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July 04, 2026
 

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BONDS

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in parliament on May 20
BUSINESS
May 25, 2026
Takaichi unveils $19 billion extra budget while vowing no extra borrowing
The supplementary ‌budget marks a reversal from Takaichi’s previous remarks ruling out ​the need for extra spending.
Yields on longer-term Japanese government bonds have recently risen to multidecade highs as high energy prices due to the Middle East conflict stoke inflation fears.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 25, 2026
Japan bond yield surge widens regional bank stock divide
When lenders have holdings that are vulnerable to higher yields, they’re punished by investors for the unrealized losses.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi rings the bell during a ceremony marking the end of trading in 2025 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Dec. 30.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 22, 2026
There’s no Truss moment for Takaichi this time, either
A lettuce famously outlasted Liz Truss’s 49-day premiership. Japan has outlasted its doomsayers for 30 years.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda has been taking time to gauge the effects of the conflict in the Middle East.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 21, 2026
Bank of Japan might be behind the curve on interest rate increases
The wait-and-see approach is becoming an issue with yen weak, bond prices falling and doubts increasing about fiscal discipline.
Pacific Investment Management has bullish positions on Japan's 30-year sovereign bonds while taking bearish bets on the 10-year note on expectation that the gap between the two will narrow.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2026
Pimco favors Japan’s 30-year bonds, says yield curve ‘too steep’
Japan’s yield curve is the steepest in developed markets, reflecting investor concerns that the Bank of Japan has been too slow to raise interest rates.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama poses for a photo ahead of a G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Paris on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 19, 2026
Japan ready to act on foreign exchange volatility
Rising U.S. Treasury yields have fueled market speculation that Washington may become sensitive to large-scale yen-buying, dollar-selling intervention by Japan.
Alphabet, the parent of Google, sold ¥576.5 billion ($3.6 billion) in bonds in the largest ever yen deal by a non-Japanese company as competition to fund data centers and AI infrastructure intensifies.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2026
Alphabet sells biggest yen bond on record by foreign issuer
The Google parent sold ¥576.5 billion ($3.6 billion) of bonds as competition to fund centers and AI infrastructure intensifies.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said an extra budget is not yet necessary, after long-term Japanese government bond yields hit multi-decade highs amid spillover concerns from a spike in U.S. inflation.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 15, 2026
Satsuki Katayama denies need for extra budget as yields rise
The finance minister said that a recent rise in yields on Japanese government bonds is part of a broader global trend.
The Marunouchi business district of Tokyo. Upward pressure on Japanese government bond yields is building as oil prices remain high.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 13, 2026
Japan’s 20-year bond yield rises to 1997 high on inflation woes
Upward pressure on Japanese government bond yields is building as oil prices remain elevated after the U.S. and Iran rejected each other’s proposals to end the conflict.
An oil refinery under construction on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria. Africa already has the capital needed for development, but without better institutions, investment platforms and regulations, most domestic savings remain trapped in government debt.
COMMENTARY / World
May 4, 2026
Putting Africa’s savings to work for its people
The task now is to build the architecture that channels Africa’s savings into productive investments.
While yields on euro-denominated bonds tend to be lower than those in dollars, investors are currently able to generate extra yield pickup by using swaps.
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2026
Japan’s record sales of euro bonds show historic funding shift
Japan’s largest trading firm, Mitsubishi, raised €1 billion from its inaugural euro-denominated bond offering in February.
SoftBank has been piling on debt as its founder Masayoshi Son seeks to position himself as a linchpin in the global AI boom, with large-scale investments into OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 23, 2026
SoftBank seeks $10 billion margin loan backed by OpenAI shares
SoftBank has been piling on debt as its founder Masayoshi Son seeks to position himself as a linchpin in the global AI boom.
Tobias Adrian, director of the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets Department, speaks during an interview in Washington on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2026
Japan’s rising interest rates sign of ‘healthy economy,’ says IMF official
Tobias Adrian said the rising rates result from the country’s exit from long-standing deflation and that Japan’s policy normalization is “on track.”
Japan has become one of the world’s most active markets for mergers and acquisitions in terms of deal growth as the nation’s companies face pressure from investors to deploy cash into growth investments.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 14, 2026
M&A boom in Japan is fueling record corporate bond sales
Japan has become one of the most active markets for mergers and acquisitions in terms of deal growth as investors pressure companies there to deploy cash into growth investments.
The petrodollar system underpinning U.S. financial dominance is breaking down as the Iran war disrupts both oil revenues and foreign demand for Treasurys, exposing limits to their safe-haven status.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2026
The Iran war just broke the petrodollar
The virtuous loop that has seen America underwrite stability in the Middle East in exchange for Gulf states recycling their dollar revenues into U.S. Treasurys has been broken.
SoftBank Group is one of the few Japanese companies that regularly issue corporate bonds.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 9, 2026
Japan wants to transform its sleepy corporate bond market
The hope is to make it a source for much-needed growth capital and provide more avenues to funding.
SoftBank Group is currently exploring raising as much as $40 billion in the loan market, mostly to help finance its investment in U.S. tech giant OpenAI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 9, 2026
SoftBank unit plans debut euro bond as group makes big AI push
SoftBank Group’s aggressive push into AI has drawn some scrutiny from ratings firms.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said she is in close contact with Group of Seven counterparts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 7, 2026
Japanese bond rout continues, taking 10-year yields to a 27-year high
Fiscal worries and inflationary pressures are being made worse by the war in the Middle East and oil shortage concerns.
Japan Post Holdings and 11 other issuers are planning bond sales in April and May, according to data as of April 1, compared to 29 at the same point a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 2, 2026
Japan credit pipeline slows as investors grapple with volatility
The number of borrowers planning yen deals at the start of the new fiscal year is down about 60% from a year earlier.
Despite repeated technological upheavals, finance has preserved its profits by reinventing fee-generating services. But the rise of AI could ultimately render much of the industry irrelevant.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 1, 2026
AI threatens the finance industry’s perpetual profit machine
The utopian promise of AI is abundance, but the only guaranteed beneficiaries are the super elites that own the machines.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.

Podcast

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

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What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
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