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April 05, 2025
 

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ECONOMY

An AI-driven smartphone application, jointly developed by a tech startup and researchers at Nihon University, purports to tell when cats feel pain. It was being demonstrated during a vet examination in Fujisawa on June 11.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 23, 2024
Japan should go big or go home on startups
As of last month, Japan had just 10 unicorns, according to Pitchbook data, compared to 714 in the U.S., 316 in China and 62 in India.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food climbed 2.7% in July from a year earlier, accelerating slightly from 2.6% in June.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 23, 2024
Japan's core inflation picks up, but demand-driven growth slows
The "core core" index, which is closely watched by the BOJ, dipped below the key 2% line for the first time since September 2022.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda is scheduled to respond to questions from lawmakers in parliament on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 22, 2024
BOJ governor set to face intense scrutiny after market chaos
Gov. Kazuo Ueda will respond to questions from lawmakers in the Lower House on Friday morning, and those in the Upper House in the afternoon.
The yen's rebound is clouding an outlook for Japanese firms' earnings that have enjoyed a boost from the weak yen.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024
Yen’s rebound threatens earnings growth in Japan
Weak demand in China and the risk of a slowing U.S. economy are fueling worries about how sustainable their earnings growth will be.
Katsunobu Kato, former health minister, speaks in an interview in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 22, 2024
Japan should keep rates and prices moving, prime minister hopeful Kato says
The former health minister is a dark horse but also the type of person who could emerge as a compromise candidate.
Vehicles bound for shipment parked in front of the Lyra Leader vehicles carrier ship at the Nagoya Port in Nagoya. Japan's exports rose in July but shipment volumes extended their declines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 21, 2024
Japan's July exports growth lags expectations as volumes fall again
Japanese exports rose 10.3% year-on-year in July, less than a median market forecast for an 11.4% increase.
Some investors are still betting on more interest rate hikes in Japan in the coming months.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 20, 2024
Big-name investors still betting on further BOJ rate hikes
Major asset managers are doubling down on their short positions in Japanese government bonds based on the prospect of further hikes.
E-scooter startup Lime has launched its service in some of Tokyo’s most densely populated neighborhoods
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 20, 2024
Uber-backed e-scooter startup Lime enters Japan after Korea exit
Lime, which has a global fleet of around 200,000 e-bikes and scooters, on Monday launched its service in some of Tokyo’s most densely populated areas.
Wind turbines in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture
BUSINESS
Aug 19, 2024
Japan offers lifeline to ESG investing amid backlash overseas
In light of the anti-ESG sentiment in the U.S. and Europe, analysts said that Japan can play a key role in driving sustainable finance globally.
A monitor in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward displays a news headline reporting the Nikkei stock average plunging on Aug. 5.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 16, 2024
Foreign investors buying Japanese stocks after recent slump, Goldman says
The investment bank's chief Japan equity strategist notes that interest levels from certain segments of the foreign investor community have grown noticeably higher.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision to step down opens the door to newcomers competing at a time when the central bank is paving the way for policy normalization.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 16, 2024
Japan's change of leadership comes at challenging time for monetary policy
Next month’s ruling party vote will be held against a backdrop of persistent inflation.
A monitor in Tokyo on Friday shows the Nikkei stock average rising more than 1,000 points from the previous day.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 16, 2024
Nikkei surges on back of strong U.S. economic data
The 225-issue Nikkei average added 3.64% to end the session at 38,062.67, a gain of 8.7% over the week.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris hosts a roundtable discussion with Japanese business executives from companies in the semiconductor industry in Tokyo on Sept. 28, 2022. In a recent survey, some 43% of Japanese firms polled said they preferred a Harris presidency.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 15, 2024
Japan firms see Harris presidency as better for business than Trump
The results of a Reuters survey reflect respondents' concerns about protectionism and policy unpredictability.
Considering there is another full year left before the current term of the Lower House expires, Fumio Kishida’s announcement he is standing down as the Liberal Democratic Party's leader has many wondering why.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 15, 2024
With Kishida’s sudden departure, who will lead Japan?
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s unexpected decision to not seek reelection has prompted a leadership race within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision to step down as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader has thrown the race for his successor into uncertainty.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 15, 2024
Kishida’s resignation opens the door to a chaotic era
With Fumio Kishida's resignation, the LDP faces a crucial election next month with no clear front-runner to become its next leader.
People walk along Takeshita street at Harajuku shopping area in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2024
Japan's economy rebounds strongly on consumption boost, backing case for more rate hikes
The Bank of Japan had forecast that a solid economic recovery will help inflation hit its 2% target and justify raising interest rates further.
The size of the carry trade strategy is hard to determine because currency transactions, unlike stock trades, aren't tracked on exchanges. We only have estimates.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 14, 2024
How big is the yen carry trade, really?
There is now worry that the unwinding of yen-funded carry trades would wreck investors’ frothy exposures to U.S. technology and AI-related companies.
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji Temple in Tokyo in April
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2024
Japan to revise consumption tax exemption for overseas tourists
A revision of the current system is being considered to prevent goods bought tax-free from being resold within the country.
A return to the world with interest will almost certainly mean an increase in the bifurcation of Japan's haves and have-nots.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 5, 2024
Is Japan ready for a ‘world with interest?’
Ever since Ueda arrived at the central bank 15 months ago, economists have been debating what the "world with interest” will look like.
By enabling a few wealthy individuals to wield disproportionate influence, today’s global economy increasingly marginalizes and disenfranchises much of the world’s population.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 4, 2024
To preserve democracy, tax the rich
What the world needs are progressive tax systems that redistribute income from the rich to the poor without weakening socially beneficial incentives.
U.S. tourist arrested after bringing a handgun into Japan
Hyogo police believe the handgun a U.S. tourist inadvertently brought into Japan slipped through security procedures at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture.
3D printer used to construct train station building in Japan
A train station building (front) is assembled from parts printed using 3D printer technology, in Arida, Wakayama Prefecture, on Wednesday.
Japan’s leader didn’t read the job description
Prime Minister and ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba is facing a political funding scandal that has damaged his reputation and sparked speculation that internal efforts to remove him are underway.
Japan promises 'bold and speedy' response to Trump’s surprise 24% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump unveils new U.S. tariffs at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
Tokyo’s KK Line to close for decadelong overhaul as public greenway
People enjoy running and yoga on Tokyo Expressway’s KK Line, a 2-kilometer elevated expressway cutting through the capital’s commercial Ginza district, when it was opened as a pedestrian space in May last year.
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode — conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" — is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
Nintendo to launch the Switch 2 on June 5
The controllers for the Switch 2 will attach to the console magnetically rather than sliding on rails as with the original device.
A new human trafficking trend emerges from Myanmar scam centers
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar gather at a compound inside KK Park, a fraud center on the country's border with Thailand, after a multinational crackdown in February.
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.

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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