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September 15, 2025
 

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JAPANESE ECONOMY

The average summer bonus for employees of major companies in Japan has now increased for the fourth year in a row.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 14, 2025
Summer bonuses at major Japan firms hit record
The shipbuilding, retail and finance sectors all posted significant jumps, while both the steel and service industries saw an overall decline.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato reaffirmed in a joint statement their commitment to allowing markets to determine currency exchange rates and not targeting them for competitive advantage.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 12, 2025
U.S. and Japan pledge not to manipulate forex for competitive advantage
Tokyo has spent close to $150 billion in the last three years trying to prop up the yen with the last move in July last year.
A screen displays share prices outside a securities firm in Tokyo. Some activists believe Japan’s corporate governance reforms will touch more firms, especially smaller ones.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 12, 2025
Activist AVI poised to boost holdings of Japan small-cap shares
The plan is an example of how activists are shaking up corporate Japan as they plow capital into the country given the Tokyo bourse telling firms to raise their enterprise value.
False social media stories about Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba planning mass immigration obscure Japan’s real and growing reliance on foreign labor.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 12, 2025
Japan needs an immigration debate, not social media myths
There’s no mass immigration from the Global South into Japan, though you might not know that if you primarily consume your news on social media.
Business sentiment among major Japanese companies turned positive for the first time in two quarters in July to September, according to a government survey released Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 11, 2025
Sentiment among big Japanese firms turns positive for first time in two quarters
The business sentiment index represents the proportion of firms seeing their business conditions improve from the previous quarter minus that of those feeling the opposite.
Residential buildings in the Harumi district of Tokyo. Condominium associations have started to invest in bonds to try and keep pace with inflation.
BUSINESS
Sep 11, 2025
Japan’s condo associations start buying bonds to fund repairs
The move by the associations is meant keep pace with inflation amid rising repair costs.
The Bank of Japan's wait-and-see approach is likely to continue given the political climate and the tariff situation.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 11, 2025
Rate increase in Japan less likely following Ishiba's resignation
Political uncertainty will make a move higher in October difficult.
Traders in Tokyo celebrate an earlier record high closing of the Nikkei 225. The benchmark index has been rallying in recent days on trade optimism and political hope.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 10, 2025
Tokyo stocks achieve record close after strong performance on Wall Street
A sustained rally has followed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s announcement of his resignation.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief negotiator, says that U.S. tariffs on Japanese autos will fall soon.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2025
Akazawa heralds U.S. trade deal as he moots wrinkle in it
He notes Japan cannot finance any project that contravenes its laws.
A customer shops at a Takeya store in Tokyo in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 9, 2025
Hidden inflation drives Japanese consumers to price-tracking sites
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.1% in July from the previous year.
The Nikkei Stock Average's opening, high and low prices on Tuesday are seen on a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 9, 2025
Nikkei 225 hits record on Ishiba resignation news, then falls back in afternoon
The benchmark reached a new all-time high in the morning of 44,185.73
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick argues that U.S. President Donald Trump has sole authority to invest Japan's promised $550 billion.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2025
Search is on for loopholes in Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge
The pledge was described over the weekend by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as essentially a blank checkbook for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Takeover offers by foreign firms are increasing in Japan, backed by government guidelines that instructed companies to give "sincere consideration” to such proposals.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 8, 2025
Japan set for record number of takeover offers from foreign firms
Foreign firms' proposals to buy or acquire majority stakes in Japanese companies are on pace to exceed last year’s record of 193.
Gross domestic product grew at an annualized pace of 2.2% last quarter, the revised report said, indicating that consumer spending is gaining momentum.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 8, 2025
Japan confirms GDP growth as spending holds up amid U.S. tariffs
The Japanese economy grew at an annualized pace of 2.2% in April-June, exceeding an initial estimate of a 1.0% expansion, the Cabinet Office said.
Minimum hourly wages in Japan's 47 prefectures are set to average ¥1,121, up by a record ¥66 from the previous year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
Japan to hike minimum wage by record amount, backing BOJ’s rate hikes
A record 6.3% increase takes the minimum wage to an average of ¥1,121 per hour across the country's 47 prefectures, the largest increase since 1978.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, sign trade agreements on Thursday in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
Japan's $550 billion investment pledge outlined in MOU
U.S. President Donald Trump will direct the investments and the projects funded by Japan will be controlled by the United States.
A former Bank of Japan chief economist says growing market speculation about a potential rate hike in October is underestimating the uncertainty caused by U.S President's Donald Trump's tariff campaign.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
BOJ’s October rate stance tough to call, its ex-chief economist says
Speculation over a potential rate hike underestimates the uncertainty wrought by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign, Toshitaka Sekine says.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, shake hands.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
Trump signs order reducing tariffs on Japanese autos
The executive order signed by the U.S. president on Thursday in Washington sets auto tariffs on Japan at 15%.
Japan's nominal wages increased 4.1% in July from a year earlier, marking the steepest increase since December.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 5, 2025
Japan's wages make biggest gain in seven months, backing case for rate hike
Real wages also rose for the first time this year in July, edging up by 0.5%.
The Finance Ministry building in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district
BUSINESS
Sep 4, 2025
Government agencies' fiscal 2026 budget requests hit record
The total requested amount rose sharply from ¥117.6 trillion in the previous year to ¥122.4 trillion.
Is America ready for Japanese-style 7-Elevens?
Convenience stores are a fixture of Japanese life and 7-Eleven, a chain that began in the U.S. in 1927, opened its first store in Japan in 1974 — and then became wholly Japanese-owned in 2005 through parent company Seven & I Holdings.
Japan's cutting-edge railgun successfully strikes target vessel
The Defense Ministry’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) conducted a ship-board railgun shooting test from June to early July this year with the support of the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
‘Fairytale’ Shirakawago ranked one of the world’s most beautiful villages
Forbes and Unforgettable Travel Company have ranked Shirakawago in Gifu Prefecture as Asia's most beautiful village.
People rush to make furusato nozei donations ahead of tighter rules
A booth from the town of Betsukai in Hokkaido at an Amazon Japan furusato nо̄zei promotion event, on Sept. 5 in Tokyo's Minato Ward.
Why more hotels in Japan are offering room-only service
Nipponia Hotel Ise Kawasaki Merchant Town in Ise, Mie Prefecture
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.
An aesthetic escape to Hakone’s art-drenched hills
Between traditional examples of fine art and sleek, modern exhibitions that blend with nature, Hakone offers a unique escape from Tokyo's urban sprawl.
Niinami’s ouster quick but not unusual as corporations protect reputation
Takeshi Niinami resigns as chairman and CEO of Suntory Holdings.
As Manila modernizes its military, new opportunities emerge for Tokyo
A Brahmos missile system is displayed during a rehearsal for a military parade in New Delhi in January. The Philippines will soon receive its second batch of the supersonic cruise missiles from India.
Shizuoka farmers fight to preserve sustainable tea method that’s steeped in tradition
As of August 2024, the number of confirmed chagusaba farmers had fallen to 302, just over half the 582 reported in 2015, according to the Shizuoka Chagusaba Farming Method Promotion Council.

Podcast

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

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight
By Mai Yoshikawa

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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