Tag - inflation

 
Menu
Search
 
April 04, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

INFLATION

Japan’s producer price index rose 0.3% in November from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2023
Japan’s input inflation eases further to slowest pace since 2021
The persistent slowdown in the index this year is in line with the BOJ’s view that price pressures are cooling.
The Bank of Japan is likely to keep its monetary stimulus settings unchanged at a two-day policy meeting ending Dec. 19, despite recent market speculation that the negative rate may be scrapped as soon as the December meeting.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 11, 2023
BOJ sees little need to end negative rate in December: sources
Bank officials are yet to see enough evidence of wage growth that would support sustainable inflation.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 8, 2023
Yen extends rally to second day as traders bet on early BOJ hike
The rally in the yen spilled over into a second day as traders wagered that the Bank of Japan will scrap the world’s last negative interest-rate regime much sooner than previously thought.
Japan’s economic recovery from the pandemic is losing momentum as overseas economies slow and sticky inflation weighs on domestic consumption.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 8, 2023
Japan’s deepest economic contraction since pandemic clouds path for BOJ
Gross domestic product contracted at an annualized 2.9% in the three months through September from the previous quarter as households reined in spending.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Half of the 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg said the central bank will scrap its negative rate in April, up from 29% in the October survey.
BUSINESS
Dec 8, 2023
Most BOJ watchers predict end of negative rate regime by April
"The most beautiful scenario is the end of the negative rate in April”
Deputy Gov. Ryozo Himino's comments are the clearest sign so far from the BOJ’s leadership that authorities are considering what the impact would be if they ended negative rates.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2023
BOJ’s deputy chief hints that end of negative rate may be closer
Ryozo Himino has set out a hypothesis for what might happen if rates do indeed go positive.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2023
Christmas cake prices jump 7.8% in Japan
According to a survey by Teikoku Databank, prices of Christmas cakes measuring 15 centimeters in diameter average ¥4,468.
Big Japanese banks are now training a generation of professional front-line staff who have little experience with rising interest rates.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2023
Staff at Japan's banks scramble to adjust to rising interest rates
Many younger employees have no expertise in dealing with the vagaries of a traditional inflationary environment.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.3% in November from the prior year in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 5, 2023
Tokyo inflation cools to slowest pace in over a year
The development supports the Bank of Japan’s view that it should continue to be cautious about a tightening of policy.
Fresh U.S. data shows price pressures are easing and the labor market is gradually cooling, evidence that the slowdown the Federal Reserve has tried to engineer with its rate hikes to date is underway.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 1, 2023
U.S. Fed officials feel rate hikes likely done, but too soon to know
Models suggest Fed policy is the most restrictive it has been in 25 years, and it will probably need to stay restrictive for "quite some time."
The Bank of Japan board member Toyoaki Nakamura says more time is needed before the bank phases out its massive stimulus.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 30, 2023
BOJ policymaker says more time needed before easing can be curbed
While a continued economic recovery and tight labor market hold promise for wage growth, inflation continues to suppress down real wages.
Monthly regular pay rose 3.2%, or ¥9,437, on average this year, both record highs since comparative figures began in 1999.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2023
Japanese firms giving record pay raises this year, poll shows
Policymakers have said hiking wages is essential to ending deflation and to achieving and sustaining an inflation rate of 2% in a stable manner.
A Bank of Japan survey shows that the services producer price index rose 2.3% in October from a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 27, 2023
Corporate service inflation rise signals broadening price pressures
The services producer price index, which measures the price companies charge each other for services, rose 2.3% in October from a year earlier.
Core consumer prices in Japan rose 2.9% in October from a year earlier, staying above the Bank of Japan's 2% target for the 19th straight month as products seeing price hikes continued to broaden.
BUSINESS
Nov 24, 2023
Japan inflation quickens, clouding price outlook for BOJ
A weak yen has been a key driver behind high import costs, as it has stayed near a 33-year low against the dollar in recent months.
Japanese stock markets have already rallied to around their highest since 1990, with consumer and financial stocks outperforming domestic indexes.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Nov 21, 2023
Japan's inflation comeback prompts investors to tear up playbooks
Investors are tearing up their playbooks to focus on expected higher interest rates, more generous dividends and a revival in consumer spending.
Pedestrians walk past an electronic board displaying various companies' share prices, in a business district in Tokyo on Oct. 31.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 20, 2023
Japan’s fiscal advisory board warns of impact of higher rates
Even small changes could have a large impact given rates are so low and Japan has the largest public debt load among developed economies.
Japan's producer prices rose 0.8% in October from a year earlier, the slowest pace of growth since gains resumed in March 2021.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 13, 2023
Japan’s input inflation slows below 2% for first time since 2021
A measure of input prices for Japanese firms rose 0.8% from a year earlier, the slowest pace of growth since gains resumed in March 2021.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 10, 2023
Cabinet approves ¥13.1 trillion extra budget to finance fresh stimulus
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appears to be eager to regain popularity with the relief package, but voters aren't convinced.
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 9, 2023
Japan’s 'four-eyed tax hiker' and the curse of Colonel Sanders
Baseball writer Jason Coskrey and editor Joel Tansey discuss the Hanshin Tigers’ Japan Series victory; Gabriele Ninivaggi explains how the prime minister hopes to get a home run with his tax plan.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 9, 2023
Troubled 2025 Osaka Expo could see further cost increases
Amid numerous challenges, Osaka officials hope no further discussions on increasing the budget of the troubled event will be needed.
As ‘Buy Canadian’ grows, more U.S. firms say retailers turning away products
Empty shelves with "Buy Canadian Instead" signs are seen in the American Whiskey section of the BC Liquor in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 10.
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.
Trump unveils 10% global tariff, with Japan levy set at 24%
Trump tosses a MAGA hat to the crowd during an event in which he unveiled new tariffs in the White House on Wednesday.
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.
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.
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.
On defense, Japan may avoid Trump's worst impulses — for now
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chat after reviewing an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER