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June 30, 2026
 

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Erica Yokoyama
Consumer prices in Tokyo, excluding fresh food, rose 2.3% in December from a year earlier, slowing from 2.8% in November, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2025
Yen weakens as Tokyo inflation cools more than expected
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital rose 2.3% in December from a year earlier, slowing sharply from 2.8% in the previous month.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama says Japan has a “free hand” to take bold action against currency moves during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 23, 2025
Japan has ‘free hand’ for bold action in FX market if needed
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama’s remarks are her strongest warning yet to speculators following the yen’s weakening even after a rise in interest rates.
Akihiro Kaneko, president of the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers’ Unions, has expressed concern over the Bank of Japan’s anticipated rate hike Friday possibly weighing on companies’ ability to raise wages in the coming fiscal year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 17, 2025
Japan’s auto union chair fears BOJ hike may impede wage momentum
A sharp drop in the yen after the expected hike on Friday could affect corporate sentiment.
Japan's exports gained 6.1% in November from a year earlier, according to the Finance Ministry, beating economists' forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 17, 2025
Japan’s exports to U.S. rise for first time since Trump’s April tariffs
A turnaround in shipments to the U.S. helped power the biggest gain in overall exports since February, paving the way for a widely expected interest-rate hike later this week.
The Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers’ Union plans to seek a slightly more ambitious wage hike in the upcoming negotiations than last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2025
Japan’s auto union seeks higher wage gains as BOJ watches trends
The Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers’ Union (JAW) will aim for a minimum ¥12,000 ($77) monthly base wage increase.
A worker at Tajima Light Metal in Saitama Prefecture. Monday’s revised GDP figures incorporate additional data, including weak capital spending by companies.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 8, 2025
Japan confirms deeper GDP decline, backing Takaichi’s stimulus
Gross domestic product fell at an annualized pace of 2.3% in the third quarter.
An electronics store in the Akihabara area in Tokyo. Domestic consumption has expanded for three straight quarters, albeit at a subdued pace.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 5, 2025
Japan’s household outlays fall in sign of fragile domestic demand
Private spending is a key component in the central bank’s goal of achieving a virtuous economic cycle in which wage gains help fuel demand-led price increases.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks at a meeting in Nagoya on Monday.
BUSINESS
Dec 4, 2025
Key Japan officials would go along with a BOJ December rate hike
The comments come amid heightened speculation that the BOJ will increase the benchmark rate to 0.75% at the end of its next policy meeting on Dec. 19.
Japanese firms' capital expenditure on goods excluding software edged down 0.3% from the previous quarter in the three months through September.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 1, 2025
Japanese firms scale back investment as tariff headwinds hit
Capital expenditure on goods excluding software edged down 0.3% from the previous quarter even as corporate profits jumped by the most in two years.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2025
Japan to issue more short-term debt to fund Takaichi’s stimulus
The Cabinet has approved a ¥18.3 trillion extra budget to fund the largest round of fresh spending in a stimulus package since the scaling back of pandemic restrictions.
The extra budget, totaling about ¥18.3 trillion ($117 billion), will be funded by ¥11.7 trillion in additional bond issuance, according to a document seen Thursday.
BUSINESS
Nov 27, 2025
Japan to issue $75 billion in new bonds to fund stimulus
The extra budget, totaling about ¥18.3 trillion ($117 billion), will be funded by ¥11.7 trillion in additional bond issuance.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has said that overall new bond issuance for this year will remain below last year’s level, even with the announcement of the largest round of extra spending since the easing of pandemic restrictions.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 26, 2025
Sanae Takaichi seeks to fund stimulus without spooking markets
The prime minister last week unveiled Japan’s largest round of extra spending since the easing of pandemic restrictions.
Tomoko Yoshino, chair of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, known as Rengo, during an interview in Tokyo, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 25, 2025
Japan’s union chair urges government to step up inflation fight
“We really expect the government to bring prices under control,” said Tomoko Yoshino, chair of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, known as Rengo.
The Japanese government is mulling an extra budget for the current fiscal year which will be larger than last year’s, according to local media reports.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 15, 2025
Japan plans bigger extra budget this fiscal year, reports say
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is mulling an extra budget for the current fiscal year which will be larger than last year’s.
Real cash earnings fell 1.4% in September, marking the ninth consecutive monthly decline in line with analyst forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 6, 2025
Japan’s wage growth stays firm, keeping rate hike bets alive
Nominal wages rose 1.9% from a year earlier, accelerating from August, the labor ministry reported Thursday, coming in line with economist expectations.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama issued her first clear warning on currency moves in noting the government is monitoring the yen with a strong sense of urgency.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 31, 2025
Japan’s Katayama warns on FX as yen hits eight-month low
The yen traded around an eight-month low after the Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged, with markets unconvinced by Gov. Kazuo Ueda offering hints a rate hike is coming.
Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino speaks at a news conference on Thursday. She said the union is looking to make wage hikes a normal occurrence.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 23, 2025
Japan’s unions seek minimum 5% wage hike in upcoming pay talks
Sanae Takaichi’s tenure and the central bank’s policy path could be affected if Japan can’t keep up its wage-hike momentum.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (left) speaks during a news conference in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 17, 2025
Ueda keeps door open for BOJ rate hike as decision nears
Financial markets reflect a narrow chance of a rate hike at the end of this month.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato meet in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 16, 2025
Japan’s Kato calls for G7 unity over China’s rare earth curbs
“Japan is deeply concerned about these measures,” Kato told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, referring to China’s latest trade measures.
Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on July 20.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2025
CDP doesn’t rule out cooperation with LDP
Noda’s comments come as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party prepares to elect a new leader, who will need opposition support in order to govern.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
LGBTQ+ families are building lives Japanese lawmakers still struggle to see
Haru Ono founded Nijiiro Kazoku in 2010 after forming a same-sex stepfamily. She said the impetus for founding the organization was that she couldn’t find much reliable information out there for families such as hers in Japan.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

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