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July 09, 2026
 

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INFLATION

Around 76% of young people saw an increase in their monthly food spending, with some reducing the number of meals they eat to cut costs.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 27, 2025
Many young people in Japan struggling with rising food costs, survey finds
Around 76% of young people saw an increase in their monthly food spending, with some reducing the number of meals they eat to cut costs.
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.
Asia’s economic growth in 2025 was sluggish, central banks acted cautiously amid low inflation and political pressures and the full impact of U.S. tariffs and policy choices will become clearer in 2026.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2025
Easy money defined Asia in 2025. It gets harder now.
If predictions are hazardous at the best of times, they are more fraught today.
The Bank of Japan should take a cautious approach to raising interest rates further, a former BOJ policy board member has said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 25, 2025
BOJ needs caution on rates during growth push, ex-official says
The former board member said the government should fully utilize fiscal, monetary and tax policy to stimulate demand and realize a “high pressure” economy.
Japan’s finance and health ministers agreed to a 2.22% hike in medical service fees for fiscal 2026, the first in 12 years.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2025
Japanese ministers agree to raise medical service fees
The core portion of fees will be raised by 3% or more for the first time in 30 years, a step designed to help hospitals cope with rising prices and raise wages for medical workers.
Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing will raise base salaries for new graduates in Japan as the country’s workers grapple with inflation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 22, 2025
Uniqlo’s owner boosts new graduate pay as Japan faces inflation
Annual pay will grow by about 12% to ¥5.9 million ($37,400) starting in March for university graduates in management-track programs.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 20, 2025
BOJ rate hike could be both good and bad for households
While home owners may see loan interest rates rise, households are expected to benefit from higher bank deposit rates.
MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank are planning to raise annual interest rates on ordinary deposits to 0.3% from the current 0.2%.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2025
Four major Japanese banks to hike ordinary deposit interest rates
The four banks are MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.
China is again restraining currency appreciation as market pressure builds, with the People’s Bank of China using reference rate settings and state bank actions to slow gains in order to protect exports and manage economic weakness.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 18, 2025
Why the push for a stronger yuan won’t go away
China has been skirting deflation and a strong currency could exacerbate the difficulties.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers an address to the nation from the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 18, 2025
Trump vows economic boom and blames Biden for high prices in national address
His speech comes at the end of a whirlwind year in which he has launched an unprecedented display of presidential power.
Sales of Japanese government bonds for individual investors have topped ¥5 trillion this year, the highest level since 2007, as rising interest rates draw household funds out of bank deposits following the Bank of Japan's policy tightening.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 18, 2025
Retail JGB sales hit highest since 2007 as rates climb
Issuance from January to December totaled about ¥5.28 trillion, Ministry of Finance data has shown.
A customer receives a drink at the drive-through window of a Dutch Bros location in Beaverton, Oregon. Global coffee prices rose to record highs this year.
BUSINESS
Dec 17, 2025
High coffee prices are changing how consumers take their daily brew
People are choosing cheaper options such as drive-through baristas or whole beans delivered to their door.
Signals that the Bank of Japan may move toward higher interest rates highlight how the nation’s heavy debt and slow growth could push up global bond yields and expose similar fiscal risks in other advanced economies.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 16, 2025
The Japanese canary in the global debt coal mine
The Japanese government’s total debt as a share of gross domestic product is on the order of 230%, twice that of the U.S.
The decision to hike rates, expected at the two-day Bank of Japan policy meeting set to be held from Thursday, would take the rate to a level unseen in 30 years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2025
BOJ will raise policy interest rate at next meeting, according to sources
The policy decision, expected at the central bank’s two-day meeting set to be held from Thursday, will take the rate to a level unseen in 30 years.
The national federation of rice wholesalers' mutual aid cooperative associations said it has cut costs related to its rice coupons as much as possible to lower the sales price, with distribution set to being as soon as late December.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 12, 2025
Federation of rice wholesalers’ associations to sell rice coupon at lower price
Costs related to the coupons were cut as much as possible in order to lower the sales price, said the federation, known as Zenbeihan.
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.
Supermarket chain Aeon debuted its first yen-denominated bonds targeting individuals this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 11, 2025
Japanese firms sell record retail debt as inflation fuels demand
The sales are the latest sign that sticky inflation is causing households to shift more of their $14.3 trillion of financial assets into riskier investments.
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.
In the week ended last Sunday, the average price of rice sold at about 1,000 supermarkets across Japan rose by ¥23 from the previous week to ¥4,335 per 5 kilograms.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2025
Average price of rice in Japan hits new record high
The average retail price of the staple grain hit a new record high for the first time in three weeks, according to agriculture ministry data.
Kazuo Ueda, governor of the Bank of Japan, arrives for a meeting at the Diet in Tokyo on Nov. 21.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2025
BOJ set to hike rates and stay open to more moves
The BOJ will also indicate it will continue to raise rates if its economic outlook is realized while remaining cautious on how far they will eventually push rates up.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Osaka trumps Tokyo as both ranked among world’s top 10 most livable cities
Osaka’s infrastructure earned higher marks than Tokyo’s in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.
Japanese teen arrested for booting users off streaming service
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly creating a malicious program and canceling subscription accounts on the Bandai Channel.
Long-stalled maglev line finally gets green light from Shizuoka Prefecture
Environmental concerns relating to the construction of Central Japan Railway’s high-speed maglev line had contributed to years of delays for the project.
Violence toward ambulance crews in Tokyo higher in 2025 and rising this year
A bloodstained helmet worn by an ambulance crew member who became involved in a case of violent abuse against the crew
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.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.
‘Defense,’ not ‘warfare,’ stressed as pacifist Japan beefs up capabilities
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi attends an annual training session near Mount Fuji at Higashifuji Training Field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 7.

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