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September 17, 2024
 

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FINANCE

Trade no longer generates a surplus in Japan, reflecting a surge in the cost of energy imports and an increase in offshore production.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2024
Yen's relentless slide revives Japan's interest in structural reforms
The currency's persistent weakness has alerted policymakers to more fundamental drivers behind it, such as the nation's dwindling global competitiveness.
An LDP panel's proposal on fiscal policy underscores how a weak yen and an exit from ultra-low interest rates are piling pressure on Japan to rein in its huge public debt.
BUSINESS
May 30, 2024
Japan must restore fiscal discipline to protect yen's value, LDP panel says
The views of the panel of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are shared by the powerful Finance Ministry, who oversees the state budget.
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda has talked about the potential need for a monetary policy response given foreign exchange rates’ impact on the economy. Last month, the yen touched its weakest level in 34 years, ¥160 per dollar, before rebounding.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2024
BOJ Gov. Ueda finally toughens message on the weak yen
Though most of the factors behind the flailing currency lie outside of Japan, the central bank and Finance Ministry have some agency in determining events. They should use it.
Japan's digital trade deficit in 2023 was up about 2.6 times over nine years since 2014, as smartphones have become ubiquitous tools and the digital services sector is dominated by U.S. information technology giants.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2024
Japan's digital trade deficit continues to expand
The deficit in Japan's balance of payments in digital services continues to expand steadily.
Masato Kanda, vice finance minister for international affairs, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on April 30.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 9, 2024
Japan’s reserves tally likely too early to reflect intervention
Officials continue to conceal whether they have taken action, forcing investors to make educated guesses about the market moves.
Masato Kanda, vice minister of finance for international affairs, reiterated the currency authorities' readiness to step into the market for speculative-driven foreign exchange moves.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 7, 2024
Japan warns of action over rapid currency moves
Comments by the government's top currency diplomat, Masato Kanda, reinforced Tokyo's readiness to intervene again to support a fragile yen.
One analyst said Japanese policymakers "hid the intervention well," pointing to the ways they may have used to fund currency interventions recently.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 6, 2024
Market hunts for signs of yen intervention in Fed accounts
Recent data suggests that Japanese policymakers may have funded currency interventions using a Fed facility where central banks stash overnight cash.
Traders edged back from record bets on yen weakness this past week, in a period that included a likely bout of intervention by Japan to prop up the currency.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 4, 2024
Traders spooked by intervention risk trim record yen shorts
Traders edged back from record bets on yen weakness this past week, in a period that included a likely bout of intervention by Japan.
Shunichi Suzuki, Japan's finance minister
BUSINESS / Markets
May 4, 2024
Japan’s finance minister keeps traders guessing on yen intervention
The comments came days after Japanese authorities apparently entered the market to support the yen on two occasions this week.
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 3, 2024
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
The yen was at around ¥157.55 per dollar when it suddenly spiked, strengthening as far as ¥153 over the next half hour.
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 2, 2024
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
The yen advanced more than 3% and hit ¥153.04 per dollar as more than $4 billion of yen-related futures were exchanged.
An analysis of the Bank of Japan's accounts suggests an intervention of about ¥5.5 trillion took place on Monday to prop up the yen.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 1, 2024
BOJ accounts suggest Japan intervened to support yen
The Bank of Japan said its current account will probably fall ¥7.56 trillion — much bigger than the drop of about ¥2.1 trillion estimated.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Apr 28, 2024
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
The yen hit a 34-year low past ¥158.40 per dollar in U.S. trading on Friday, after the BOJ announced a decision to keep its monetary policy unchanged.
Currency rates at an exchange shop in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS
Apr 26, 2024
Yen swoons in jittery trading in wake of BOJ standing pat
The yen’s extended slump has heightened speculation that authorities may intervene in the market.
The rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar is displayed in the trading room at foreign exchange brokerage Gaitame.com in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 25, 2024
Yen inches closer to intervention point as BOJ meeting starts
For the first time in over 30 years, the yen weakened beyond ¥155 per dollar, sending traders on the alert for possible intervention.
An electronic board in Tokyo showing the yen-dollar rate on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 24, 2024
Japan ‘very close’ to yen intervention, former top currency official says
Market reaction to U.S. data could encourage Japanese authorities to act about the yen, according to Mitsuhiro Furusawa.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks during a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on the sidelines of IMF and G20 meetings in Washington last week.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 23, 2024
Tokyo issues strong warning on yen intervention as currency dips further
Comments by Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki came after the dollar rose to ¥154.85, its strongest levels against the Japanese currency since 1990.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a meeting for Noto Peninsula reconstruction at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2024
Japan OKs ¥138.9 billion in fresh spending over Noto quake
This will be the fourth round of spending from the state reserve funds for the quake-affected areas in central Japan.
About 60% of small and mid-sized companies plan to raise wages in fiscal 2024, a government survey shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2024
70% of Japan companies to raise pay-scales in FY 2024
Survey results showed that about 40% of firms were struggling with labor shortages even after raising wages.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki speaks during an event in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 20, 2024
Japan finance chief issues fresh warning on excessive yen moves
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki repeated his warning to investors against pushing down the yen too much.
Japan's elderly population grows to record 36.25 million
The proportion of people aged 65 and over has risen since the 1950s and is expected to hit 34.8% by 2040, when the second baby boomers (born 1971-1974) will join that group.
'Shogun' becomes first non-English-language winner of best drama Emmy
Japanese actress Anna Sawai, winner of the outstanding lead actress in a drama series award for "Shogun," and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, winner of the outstanding lead actor in a drama series award for the show, pose in the press room during the 76th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Japan jumps to No. 2, from sixth place, in Best Countries index
Pedestrians cross an intersection in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Japan has experienced a postpandemic travel boom, with tourists pouring back in after restrictions closed the country’s borders to travelers.
South Korea is facing deepfake porn crisis
Activists hold up symbolic eye masks during a protest against deepfake porn in Seoul on Aug. 30.
Second assassination attempt on Trump is latest jolt in chaotic campaign
U.S. Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of a Ryan Routh, a suspect in an alleged assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump, in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Sunday.
‘Shogun’ and the painstaking art of ‘getting it right’
Hiroyuki Sanada and the cast and crew of "Shogun" accept the award for best drama series at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
Japan’s schools battle to keep kids cool, with or without AC
Students sit under a misting system during recess at Hikarigaoka Haru no Kaze Elementary School in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, on Sept. 6.
Chris Broad's new bar puts cocktails first, YouTube second
A self-proclaimed lover of great cocktails, YouTuber Chris Broad says his new Shibuya watering hole is more a place to get yourself a solid drink than it is anything related to his social media career.
In LDP presidential poll, three kingmakers hold all the cards
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo in January as former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (left) looks on.
How China’s dominance of solar and batteries is impacting Japan’s energy transition
Solar panels and wind turbines at a power plant in Hami in China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. and other countries have described China’s actions against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a key cog in the cleantech supply chain, as a genocidal campaign aimed at erasing an entire culture.

Podcast

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

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Sasakawa works for a sustainable blue economy

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