Tag - oil

 
Menu
Search
 
July 11, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

OIL

Japan bought about 1 million metric tons of bananas last year, making the fruit one of the country’s most important grocery staples.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 2, 2026
Japan faces banana shortage as impact from Middle East conflict spreads
The country ships in the tropical fruit while it’s still green, then ripens it in rooms filled with ethylene, but supplies of the naphtha-derived gas are running low.
Rising global temperatures, worsened by climate change, war, trade disruptions and a looming El Nino, are increasingly threatening global food production.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2026
The world’s food supply is under a quadruple attack
Heat makes it much harder to effectively grow crops, raise livestock and harvest fish, as detailed in an extensive new United Nations climate change report.
Smoke rises in Lebanon following an airstrike, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday.
WORLD
Jun 2, 2026
Lebanon announces partial ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, but attacks continue
Iran insists ‌on a halt to Israeli attacks in Lebanon as a condition of any deal to end the war, while the U.S. says the two conflicts are separate.
Most traders and analysts expect the Strait of Hormuz to reopen relatively soon because the economic consequences of a prolonged closure would be too severe.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 1, 2026
What if the Strait of Hormuz didn’t reopen?
History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. So what if something similar were to happen in the Strait of Hormuz? It’s a nightmare few contemplate.
Japan's trucking industry is looking into introducing fuel surcharges amid uncertainties caused by the Iran war.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jun 1, 2026
Trucking industry eyes fuel surcharges as Iran conflict drives uncertainty
The move comes amid ongoing uncertainty over the long-term impact of the Iran war on crude oil supply.
The USS Thomas Hudner at sea on May 19. U.S. strikes on Iran's Gulf coast over the weekend were in response to "aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters," the U.S. Central Command ⁠said in a post on X.
WORLD
Jun 1, 2026
U.S. says it struck Iranian military sites as Tehran responds with air base attack
Air defenses in Kuwait, where a major U.S. base is located, were intercepting missile and drone attacks on Monday as ⁠sirens sounded across the country.
Capital expenditure excluding software fell 3.5% from the previous quarter in the three months through March, according to the Finance Ministry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 1, 2026
Japan’s firms cut spending over Iran stress despite record profits
Capital expenditure excluding software fell 3.5% from the previous quarter in the three months through March, the Finance Ministry reported Monday.
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon, following Israeli strikes, as seen from Nabatieh, Lebanon, on Sunday.
WORLD
Jun 1, 2026
U.S. and Iran trade drafts of deal as Israel expands Lebanon assault
Israel is not party to the talks between the U.S. and Iran and it’s unclear whether it will agree to stop its side war in Lebanon if the war in Iran is resolved.
People wave Iranian national flags during an anti-U.S. and Israel protest in Tehran on Friday.
WORLD
May 31, 2026
U.S. says capable of resuming war with Iran as deal remains elusive
The White House had signaled Trump was close to a decision on a potential deal, though Tehran denied there was a final agreement on ending the conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
May 30, 2026
Trump insists on red lines as Iran deal remains elusive
An Iranian state media report also rebutted several key elements of Trump’s characterization of the deal, with sources calling his remarks a “mixture of truth and lies.”
The coastline of Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu. A trust fund set up to help a South Pacific nation gravely threatened by climate change has invested in coal mining, gas exploration and the world's largest crude oil refinery.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 28, 2026
Fund for climate-exposed Pacific nation invests in fossil fuels
A trust fund set up to help a South Pacific nation gravely threatened by climate change has invested in coal mining, gas exploration and the world’s largest crude oil refinery.
U.S. President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
May 28, 2026
Trump’s Iran bind deepens with Hormuz shut and hawks pushing war
Adding to the challenge are his own comments lambasting his predecessors for deals similar to the one that has the best chance of success.
"Japan’s experience shows that oil price shocks are never just oil price shocks. They are tests of the entire inflation regime,” Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda said Wednesday in a speech to open a two-day international banking conference in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 27, 2026
BOJ’s Ueda warns of oil shock’s impact on entire inflation regime
Following the outbreak of the Middle East conflict, Ueda has repeatedly said that the central bank needs to pay attention to upside inflation risks.
A man holds a photo of Mojtaba Khamenei, the new supreme leader, at a memorial ceremony for the victims of the war with the U.S. and Israel, in Tehran on Sunday.
WORLD
May 27, 2026
Iran says new U.S. strikes violate ceasefire
The war ⁠has caused an unprecedented oil supply shock, pushing up the costs of fuel, fertilizer and food.
A memorial ceremony for victims of the war with the U.S. and Israel, in Tehran on Sunday
WORLD
May 26, 2026
Trump hails progress on peace as U.S. strikes Iran and Israel attacks Lebanon
American forces hit missile launch sites in Iran and boats trying to place mines, while Israel struck sites in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah drone attacks.
Idemitsu Maru arrives at a sea berth off the city of Chita in Aichi Prefecture on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
May 25, 2026
Japanese tanker Idemitsu Maru arrives in Aichi after exiting Strait of Hormuz
The oil tanker is the first to return to Japan through the strait since war broke out in Iran.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to journalists before boarding his plane at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Monday. Rubio said Washington would give diplomacy every chance to succeed before exploring "alternatives."
WORLD
May 25, 2026
Iran and U.S. play down hopes for imminent breakthrough in war
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social over the weekend that the U.S. blockade ​on Iran would remain “until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”
Toyota's bZ4X electric vehicle at an international car show in Indonesia in August 2023. At 10% of Japan’s economy, the automotive industry is a pillar of the nation.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
May 24, 2026
Japan’s automotive industry is driving — slowly — toward a greener future
While major carmakers have committed to cut emissions, the industry’s slow shift to EVs means that it faces a high hurdle if it wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
U.S. President Donald Trump leaves Marine One as he departs from Morristown, New Jersey, on Friday.
WORLD
May 24, 2026
Trump says Iran deal ‘largely negotiated’ and would reopen Strait of Hormuz
Various media in the U.S. and Iran said the memorandum that could yield an agreement lays out a phased framework ‌for ending months ‌of fighting.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 23, 2026
Three months in, is Trump losing the Iran war?
With Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz, its resistance to nuclear concessions and its government largely intact, doubts are growing that Trump can pull out a geopolitical win.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Japan’s southwestern islands on high alert as Typhoon Bavi approaches
A woman walks out of a shop with duct-taped windows to prevent damage from Typhoon Bavi as it approaches, in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, on Thursday.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency
New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER