Tag - inflation

 
Menu
Search
 
April 05, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

INFLATION

Japan's economic output ran above full capacity in April-June for the first time in nearly four years, a government estimate showed, suggesting that conditions for ending its policy of ultralow interest rates could be falling into place.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2023
Japan's economic output runs above capacity in signal for BOJ
The data suggests that conditions for Japan to end its policy of ultralow interest rates could be falling into place.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Sep 1, 2023
Extended gasoline subsidy risks harming Japan's net-zero efforts
The politically tricky decision on ending the program could hamper the shift to EVs and efforts to reach climate change goals.
Bank of Japan board member Toyoaki Nakamura says it is uncertain whether smaller companies can earn enough profits to keep hiking wages next year and beyond.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 31, 2023
BOJ policymaker warns against premature monetary tightening
Tightening monetary policy before rising prices are accompanied by higher wages would hurt domestic demand and corporate profits, Toyoaki Nakamura said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 30, 2023
Kishida announces extension of measures to bring gas prices down
The subsidy program will be extended until the end of the year and will be beefed up starting next week.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. A board member with the central bank Naoki Tamura has hinted that officials might be able to confirm some time early next year they’ve hit the goal needed to usher in policy change.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2023
Leading BOJ hawk hints at chance of policy shift in early 2024
"The achievement is finally and clearly within sight after a decade of large-scale monetary easing aimed at attaining it,” board member Naoki Tamura said.
A gasoline tanker truck at an Eneos gas station in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 29, 2023
LDP approves extension of gasoline subsidy to year-end
The ruling party also agreed in principle to further expand the program, which pays subsidies to oil wholesalers to curb retail fuel price increases.
The Bank of Japan's inflation outlook doesn’t reflect reality, according to one of the country’s leading experts on prices.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 29, 2023
BOJ’s outlook doesn’t reflect reality, key price expert says
While the bank sharply raised its price outlook last month, it was still kept too low, said University of Tokyo economics professor Tsutomu Watanabe.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, from left, Kazuo Ueda, governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), and Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), walk the grounds at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in Moran, Wyoming, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 28, 2023
At Jackson Hole, post-inflation challenges vex central bankers
The bankers stressed the need to keep interest rates high until inflation is contained, and wrestled with deep shifts that will make their jobs harder.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 27, 2023
BOJ chief says strategy backed by below-target inflation
Gov. Kazuo Ueda said price growth remains slower than the central bank’s goal, explaining why officials are continuing with their current strategy.
The Bank of Japan's headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2023
Financial expert warns against delay in BOJ policy shift
Izuru Kato predicted that the BOJ will likely raise its short-term policy rate from below zero in "January or April next year."
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 25, 2023
Inflation in Tokyo slowed in August but stayed above BOJ target
The Tokyo core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food but includes fuel costs, rose 2.8% in August from a year earlier.
BUSINESS
Aug 23, 2023
Kishida under pressure to spend even as debt costs rise
The prime minister pivoted away from his previous stance Tuesday by scrapping September-end plans to stop subsidies that cap gasoline prices.
Japan's core consumer inflation slowed in July but remained above the Bank of Japan's price target for the 16th straight month.
BUSINESS
Aug 18, 2023
Japan’s 'sticky' inflation trend may keep BOJ on edge over prices
Prices excluding energy and fresh food increased 4.3% from the previous year, matching the record set in May, which was the fastest since 1981.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks at an event in Las Vegas on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 16, 2023
Yellen's Las Vegas stop shows Bidenomics can be a tough sell
Even as Americans feel the benefits, it's not clear this approach will deliver Biden the votes he needs in 2024.
Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei (center) on stage at his campaign headquarters on the day of Argentina's primary elections, in Buenos Aires on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Aug 14, 2023
Argentine far-right outsider posts shock win in primary election
With some 90% of ballots counted, far-right libertarian economist Javier Milei had 30.5% of the vote, far higher than predicted.
The Bank of Japan's attempts to dismantle ultraloose monetary policies have led to unexpected market reactions and left some investors struggling to understand the central bank's intentions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 10, 2023
The BOJ gets a new doctrine. It’s just keeping it to itself.
The BOJ is likely sincere when it says the 2% price goal is still some way off, even if one member seemingly believes it’s on the horizon.
Japan's wholesale inflation slowed in July year-on-year due to softer energy costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 10, 2023
Japan's wholesale inflation slowed in July for seventh month
The slowing pace of increases, due to softer energy utility costs, suggest pressures that drove up consumer prices are running their course.
A shopper at a Beijing grocery store in 2022. China's consumer and producer prices have both declined from 12 months ago, indicating that the world’s second-largest economy may be weakening.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 9, 2023
China shows signs of deflation as consumer and factory prices fall
A prolonged property market slump, plunging demand for exports and subdued consumer spending are weighing on China's economic recovery.
Nominal cash earnings for workers in June rose 2.3% from the previous year, decelerating from a revised 2.9% clip in the previous month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2023
Wage growth slowed in June, boosting case for BOJ to hold firm
The unexpected slowdown suggests the labor market may be losing some steam, and clouds prospects for the Bank of Japan’s sustainable inflation goal.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference, following the central bank's policy meeting, on July 28.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023
BOJ debated chance of sustained inflation at July meeting
The central bank's upbeat view on the inflation outlook suggests they are now more convinced that conditions for phasing out stimulus could fall in place.
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

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