of wage hikes demanded by 2,939 member unions of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, in this year's shuntō labor-management negotiations came to 6.09%, a Rengo survey showed Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 6, 2025
Japan pay hike demands top 6% for first time in 32 years
It is the first time in 32 years for the average wage hike request to exceed 6%, amid the soaring cost of living and labor shortages.
Tariffs and trade uncertainty are causing the U.S. economy to lose steam, and companies more vulnerable to slower growth are starting to show the cracks.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 6, 2025
Investors spy the dawn of a tectonic shift away from U.S. markets
For most of the last three years, investors had bet on "U.S. exceptionalism," with the country ahead of others in economic growth, stock prices and AI.
The Auckland skyline at sunset in 2023. New Zealand's economy was the worst performing in the developed world last year, according to HSBC.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 4, 2025
New Zealand's economic missteps hasten exodus to sunnier shores
A total of 128,700 people permanently left the Pacific nation of 5.3 million in 2024, provisionally the largest exodus on record.
Shoppers walk through a shopping area in Shanghai. China's household spending is less than 40% of annual economic output, some 20 percentage points below the global average.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Mar 1, 2025
China urged to think big, go hard on reviving battered consumption
With China's consumer support focusing on subsidies rather than reforms, pressure is growing on Beijing for policies with a longer-term impact.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital rose 2.2% in February from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 28, 2025
Tokyo inflation slows slightly more than expected on subsidy impact
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital rose 2.2% in February from a year earlier, according to the internal affairs ministry.
Japanese nominal wages rose at the fastest pace in nearly three decades according to data out this month, and GDP figures showed Japan’s economy outperformed forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 27, 2025
Yen traders raise focus on Japanese data as economy shifts gears
The news marks a mindset change since the Bank of Japan ended its negative-rates policy last March.
Economic pessimism is rife in the U.K., with households looking to cut their expenses,
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 23, 2025
The reluctant British consumer is a problem for Keir Starmer
Pessimism is rife and households are looking to cut expenses as fear rises over inflation and job losses.
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

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