Tag - japanese-economy

 
 

JAPANESE ECONOMY

Japan’s economy has expanded at a much faster pace than forecast, despite weak domestic consumption.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2023
Japan’s GDP grows at 6% on strong exports as consumption falters
Capital spending by businesses was flat, versus forecasts of a 0.4% increase, while private consumption unexpectedly declined by 0.5%.
Blackstone is working on more acquisitions in Japan with several bids out and properties like hotels and data centers in the pipeline.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2023
Blackstone eyes more Japan property after selling $4.5 billion
Real estate investments in Japan have been rosy compared to other countries, where rising costs have squeezed finances and workers have shunned offices.
In a recent Kyodo News survey of 114 companies, including Toyota Motor and the Uniqlo clothing chain operator Fast Retailing, 82% said they project economic expansion, up from 55% the previous summer.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 13, 2023
Over 80% of Japan firms forecast economic growth as COVID-19 curbs removed
The survey results show optimism over Japan's economy even as firms grapple with rising material costs, with 94% of those forecasting an expansion.
Technical trainees from Vietnam work at a knitwear factory in the city of Mitsuke, Niigata Prefecture, in February 2019.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2023
Japan is bringing in more foreign nationals than you think
Japan isn’t an outlier when it comes to low fertility rates, merely a front-runner.
People board a shinkansen at Tokyo Station on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 11, 2023
Holidaymakers to boost spending as Japan growth at tipping point
It is a mixed bag for Japan as everyday goods have become much pricier, but pent-up demand has aided private consumption.
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.
Some strategists think that foreign investors, who had helped drive one of the world’s biggest rallies so far this year, may pose risks for Japan’s stock market in the second half.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 9, 2023
Global funds that drove Topix rally may now threaten Japan gains
A lack of bold policy measures by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and China's economic slowdown are also seen as curbing the bullish trend.
A recent report showed that the number of career bureaucrats leaving government to join startups had quadrupled over the two years through fiscal 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 8, 2023
Japan’s young civil servants are growing disillusioned
Big companies remain the most popular career option, attracting 34% of those who change jobs.
Japan's current account surplus in June roughly tripled from a year earlier after the resource-scarce nation recorded its first trade surplus in nearly two years.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2023
Half-year current account surplus up 11% as trade deficit shrinks
Surging import costs for energy, raw materials and other goods have left Japan deep in the red, despite a recovery in exports.
Yuko Kawamoto, president of the National Personnel Authority, hands a proposal to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023
Agency backs largest pay rise for Japan's civil servants in 26 years
It has been suggested the monthly salaries of general civil servants be raised by an average 0.96%, a big increase from the 0.23% in fiscal 2022.
Eisuke Sakakibara, former top finance official, says Japanese authorities are unlikely to intervene in foreign exchange markets to prop up the yen.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023
Japan's 'Mr. Yen' Sakakibara expects no intervention
The yen has fallen around 14% since the Fed began rapidly raising rates to combat soaring inflation in March 2022.
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.
Chef and restaurant owner Rikuo Morimoto, who runs the restaurant Andante in Tokyo, on May 1. A 2019 government report estimated that about 1.27 million small business owners would be 70 or older by 2025 and have no successors.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 6, 2023
'Era of mass closures': The Japanese firms with no successors
A 2019 government report estimated that about 1.27 million small business owners would be 70 or older by 2025 and have no successors.
A price board at a gas station in Tokyo shows regular gasoline at ¥180 yen per liter on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2023
Japan's average gas price rises to 15-year high on lower subsidy
The average price for regular gasoline stood at ¥176.70 per liter as of Monday, advancing ¥1.90 from July 24.
A monitor in Tokyo shows the 225-issue Nikkei stock average dropping more than 700 points on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2023
Japan shares post biggest one-day drop this year
Then benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average closed down 2.30% at 32,707.69 — its sharpest one-day drop since Dec. 20.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. BOJ Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida has said there is still a long way to go before conditions fall into place for the bank to raise its short-term interest rate target.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2023
BOJ tweak not prelude to ultralow rates exit: deputy governor
Shinichi Uchida said there is still a long way to go before the BOJ can raise its short-term interest rate target from the current minus 0.1%.
A new high-rise is erected in Beijing in October 2021. The same year, 41% of the assets in China’s banking system were accounted for by property-related loans and credit.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023
Is Japan’s economic past China’s future?
China is facing a long period of low growth similar to Japan’s experience since the 1990s.
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's head office in Tokyo in April 2013.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2023
Ex-BOJ chief pushed for powerful monetary easing, 2013 minutes show
The BOJ releases full minutes of policy meetings a decade after they are held. Monday's release encompassed the first half of 2013.
Japan's industrial production in June climbed 2% from the previous month, led by brisk output of new automobiles amid strong demand at home and abroad.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2023
Japan’s production rebounds, signaling continued modest recovery
Factory output rose 2% from the previous month, rebounding from the previous month and led by increases in cars and electronic devices.

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