Tag - economy

 
Menu
Search
 
March 29, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

ECONOMY

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.
A worker arranges cases of avocados at a packaging facility in Mexico on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will follow through next month on twice-delayed plans to impose 25% levies on goods from Mexico as well as Canada.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025
Trump trade upheaval leaves foreign central banks guessing
The stagflationary direction noted of the U.S. outlook has central banks across the globe parsing what the fallout may mean for them.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 20, 2025
Powell downplays growing risks, sees tariff impact as transitory
His use of the word "transitory” was surprising because the Fed employed the same word when inflation exploded following the onset of COVID-19.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference in January in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2025
Bank of Japan holds steady at 0.5% as trade war escalates and inflation rises
The move was widely expected, with economists unanimous in seeing back-to-back rate increases as unlikely from the central bank, which made one in January.
The number of foreign visitors to Japan exceeded 3 million in February, the first time for the month.
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2025
Japan records 3.25 million visitors in February
The number shot up 16.9% from a year before, boosted mainly by an increase in travelers from China during the Lunar New Year holiday period.
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.
Behind Mixue’s growth is an army of franchisees. The company barely manages any stores itself. Rather, almost all of its revenue came from selling store supplies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 19, 2025
How to make billions selling $1 lemonade
Behind Mixue’s growth is an army of franchisees. The company barely manages any stores itself. Rather, almost all of its revenue came from selling store supplies.
A crowd of tourists at Nishiki Market in the city of Kyoto. Gains in land prices have been helped by a surge in inbound tourism, which has boosted demand for hotels and shops.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 18, 2025
Japan's land prices rise at strongest pace in 34 years, government survey shows
Data shows recovery spreading to regional areas, thanks to sustained economic growth, in the latest sign of a pickup in the property market.
Despite recent market volatility and trade tariff concerns, Japan continues to see fund launches as global investors are drawn to its stock market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 18, 2025
Hong Kong hedge fund Polymer joins rush to debut pure Japan funds, sources say
The move will see the heavyweight joining a wave of fund launches in Japan.
A vendor shouts out his price for lettuce in a market in Beijing on March 9. Consumer prices in China fell last month for the first time in a year, with authorities in the world's second-largest economy struggling to kick-start spending and trade headwinds intensifying as U.S. tariffs kick in under U.S. President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 18, 2025
Global stock markets rise as China outlines plan to boost consumer spending
Beijing plans to raise income with property reforms, stabilize the stock market and encourage lenders to provide more consumption loans.
By promoting healthier aging through measures to extend workforce participation, increase social engagement and improve health care systems, Asia’s policymakers could create a “silver demographic dividend” that helps to sustain the region’s economic dynamism.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 17, 2025
Reaping Asia’s silver demographic dividend
Concerns that older workers are not as productive as their younger counterparts are overblown.
Bank of Japan headquarters building in February. In January, the BOJ voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25%, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 17, 2025
Bank of Japan unlikely to raise rates this week as trade war intensifies
The central bank voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25% in January, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
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.
According to the ministry, Japan has about 4,500 companies with annual sales of ¥10 billion or more. But many of them are concentrated in metropolitan areas.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 15, 2025
Japan to invite small businesses to declare ¥10 billion sales targets
The country has about 4,500 companies with annual sales of ¥10 billion or more, but many of them are concentrated in metropolitan areas.
The Nikkei stock average on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Many firms on the TSE have price-to-book ratios of less than 1, lowering the perceived quality of the exchange, which should consider taking steps to increase valuations and trading volume.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 14, 2025
Tokyo Stock Exchange must weed out underperforming firms
Tokyo wants to become Asia's top financial hub, but faces big obstacles. Among them, the presence of too many companies with low profitability and growth prospects.
A worker keeps a tally of wages Wednesday in Tokyo at the head office of UA Zensen, Japan's largest industrial trade union that represents workers mostly at small and medium-sized firms.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 14, 2025
Japan’s unions win largest pay hike in more than three decades
Some 760 affiliated unions under the trade union federation Rengo have so far secured an average pay gain of 5.46% in ongoing annual wage negotiations.
Toyota vehicles are loaded onto a ship at the Port of Nagoya in June last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 13, 2025
Concerns grow over possible U.S. tariffs on Japan's auto sector
U.S. President Donald Trump has pointed out that the U.S. is importing a "very big" amount of Japanese cars while other countries are not really buying American cars.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda has indicated he has little problem with the recent rising yield trend.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2025
Shift in BOJ stance favors free market functioning over intervention
People familiar with the central bank's policy approach say the market should decide rates, and that investors need to get used to a world without yield curve control.
A worker inspects a steel coil on the factory floor before Canada's Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney visits the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel mill in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 13, 2025
Trump threatens further tariffs as EU and Canada retaliate against U.S. levies
The U.S. tariffs have rattled investor, consumer and business confidence and raised recession fears.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Massive quake kills at least 150 in Myanmar and Thailand
Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
Student 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.
Tourist submarine sinks in Red Sea of Egypt, leaving 6 people dead
The interior of a Sindbad submarine vessel at sea off Hurghada, Egypt, in August 2024, in this still image obtained from video.
Yellow sand blankets cities across Japan
The Meteorological Agency forecast the yellow sand to move away from eastern Honshu by 6 p.m. on Wednesday. But it will continue to cover parts of western Honshu and Shikoku until Thursday morning, it said.
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.
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.

Podcast

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

Longform

The sun shines from behind a waving Philippine flag at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.
Eighty years after the Battle of Manila, old foes forge new ties
By Anton L. Delgado

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Cainz enriches lives and communities through DIY
Cainz enriches lives and communities through DIY

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER