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March 31, 2025
 

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ECONOMY

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda attends a news conference after the central bank's policy meeting in Tokyo on Friday. The BOJ raised its rate by a quarter-point to 0.5% that day.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 26, 2025
Japan’s central bank drops the drama and wins on rates
The quarter-point increase, which took the main rate to 0.5%, was probably the most telegraphed this century.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 25, 2025
Central bank appears poised to break through 0.5% rate barrier this year
The central bank's board voted Friday to increase its target for its short-term policy rate to around 0.5% from around 0.25%.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference after a two-day monetary policy meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jan 25, 2025
BOJ’s clear guidance on rate hike calms markets but may backfire
For some economists, the latest move was too completely priced in, begging the question of how explicitly the BOJ intends to signal its plans in the future.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato holds a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in October last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
Finance chief vows to balance economic revival and fiscal consolidation
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato highlighted the need to improve Japan's fiscal health, which is the worst among major countries.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda had sounded dovish after the central bank's December policy meeting, which led some analysts to say that rate hikes might only emerge in March.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
BOJ takes rates to 0.5% amid calm markets after Trump inauguration
The 25-basis-point move marks the first rate increase since July and takes rates to their highest level since the 2008 global financial crisis.
While Japan deals with so-called overtourism, the rest of the world is just getting back to pre-pandemic levels of visits from international travelers.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 24, 2025
Global tourism is back to pre-COVID highs
Global tourism generated nearly $1.6 trillion (about ¥250 trillion) in 2024, about 3% more than the previous year and 4% more than in 2019.
Katsumi Shinagawa prepares to shred cabbage to serve with pork cutlet dishes at the restaurant Katsukichi in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025
Climate change cooks up Japanese 'cabbage shock'
It is the latest pain point for shoppers and eateries in Japan already squeezed by inflation.
Service inflation accelerated a tad to 1.6%, while an index excluding energy costs and fresh food prices advanced 2.4%, unchanged from the pace in November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025
Inflation in Japan jumps to 3%, supporting the BOJ's rate-hike case
The solid inflation data support the case for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates on Friday, a move widely anticipated by markets and economists.
Shipping containers at an industrial port in the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki. Japanese businesses see a larger role for Japan if global trade breaks down and multilateral trade institutions become less effective without U.S. participation.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025
Japan contemplates global free-trade leadership as U.S. goes protectionist
Tokyo could find opportunity in the turmoil while avoiding direct confrontation with Washington.
The number of new units for sale in the Tokyo metropolitan area fell 14.4% last year to a record low.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025
Tokyo apartment prices retreat in 2024 as market calms
The decrease — the first in six years — came after prices rose nearly 30% to a record high in 2023 when several luxury condos went up for sale.
The Bank of Japan is set decide to raise interest rates at a policy meeting on Friday, according to Jiji Press.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025
Bank of Japan set to raise rates on Friday, report says
The move would mark the central bank's first rate hike since July last year, when it increased rates to 0.25%.
Japan's exports gained 2.8% in December from a year ago, led by chipmaking machinery and semiconductor parts, government data shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025
Japan’s exports rose in December ahead of anticipated Trump tariffs
Exports measured in value gained 2.8% from a year ago led by chipmaking machinery and semiconductor parts, although shipments fell in terms of volume.
Investment trusts that cater to Japanese individuals bought a net ¥10.4 trillion of overseas equities and funds last year after the government expanded the scope of the Nippon Individual Savings Account system.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2025
Japan’s love of foreign stocks risks pushing the yen even lower
Investment trusts that cater to Japanese individuals bought a net ¥10.4 trillion of overseas equities and funds last year.
Tourists visit shops near Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Shrine on Jan. 13. The nation's growing tourism sector, set to hit 40 million visitors in 2025, boosts the economy but is straining the nation's infrastructure.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 23, 2025
Japan has '$100 billion' reasons to welcome more visitors
Japan's growing tourism, set to hit 40 million visitors in 2025, boosts the economy but strains infrastructure, highlighting a need for smarter policies to manage overtourism.
Attendees inside the Congress Center at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from Jan. 20 to 24.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 23, 2025
China tones it down at Davos this time ahead of Trump tariffs
Donald Trump has warned that a 10% levy could be imposed on China as soon as Feb. 1.
In 2024, child mortality for children before the age of 5 reached a record low of 3.6%, down from over 25% in 1950. For most of history, about half of all newborns died as children.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 22, 2025
Even this year is the best time ever to be alive
Another way of looking at it: Every day over the past couple of years, roughly 30,000 people moved out of extreme poverty worldwide.
Instead of the Bank of Japan's actions strengthening the yen as once hoped, recent steps have only caused further weakening.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 22, 2025
Ueda’s doctrine for the BOJ is finally emerging
Instead of the Bank of Japan's actions strengthening the yen as once hoped, recent steps have only caused further weakening.
Masakazu Tokura (second from left), head of Keidanren, holds talks with Rengo leader Tomoko Yoshino (second from right) in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 22, 2025
Japan business lobby cites positive price trend ahead of BOJ decision
Keidanren head Tokura’s comments create a positive backdrop for the BOJ as its board prepares to deliver its policy decision on Friday.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda is still signaling caution ahead of the central bank's January meeting.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 21, 2025
BOJ likely to raise rates this week in absence of immediate Trump tariffs
The possibility is "quite high" if markets remain calm following Trump's inauguration on Monday as the 47th president of the United States.
A giant 1000 Indonesian rupiah coin display inside the headquarters of Bank Indonesia in Jakarta
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2025
Indonesia is the latest country to risk a 'Japanification' tag
With markets sniffing out fiscal vulnerabilities in many countries, this would be an inopportune time to lose discipline.
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

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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
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