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JAPANESE

Rising directorial star Sho Miyake's new relationship drama, "All the Long Nights," centers on two colleagues (Hokuto Matsumura, left, and Mone Kamishiraishi) who form a bond when they discover they both struggle with health issues.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 19, 2024
Familiar faces return to the big screen in 2024
Amid a roster of hits such as "Demon Slayer," “Doraemon” and “Detective Conan," Japanese cinema gets a little more inclusive in the year ahead.
A signboard in Tokyo shows the closing numbers on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Jan. 11. Tokyo's Nikkei index closed above 35,000 for the first time in nearly 34 years on that day.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 18, 2024
Japan can guilt-trip its stocks past bubble-era highs
Tokyo’s equity market is achingly close to overcoming its bubble-era highs.
Japan's core machinery orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as a leading indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, fell more than expected in November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 18, 2024
Japan's core machinery orders fell more than forecast in November
Capital spending is one of the key drivers for Japan's economy and a major indicator of business confidence.
The gallery and judges for the trial of Yuki Endo over a 2021 murder case, in Kofu District Court in Yamanashi Prefecture on Thursday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024
In first, 'specified juvenile' handed death sentence over Kofu murder
It is the first time a defendant age 18 or 19 at the time of a crime has been given the death penalty following the lowering of the age of adulthood.
The Supreme Court is considering reviewing a high court judgment that the same-sex partner of a murder victim is ineligible for survivor benefits.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024
Supreme Court may review judgement against benefits for same-sex partner
The review would mark the first time the Supreme Court makes a decision regarding the issue of public benefits for a same-sex partner.
Noriyuki Sato, head of asset management at Mizuho Financial Group, says the bank plans to ramp up its expansion into private markets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 18, 2024
Mizuho considers U.S. deal to supercharge private markets growth
The lender’s $460 billion money-management arm is considering buying a stake in a U.S. or European firm specializing in alternative investments.
Tokyo's Ginza shopping district on Wednesday. Spending by visitors totaled a record ¥5.3 trillion in 2023, up by roughly 10% compared with the tally in 2019.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2024
Japan’s economy gets boost from 25 million visitors in 2023
A weak yen has helped boost tourists’ spending power, making Japan a much more affordable and attractive destination.
All Nippon Airways airplanes at Haneda Airport in Tokyo
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2024
U.S.-bound ANA plane turns back after man bites flight attendant
The passenger, reported to be 55-year-old American man, allegedly sunk his teeth into the flight attendant's arm while "heavily drunk," leaving her mildly injured.
A monitor in Tokyo shows the Nikkei stock average rising above 36,000 on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 17, 2024
Nikkei retraces after setting new 34-year high above 36,200
A weaker yen buoyed the outlook for corporate profits, overshadowing the impact from overnight Wall Street declines and disappointing Chinese economic data.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. None of 51 surveyed economists expects the central bank to raise its negative interest rate this month, with two-thirds forecasting a rate hike by April.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2024
Polled economists all see BOJ holding in January after quake
None of 51 surveyed economists expects the central bank to raise its negative interest rate this month, with two-thirds forecasting a rate hike by April.
At stake in this year's spring negotiations between trade unions and large Japanese firms, analysts say, is whether wages will rise far enough to ignite the sustainable inflation that policymakers consider a prerequisite for ending negative interest rates.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2024
Japan's top business lobby calls for worker pay raises above inflation
The call sets the tone for annual wage talks that may pave the way for the Bank of Japan to exit its ultraeasy monetary policy.
Japan's input inflation was flat in December, the weakest showing in almost three years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024
Japan’s input inflation flatlines for weakest result since 2021
Input prices were unchanged last month from a year earlier, the weakest showing in almost three years as the yen’s recent gains helped cap import costs.
Stronger annual wage negotiation results are likely to pave the way for the Bank of Japan to end its negative interest rate by this spring, a former BOJ official says.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024
Wage gains of 4% would pave way for BOJ rate hike, ex-official says
Market participants are monitoring annual wage talks closely as they may be a decisive factor in prompting Japan's central bank to end the world’s last negative rate.
Takashimaya's managing director, Kazuhisa Yokoyama, holds a news conference on Dec. 27 in Tokyo to address the issue of damaged Christmas cakes that were delivered to hundreds of customers.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2024
Collapsed cakes and the price of perfection in Japan
As its labor crunch worsens, Japan might see more cases of skimping or slipshod quality.
The Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo. The insurer isn't interested in buying Japan’s superlong sovereign bonds until yields start rising.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 16, 2024
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance to avoid Japan sovereign bonds for now
Japanese life insurers are the main buyer of bonds due in more than 10 years and typically increase purchases toward the end of the fiscal year.
Corporate bankruptcies with liabilities of at least ¥10 million increased 35.2% in 2023 from the previous year.
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2024
Business failures in Japan hit eight-year high in 2023
Failures rose in all 10 surveyed sectors for the first time in 31 years, due to rising prices, deepening labor shortages and the start of repayments of COVID relief loans.
The Nikkei stock average temporarily rose above the 36,000 mark in Tokyo trading Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 15, 2024
Nikkei hits 34-year peak above 36,000 as shippers rally
The index finished the day nearly 1% higher at 35,901.73, after touching the highest since February 1990 at 36,008.23.
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend a ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Police Department's founding in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2024
Tokyo police mark 150th anniversary of founding
Founded on Jan. 15, 1874, Tokyo's MPD appointed as its first chief, who had studied European police systems and laid the foundation for Japan's modern law enforcement.
Former finance ministry official Michio Saito says Japanese long-term yields won’t climb much beyond 1% even if the Bank of Japan revises its yield curve control program.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 15, 2024
Mr. JGB says end of BOJ’s negative rate won’t set yields on fire
Yields won’t keep shooting up after the initial jump as the central bank will still be offering support for the economy, says Nomura's Michio Saito.
Police officers examine the area around a Starbucks outlet at the Aeon Town Kawanoe shopping facility in Shikokuchuo, Ehime Prefecture, on Sunday night after a shooting incident at the store.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2024
Man shot dead at Starbucks outlet in Ehime
The Ehime prefectural police department is searching for a middle-aged man who fled the shooting scene after the incident.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?