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July 02, 2026
 

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ECONOMIC INDICATORS

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington in April.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 24, 2025
Trump shook up global trade this year. Here’s what to look out for in 2026
Whether many of the U.S. president’s tariffs are allowed to stand remains a big unknown going into the new year.
Inflation-adjusted gross domestic product, which measures the value of goods and services produced in the U.S., increased at a 4.3% annualized pace, a Bureau of Economic Analysis report showed Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 24, 2025
U.S. economy grows at fastest pace in years with 4.3% GDP gain in Q3
Consumer spending — the main growth engine of the economy — advanced at a 3.5% annualized pace, though spending on motor vehicles fell.
Japan's labor productivity plunged to 28th in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slow to recover ever since.
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2025
Japan’s labor productivity falls to 28th among OECD countries
The country’s per-hour productivity stood at ¥5,720, or $60.1, the survey released Monday showed, based on OECD data.
Bonds and the yen have been week since the Bank of Japan increased rates on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 22, 2025
Japan’s 10-year government bond yield hits 2.1% as rout continues
The yen is also weak after the BOJ’s rate increase and as the approval of a record-busting budget looms.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, speaking on Friday after the policy board announcement, said that growth and price data appear to be on track to meet central bank forecasts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 19, 2025
BOJ takes rates to a 30-year high; 10-year Japanese government bond breaks 2% 
Weak yen might have convinced the central bank that now is the time to make a move.
Japanese households' financial assets hit a record ¥2.286 quadrillion at the end of September, up 4.9% from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 17, 2025
Japan households’ financial assets rise to record ¥2.286 quadrillion.
The balance reflects higher stock prices and a rise in the yen value of foreign currency-denominated assets due to a weaker Japanese currency.
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 Bank of Japan's <i>tankan</i> survey showed that confidence among large manufacturers in Japan has risen to the highest level in four years, while the gauge for nonmanufacturers has remained near the strongest level since the early 1990s.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 15, 2025
Japan’s factory sentiment improves, firming up BOJ hike case
The business sentiment index advanced to 15 this month from 14 in September, the BOJ’s quarterly tankan business survey has shown.
Republican strategists say U.S. President Donald Trump should stop fixating on the term "affordability" and instead focus on presenting a clear plan to lower prices.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Dec 12, 2025
The 13-letter word tripping up Trump — and risking Republicans’ hold on Congress
The U.S. president’s repeated mockery of the word “affordability” is worrying Republican strategists.
Positive business sentiment among Japan's big companies reflects higher demand for products and improvements in financial conditions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2025
Sentiment at major Japan firms positive for second straight quarter, data shows
Sentiment among midsize companies also rose, while that for small businesses improved but remained negative.
Jerome Powell, the U.S. Federal Reserve chair. Divisions within the Fed have grown even as policymakers voted to slash rates twice in recent months to boost the weakening employment market.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 10, 2025
U.S. Fed appears set for third rate cut despite sharp divides
Division within the Fed has grown even as policymakers voted to slash rates twice in recent months to boost the weakening employment market.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda attends a new conference in Tokyo on Sept. 19
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 9, 2025
BOJ’s Ueda says Japan is getting closer to sustainable inflation
“We are closer to 2% inflation on a sustained basis,” Ueda said in an interview. “I can say that I think.”
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.
Residential apartment blocks in Helsinki in May 2023. Finland's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 9.6% in September.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 2, 2025
Soaring unemployment challenges Finnish welfare model
Figures from the European statistics agency Eurostat showed Finland’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hit 9.6% in September.
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.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the Tokyo area advanced 2.8% in November from a year earlier, matching the result for the previous month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2025
Tokyo inflation beats forecast, keeping BOJ on rate hike path
Consumer prices excluding fresh food in the capital advanced 2.8% this month from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.
The Sumida River and commercial and residential buildings in Tokyo. In its report for November, the Cabinet Office said, "The Japanese economy is recovering at a moderate pace, while the effects caused from the U.S. trade policies are seen mainly in the automotive industry."
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 26, 2025
Government leaves basic economic assessment unchanged in November
“The Japanese economy is recovering at a moderate pace, while the effects caused from the U.S. trade policies are seen mainly in the automotive industry,” the Cabinet Office said.
An elderly couple visits the Tuileries Garden in Paris in 2019.
BUSINESS
Nov 25, 2025
Aging populations a ‘ticking time bomb’ for GDP growth, says EBRD
Countries must act now to keep slowing population growth from wreaking havoc on their long-term economic prospects, according to the EBRD’s semiannual report.
Employees work on laptops in the Moore Kingston Smith office in London on Nov. 13.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 25, 2025
From two weeks to two hours: How AI might reboot Britain’s economy
AI’s rollout is raising hopes that Britain can escape the productivity problem that has dogged it for two decades, even as slow growth pushes the country toward tax hikes.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men&#039;s restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
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.
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.
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.
Reform panel calls for easing data center building standards
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi emphasized that the government will promote reforms of regulations and systems that fit the artificial intelligence era.
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.
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.
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.

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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The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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