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March 31, 2025
 

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ECONOMY

Japan is grappling with a budget shortfall, and while raising the tax-free threshold has sparked political debate, the country's booming tourism industry presents an untapped revenue source.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025
Japan has a revenue hole. Plug it with tourists
More than 35 years after sales tax was first introduced, it remains incredibly unpopular and reducing it is a regular promise of opposition parties.
Globally, women are severely underrepresented among leading roles in cinema, with female directors accounting for just over 10% of the industry in Japan. Achieving gender equality on-set would have far-reaching consequences for the whole of society.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 7, 2025
Without women behind the camera, equality stays out of the frame
Cinema isn't only about what stories are told, but who tells them. Overcoming severe underrepresentation, women are reshaping the film industry and cultural narratives.
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.
Rengo says its member unions have demanded an average wage increase of 6.09% this year, up from last year’s 5.85%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 6, 2025
Japan’s biggest union group demands highest wage hike since 1993
Member unions of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation are seeking an average wage increase of 6.09% this year, up from last year’s 5.85%.
The yield on Japan’s 10-year note climbed 7 basis points to 1.5%, the highest since 2009.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 6, 2025
German bond rout goes global as yields surge in Japan
The yield on Japan’s 10-year note climbed 7 basis points to 1.5%, the highest since 2009.
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.
Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 5, 2025
BOJ’s deputy chief hints at more rate hikes, without rushing
The remarks come as BOJ watchers look for hints that the next upward move could come earlier than the view that projects the move will come in the summer.
The international system led by the United Nations faces challenges such as failing to maintain peace, end corruption and implement reforms, raising concerns of a League of Nations-like collapse.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2025
Transitioning to a new global structure without a League of Nations-style collapse
Like many idealistic efforts throughout history, the League of Nations teetered for years before its final collapse as the end of World War II.
Takeover bids in Japan are expected to reach a record this year amid growing pressure on companies to boost shareholder returns.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 4, 2025
Japan small-cap fund tops rivals with stocks few analysts cover
The NicheJungle Japanese Orphan Companies SDG Fund has exited positions in 20 companies at a profit, with half of these firms taken over since the fund's 2022 launch.
To achieve a stable supply chain and propel semiconductor innovation, Japan's government and chipmakers are increasingly building bridges with foreign firms.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 3, 2025
Japan is no island when it comes to semiconductors. Rightly so.
To achieve a stable supply chain and propel semiconductor innovation, Japan's government and chipmakers are increasingly building bridges with foreign firms.
Kumamon, the official mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture, poses in front of a sign of Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., at TSMC's then new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in February 2024.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 3, 2025
In chip renaissance, Japan is learning from past mistakes
In the 1980s, Japan dominated semiconductor production. Fast-forward to today and the country is trying to recapture its past glory, this time with a more outward-looking strategy.
An electronic sign displays the benchmark Nikkei stock average on a street in Tokyo. The stock average has been range-bound between about 38,000 and 40,000 since hitting a new all-time high in July last year.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Mar 3, 2025
Japanese stocks stalled at 1989 levels as investors weigh tariffs and rates
The 225-issue Nikkei stock average has been range-bound between about 38,000 and 40,000 since hitting a new all-time high in July 2024.
Maersk shipping containers are stored aboard the ‘Albert Maersk’ in Navi Mumbai, India, on Feb. 28.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 3, 2025
U.S. tariffs and easing of Middle East tensions threaten reversal of shipping boom
Global liner rates fell 5.9% sequentially in the week ended Feb. 27, after earlier breaking below $3,000 per 12-meter container for the first time since early May
The higher cost of food is forcing Japanese consumers to scrimp and bargain hunt as their purchasing power drops.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 3, 2025
Japan’s consumers hunt for bargains as food inflation bites
The prices of staples such as rice, eggs and cabbage have all surged in the past 12 months.
Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Mar 3, 2025
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows
Women and young people are leading a migratory wave that the government is struggling to halt.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks to the press in October in Tokyo. Ueda told parliament on Feb. 12 that the central bank is aware that food price increases are negatively affecting households.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 28, 2025
Odds of early rate rise increase as inflation becomes the fight in Japan
Hawkish signals sent by Bank of Japan officials over the past month or so point to such a possibility.
Prices of more than 2,300 food items, such as frozen food products, are expected to be raised in March.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2025
Prices of over 2,300 food items to be raised in Japan in March
The monthly figure is on course to top 2,000 for the first time since October 2024, and the cumulative number in 2025 will exceed 10,000.
An electronic board in Tokyo shows the 225-issue Nikkei average dropping over 1,000 points on Friday morning.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 28, 2025
Asian chip shares tumble on Nvidia earnings and tariff fears
A Bloomberg gauge of 25 Japanese chip-related stocks sank as much as 4.5%, the biggest intraday fall since September.
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.
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.
School-age suicides in Japan hit all-time high
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
In Tokyo, Pentagon chief provides assurances that Japan-U.S. alliance remains robust
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (left) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo ahead of their talks Sunday.
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.

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

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