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July 01, 2026
 

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REGIONAL BANKS

Kenji Miyoshi, CEO of Iyogin Holdings, says investment opportunities have arrived for Japanese government bonds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 15, 2026
Japan’s top bond-trading regional bank buys JGBs after decade break
Iyogin Holdings started testing the $7 trillion market in April with small purchases of superlong bonds, according to its CEO.
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.
Bank deposits will probably be concentrated further in the greater Tokyo area amid declining local populations and the increased use of online banks.
BUSINESS
May 20, 2026
50% of Japan’s bank deposits held in greater Tokyo area
The combined deposits in the capital and Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures stood at ¥523.1 trillion as of March 31 this year.
Japan's banks have been stepping up lending to the real estate sector, but there are concerns over overheating in the real estate market and lax loan screenings.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 18, 2026
Bank lending to real estate hits record high in Japan
According to the Bank of Japan, new lending to the sector in 2025 climbed 15.1% from the previous year to ¥17.8 trillion.
Aichi Financial Group President Yukinori Ito (left) and San ju San Financial Group President Gotaro Michihiro announce a plan to merge the two banks at a joint news conference in Nagoya on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
Japan’s regional bank M&A wave to create ¥11.6 trillion lender
Aichi Financial Group and San ju San Financial Group have acknowledged that a shrinking population drove their plans to consolidate.
The plan is meant to improve customer convenience as well as reduce the workload of bank employees, with banks tending to be understaffed, especially in rural areas.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 8, 2026
FSA to develop AI agent to help with customer service at regional banks
The aim is to improve customer convenience as well as reduce the workload of bank employees, with banks tending to be understaffed, especially in rural areas.
Fukuoka Financial Group has hired 10 people in the past year and plans to recruit another 20 in the period ending March 2028, said Akira Kudo, the company’s head of market operations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 14, 2026
Japan’s largest regional bank takes on big names in hiring spree
Fukuoka Financial Group wants to boost its front office staff to around 100 by March 2028 as it looks to expand its ¥5.8 trillion investment portfolio.
Shizuoka Financial Group President Hisashi Shibata (center), Bank of Nagoya President Ichiro Fujiwara (right) and others at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2026
Two Japanese regional banks’ shares surge in latest merger pact
The move is the latest example of Japan’s regional lenders joining forces in a market hit by a shrinking population.
Wakkanai Shinkin Bank’s headquarters in Wakkanai, Hokkaido
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2026
A tiny bank runs dry of borrowers as Japan’s population shrinks
Many rural banks are struggling, but for a small credit union in Hokkaido, the situation is extreme.
Yoshitsugu Toba, head of the markets division at Joyo Bank, says he expects the next Bank of Japan rate hike will happen in April, followed by 25 basis-point increases roughly every six months.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 2, 2026
Short-term Japan bonds hold allure for regional bank managing ¥2.6 trillion
Joyo Bank is testing the country’s choppy bond market by investing in shorter-term notes to secure higher returns, while avoiding longer-dated securities.
Recent mergers and lower valuations are fueling investor bets that more deals may come among Japan’s 73 listed smaller banks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 25, 2025
Rate hikes drive Japan regional banks toward mergers to survive
Decades after a debt crisis forced a wave of mergers that created mega lenders, the focus now is on consolidation in Japan’s $3 trillion regional banking industry.
Hitoshi Inoue, head of Bank of Yokohama’s markets business
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 23, 2025
Top Japan local bank ready to boost JGB buying when BOJ pivots
Bank of Yokohama is prepared to pile back into the domestic debt market when the central bank’s peak interest rate is in sight.
Chiba Bank President Tsutomu Yonemoto (left) and Chiba Kogyo Bank President Hitoshi Umeda shake hands at a news conference on Monday in the city of Chiba.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 30, 2025
Chiba Bank and Chiba Kogyo Bank to integrate under holding firm
The merger will create Japan’s second-largest regional banking group, after Fukuoka Financial Group.
Hiroshi Okada of the Financial Services Agency
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2025
FSA urges rural banks to help companies get equity funding
The FSA is working to draw up a package of policy measures to expand regional banks’ roles in supporting economies hit by adverse demographic shifts.
A building which houses the Hokuhoku Financial Group headquarters in Toyama.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 30, 2025
Best-performing Japan bank plays BOJ outlook with short debt
The president of Hokuhoku Financial Group said he expects the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates in October or December if “things go smoothly.”
The Financial Services Agency Commissioner Yutaka Ito is interviewed in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 10, 2025
FSA eager to back regional bank realignment
Ito, who took office in July, stressed that cooperation with nonfinancial businesses is also crucial for the management of regional lenders.
Yamanashi Chuo Bank's Tokyo office. The regional bank has set up an "investment advisory firm” to get around internal salary limits and attract talent.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2025
Rural bank in Japan finds novel way to attract talent with higher pay
Yamanashi Chuo Bank has set up an “investment advisory firm” to get around internal salary limits, showing the lengths it’s willing to go to bolster its ranks.
The deterioration of earnings at Kirayaka Bank resulted in its holding company Jimoto Holdings to book a net loss for the second straight year in fiscal 2024.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2025
Regional lender Jimoto Holdings exits government control
In the business year ended in March 2024, Jimoto Holdings incurred a net loss for the second straight year due to the deterioration of earnings at subsidiary Kirayaka Bank.
The Financial Services Agency headquarters in Tokyo. The regulator has called on regional banks to disclose the amount and market value of their high-yield loans backed by government bonds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2025
Regulator to ramp up scrutiny of banks’ repackaged JGBs
A senior official at the Financial Services Agency called on lenders to disclose the amount and market value of their holdings, sources said.
Regional lenders Daishi Hokuetsu Financial Group and Gunma Bank have entered into an agreement to consolidate their businesses in 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025
Regional lenders Daishi Hokuetsu and Gunma Bank agree to consolidate
The banks have entered a memorandum of understanding to integrate their businesses under a holding company structure on or around April 1, 2027.
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.
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.
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."
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.
‘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.

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

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