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April 03, 2025
 

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ECONOMY

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 4, 2025
Meiji Yasuda girds to be more daring in global M&A hunt
The firm’s ambitions reflect bold moves also being made by many of its local rivals, all hunting for growth outside of the country.
People pray on the first day of the new year at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Japan’s economy is set for modest growth in 2025 supported by wage increases and stimulus, but faces risks from political instability and global challenges.
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2025
Hope for the economy in 2025, but dangers loom
Political uncertainty at home and a tumultuous international environment pose real risks for the nation’s economy.
With the continued wage and price hikes, the Japanese economy will likely grow steadily in fiscal 2025 that will start in April, according to some private think tanks.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jan 2, 2025
Economists see continued rise in Japan's wages and prices in fiscal '25
Uncertainty surrounding the impact of policies under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump are seen as a key risk factor.
After a dramatic 2024, where Japan saw political upheaval, a record stock market, a major quake and a plane crash and dramatic escape, 2025, with events like major anime sequels, the Osaka World Expo, rising foreign acquisitions, we should expect a transformative year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 2, 2025
Anime, M&A and the expo: What to watch for in Japan’s 2025
No doubt 2025 has more surprises in store for Japan after an unusually intense 12 months.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks at a news conference after a policy meeting in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 1, 2025
After historic year, the Bank of Japan ambles into 2025
Two or three rate hikes expected this year could take the central bank's benchmark to 1% for the first time in three decades.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington on Nov. 13.
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Dec 31, 2024
Will the second Trump boom go bust?
Trump is inheriting a strong economy, but he faces a more challenging economic landscape than he did in his first term.
A stack of ¥10,000 bills equivalent to the year-end balance of banknotes in circulation would be 1,240 kilometers high, or about 328 times higher than the 3,776-meter Mount Fuji.
BUSINESS
Dec 31, 2024
Japan's year-end banknote balance down for second straight year
The drop resulted from people increasingly opting for cashless payments.
A monitor in Tokyo shows the Nikkei stock average closing at its best year-end level ever, topping the previous high marked in 1989.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 30, 2024
Japan's Nikkei ends 2024 with nearly 20% rise
At 39,894.54, the benchmark index finished at its best year-end level ever, topping the previous high from the end of 1989 at the height of the country's bubble economy.
An advertisement in Tokyo's Kabukicho, Japan's largest red-light district. The country is home to a thriving adult entertainment industry and has recently seen a boom in sex tourism fueled by the weak yen and availability of red-light services.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2024
From geisha to oshikatsu, toxic tropes fuel sex industry
It isn't only the foreign gaze that produces stereotypes of Japanese women as submissive and promiscuous. Local laws and cultural norms play just as important a role.
The next 12 months will be more challenging, with some countries pursuing quick interest-rate cuts while others will proceed cautiously.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2024
A view to 2025: Enough with the central bank hawks and doves
Interest-rate cuts will be a feature, including at institutions that resisted easing in 2024. But mind the nuances.
Cabinet ministers at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2024
Japan's Cabinet approves ¥115.5 trillion budget
The proposal exceeded ¥110 trillion for the third consecutive year in order to increase spending on defense and social welfare costs.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo following a BOJ policy meeting on Dec. 19
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 27, 2024
Some BOJ policymakers called for rate hike soon, December summary shows
The Bank of Japan held interest rates steady at 0.25% at this month's meeting.
Inflation in Tokyo accelerated for a second month in December, as the government temporarily phased out utility subsidies, a result that will likely support expectations of an interest rate hike next year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 27, 2024
Inflation in Tokyo accelerates, keeping rate hike prospects intact
The Tokyo core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food costs, rose 2.4% in December from a year earlier.
One problem with assessments of China’s economic health is that they tend to treat China like a “normal” modern economy, and assume that policy tools familiar to Western economies are similarly useful.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2024
China’s economy has not peaked
What happens to the world economy and global geopolitics in 2025 will depend significantly on China. But prevailing assessments of its economic health are deeply flawed.
According to Teikoku Databank, January price markups will center on bread products.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2024
Prices of 1,380 food items set to rise in Japan in January
According to a private research firm, January markups will center on bread products.
The Japanese economy is expected to grow 1.2% in fiscal 2025 in price-adjusted real terms, according to a government forecast.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2024
Japan's government expects 1.2% economic growth for fiscal 2025
The government maintained its view that personal consumption will be solid thanks to stable inflation and the effects of its economic package.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at the meeting of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy on Thursday at the Prime Minister's Office.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2024
Japan wage growth projected to outpace inflation in fiscal 2025
In fiscal 2025, nominal wages are projected to increase 2.8% from the previous year, while the overall consumer price index is forecast to rise 2.0%.
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Type 10 main battle tank fires ammunition during a live fire exercise at the JGSDF's training grounds in the East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 26, 2024
Japan set to approve record budget, spending more on defense and regions
While the government will have to lean heavily on debt issuance, record tax receipts will enable the cutting back of fresh bond issuance by almost a fifth.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda appears to want to keep his options open by noting the need to keep rates low to support the economy while flagging the risk of maintaining them at low levels for too long.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 25, 2024
Ueda avoids giving clear hint on chances of January rate hike
The Bank of Japan governor is sticking to his view that the central bank needs to keep monitoring risks for the economy.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House in October 2017. Canada, like other nations in the president-elect's crosshairs, is scrambling to blunt the impact of his threat to implement steep tariffs once he re-takes office.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2024
The creep of national security threatens the WTO
In Trump's mind, tariffs are the cure-all for virtually everything that ails the United States.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
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.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
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
The U.S. says Japan has a 700% tariff on American rice. Is that the case?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds up a piece of paper with information about tariff rates at the White House on Tuesday.
Meiji says sayonara to bottled milk, a staple of Japan's bathhouses
Meiji bottled milk lined up in a fridge at Kosugiyu, a bathhouse in Tokyo. The sticker urges patrons to enjoy the milk one last time before it’s gone.
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.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.
No longer a 'bridesmaid': Yuki Tsunoda prepares for the Red Bull pressure cooker
All eyes will be on Yuki Tsunoda as he makes his Red Bull debut at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend.
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.

Podcast

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

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
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