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April 01, 2025
 

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INFLATION

A Bloomberg survey said almost three quarters of Bank of Japan watchers who responded said that U.S. tariffs could exert enough of a drag on Japan’s economy to delay the central bank’s rate hike path.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 12, 2025
BOJ watchers see gradual rate hikes with higher terminal rate
Economists now anticipate the terminal rate to be 1.25%, up from 1% in the previous survey.
The government's stockpile of rice in Saitama Prefecture in February
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2025
For first time ever, government begins auction of rice stockpile
Rice from the stockpile is expected to hit shelves from around the end of the month.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stands with him aboard Air Force One on his return to Washington on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 10, 2025
Trump declines to rule out recession in U.S. this year
The U.S. president's on-again, off-again tariff threats have roiled financial markets and stoked unease among consumers.
Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 7, 2025
Bank of America CEO willing to hire in Japan amid revival
The bank, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, has about 800 employees in Japan.
U.S. President Donald Trump is applauded by Vice President JD Vance (center) and House Speaker Mike Johnson, as Trump arrives to deliver his address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 5, 2025
In speech, Trump warns of tariff ‘disturbance’ as he touts trade plans
Data shows new strains on the economy as factory activity stagnates, inflation simmers, consumer confidence ebbs and stocks lag behind equity markets in other countries.
Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 5, 2025
BOJ’s deputy chief hints at more rate hikes, without rushing
The remarks come as BOJ watchers look for hints that the next upward move could come earlier than the view that projects the move will come in the summer.
The higher cost of food is forcing Japanese consumers to scrimp and bargain hunt as their purchasing power drops.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 3, 2025
Japan’s consumers hunt for bargains as food inflation bites
The prices of staples such as rice, eggs and cabbage have all surged in the past 12 months.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks to the press in October in Tokyo. Ueda told parliament on Feb. 12 that the central bank is aware that food price increases are negatively affecting households.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 28, 2025
Odds of early rate rise increase as inflation becomes the fight in Japan
Hawkish signals sent by Bank of Japan officials over the past month or so point to such a possibility.
Prices of more than 2,300 food items, such as frozen food products, are expected to be raised in March.
BUSINESS
Feb 28, 2025
Prices of over 2,300 food items to be raised in Japan in March
The monthly figure is on course to top 2,000 for the first time since October 2024, and the cumulative number in 2025 will exceed 10,000.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital rose 2.2% in February from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 28, 2025
Tokyo inflation slows slightly more than expected on subsidy impact
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital rose 2.2% in February from a year earlier, according to the internal affairs ministry.
Prices of fresh vegetables in January climbed 36% year on year, with prices of cabbage shooting up about three times.
BUSINESS
Feb 25, 2025
Vegetable prices continue surging in Japan
Prices of vegetables and rice have been soaring in Japan due to unfavorable weather and rising production costs.
A customer visits a store along the Togoshi Ginza shopping street in Tokyo on Jan. 23. Rising fresh food prices contributed to the acceleration in overall inflation in January, as vegetable prices, including cabbage, soared.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 21, 2025
Japan’s inflation speeds up, keeping BOJ on rate hike path
Overall inflation accelerated to 4% from 3.6%, according to the internal affairs ministry, hitting that mark for the first time in two years.
People shop in a supermarket as inflation affected consumer prices in Manhattan, New York City, in June 2022.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 21, 2025
'Stagflation' fears haunt U.S. markets despite Trump's pro-growth agenda
The dreaded scenario has crept back as a key risk for investors in recent weeks.
Cabbage prices have risen to 2.6 times their five-year average in Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 20, 2025
Japan’s food inflation is becoming harder for BOJ to overlook
The level of fresh food prices has risen 71.9% since 2010, about five times more than that of inflation excluding it.
Behind a record-breaking rise in Japan's rice prices are intensifying competition among buyers since the serious shortage of the country's staple food in stores in summer 2024 and hoarding by those bullish about rice prices.
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2025
Price of rice sold to wholesalers surges to another high in Japan
The January average rose 69% from a year earlier to ¥25,927 per 60 kilograms of brown rice amid intensifying demand.
The government's stockpiled rice in Tokyo in 1999. Since 1995, the government has been stockpiling around 200,000 tons of rice from the annual harvest to ensure that there is enough to go around during emergencies.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2025
Government taps rice stockpile to reverse price increases
This will be the first time the stockpile has been used to reduce prices instead of due to emergencies.
Japan has effectively exited deflation, but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s reluctance to acknowledge it reflects outdated economic fears rather than current reality.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 13, 2025
It’s time for Japan to admit victory over deflation
The last time prices declined was in July 2021, the same month the Tokyo Olympic Games took place.
Giving out courtesy chocolates to coworkers on Valentine's Day is becoming obsolete.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 10, 2025
How giving chocolates on Valentine’s Day is evolving in Japan
One change is fewer people are handing out chocolates to others at work, which had been a widespread practice over the past few decades.
Shoppers walk past a display of cabbages for sale at a supermarket in Tokyo last month. The 2024 record summer heat and heavy rain ruined crops, driving up the cost of the usually inexpensive leafy green in what Japanese media has dubbed a "cabbage shock."
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 7, 2025
Inflation becoming a concern in Japan after being a goal for decades
Rising consumer prices are putting real wage growth at risk and possibly becoming a drag on much-needed household consumption.
A cargo ship full of shipping containers at the port of Oakland in Oakland, California, as trade tensions escalate over U.S. tariffs on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 6, 2025
Economists brace for Trump's new trade war to rekindle inflation worldwide
Stubborn growth in consumer prices was bothering much of the world even before U.S. President Donald Trump entered the White House.
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.
Alert raised for volcano in southwestern Japan
Shinmoedake, a volcano located between Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, in November 2019
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Nankai Trough earthquake could kill 298,000 people, government says
Residents participate in an evacuation drill held with West Japan Railway in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, in January 2024 to prepare for a Nankai Trough earthquake and a possible tsunami following the quake.
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.
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.

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