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November 22, 2024
 

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ECONOMY

Recently, Japan designated Hokkaido Prefecture (including its capital, Sapporo), Fukuoka, Tokyo and Osaka as special zones for financial and asset management businesses. Kumamoto Prefecture was also named a national strategic zone for semiconductors.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 14, 2024
International social infrastructure key to Japan’s high-tech future
Across the globe there is an ongoing search for talent, especially in high-tech sectors, and Japan is no different.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday after the central bank's policy meeting.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 14, 2024
Bank of Japan’s slow-walk on bond buying reduction rattles market
The yen fell over what the market saw as dithering on the central bank's reduction of its massive balance sheet.
Wins by conservative parties and losses by their leftist green opponents in the EU elections reflect broader trends of political polarization and nationalism not only in Europe, but also the world. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 13, 2024
Impact of EU elections on global politics and Japan's foreign policy
Japan is concerned about the rise of right-leaning parties that might undermine support for Ukraine and send signals to revisionist powers like China.
Only 6% of the Japanese workforce is engaged while a third of the workforce is job hunting or looking out for new opportunities, according to a Gallup report.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2024
Despite its hardworking image, Japan might be No. 1 in quiet quitting
Only 6% of the Japanese workforce is engaged, one of the lowest readings in the world, according to a Gallup report.
The corporate goods price index rose 2.4% in May from a year earlier, driven by higher prices for utilities, petroleum and chemical goods as well as nonferrous metals.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 12, 2024
Japan's wholesale inflation rose in May, complicating BOJ rate outlook
Price rises driven by cost pressures could cool consumption, and dampen the chances of achieving the demand-driven inflation the central bank is seeking to foster.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
JAPAN
Jun 11, 2024
Japan to stick to goal of primary budget surplus next fiscal year
The government will also continue to try to lower the ratio of debt to gross domestic product, a draft of annual policy guidelines for budget planning said.
Bankruptcies rose especially among restaurant operators amid labor shortages and rising labor costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 11, 2024
Japan corporate bankruptcies surge above 1,000 in May
The latest result came as many companies struggle with rising prices, as well as labor shortages mainly in the service sector.
Carlyle will probably announce another two or three transactions in Japan this year, the fund's co-head of the Japan buyout advisory team says.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2024
Carlyle sets sights on 300 Japanese businesses as PE deals boom
Carlyle, which has been operating in Japan since 2000, has made more than 40 private equity investments locally.
The Bank of Japan is expected to discuss cutting bond purchases at a two-day policy meeting ending Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 11, 2024
BOJ expected to weigh bond buying cuts as rate hike timing nears
A paring back of bond purchases would mark the BOJ’s first clear step toward quantitative tightening after pivoting away from its massive stimulus program in March.
Japan's economy contracted less than initially reported in the January-March period on upward revisions to capital spending and inventory data.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 10, 2024
Japan’s sputtering economy yet to show clear signs of recovery
The data showed both consumers and companies cutting back on spending and unsold supplies building up on warehouse shelves.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2024
Japan’s jammed AGM season limits shareholder engagement, investors say
Almost 60% of companies will hold meetings this month, with 30% hosting on June 27.
A U.K. biannual customer satisfaction index based on a survey of 15,000 consumers fell to its lowest since 2015 in January and has declined for three straight periods.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 9, 2024
Bad service is in the U.K.’s cultural DNA
While the U.K. could treat its customers better, not doing so is a choice. Why? There's a strain of British society that doesn’t accept the idea of service.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida answers questions during a Lower House committee session on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 7, 2024
Japan maintains goal of primary budget surplus from 2025 to 2030
The plan will be reflected in the annual economic and fiscal policy guidelines that the central government aims to adopt at a Cabinet meeting by the end of this month.
The head of the Bank of Japan has ruled out using monetary policy to directly influence exchange-rate moves, but signaled the chance of raising rates if the weak yen pushes up inflation more than expected.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 7, 2024
Japan growth strategy panel calls for vigilance to weak yen impact
The call reflects the government's growing concerns about a weak yen.
Japanese household spending in April showed the first year-on-year increase since February last year, marking rises in such categories as education, rent and clothing.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 7, 2024
Japan’s households boost outlays for first time in 14 months
Real outlays rose 0.5% in April from a year ago, marking the first increase since February last year.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. More than half of the 50 economists surveyed predict the central bank will decide next week to slow the pace of bond buying.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 7, 2024
Majority of BOJ watchers expect cut in bond buying next week
Some 54% of 50 economists said the bank will slow the pace of bond buying from around ¥6 trillion per month at the policy board gathering.
Toyoaki Nakamura, a member of the policy board at the Bank of Japan, warns of recent weak signs in consumption and slowing global growth that have clouded the outlook for Japan's economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2024
BOJ's Toyoaki Nakamura warns of risks to 2% inflation goal from 2025
The central bank board's median forecast is for core consumer inflation to hit 1.9% in the fiscal year beginning in April 2025 and in fiscal 2026.
Ryu Kawane works at the Costco store in Meiwa, Gunma Prefecture. Costco's high pay has triggered wage hikes at other businesses in town.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 6, 2024
Costco's Japan wages provide pathway to firing up nation's low pay and economy
A sustainable rise in wages is a key goal for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the Bank of Japan says it's a crucial factor for normalizing monetary policy.
Japan's base pay in April rose 2.3% from a year earlier to drive up nominal wages by 2.1%, but real wages marked a 25th consecutive month of decline as pay growth lagged inflation.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 5, 2024
Japan’s biggest base pay jump since 1994 still leaves doubts
Pay continues to lag inflation, with analysts appearing to latch on to weaker-than-expected growth in cash wages in data that avoids sampling issues.
Geely Automobile Holdings' Zeekr electric vehicles bound for shipment to Europe at the Port of Taicang in Taicang, Jiangsu Province, China, on Aug. 24, 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 5, 2024
China risks trade war on two fronts as low-tech exports soar, too
The European Union is poised to slap tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles this week, the latest example of rising barriers to global trade.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Tokyo Metro’s overseas efforts begin in earnest with London deal
Tokyo Metro will soon have a role in the running of London's Elizabeth Line, a major train route serving the U.K.’s capital city and environs.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji dies at 82
Yokozuna Kitanofuji enters the ring during the May 1970 grand sumo tournament in Tokyo.
Man charged with murder allegedly made victim date other men for money
A car carrying suspect Ryotaro Masuda, who was indicted for allegedly beating his 25-year-old girlfriend to death, leaves the Shibuya Police Station in Tokyo on Thursday.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

Podcast

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

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono
The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

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