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BOJ

Former economics professor and Bank of Japan board member Junko Koeda is the second among members who voted in favor of holding settings steady at bank's last policy meeting to have since signaled the likelihood of rate hikes to come. But she has also hinted at caution, saying it’s important to assess the impact stemming from the Middle East conflict.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 21, 2026
BOJ should raise policy rate at appropriate pace, says board member Junko Koeda
Koeda was among those who voted with the majority in favor of holding settings steady at the last policy meeting on April 28.
Group of 20 leaders hold a working lunch at the group’s summit in Osaka in June 2019. Japan is facing growing economic and geopolitical challenges as globalization gives way to a more fragmented world. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2026
Japan’s challenge in a world moving beyond old alliances
The emerging world order is likely to be more fragmented, more competitive and more uncertain.
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.
Morgan Stanley Japan chief Alberto Tamura said warned the yen could weaken to 170 versus the dollar or gain to 140 depending on how the Bank of Japan decides to act.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2026
Morgan Stanley Japan head says BOJ hike key to strengthening yen
If the central bank fails to raise interest rates in June, that would have an impact on the bond and currency markets, Alberto Tamura said in an interview.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Japan is ready to take bold action in the FX market if needed.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 20, 2026
Japan’s finance chief pledges bold action for weak yen as needed
“We have understanding” from the G7 counterparts, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said. “We will take bold action as needed.”
Real gross domestic product rose 2.1% on an annualized basis in the first quarter, according to a Cabinet Office report on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 19, 2026
Faster economic growth supports BOJ’s case for hike
Real gross domestic product rose 2.1% on an annualized basis in the first quarter, according to a Cabinet Office report.
Japan’s corporate goods prices in April posted their biggest rise in 12 years, driven by higher oil and naphtha prices, the Bank of Japan said.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 15, 2026
Japanese producer prices jump by the most since 2014, backing case for rate hike
The measure of input prices for Japanese firms rose 2.3% in April from a month earlier, a full point above the highest estimate in a survey of economists.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
May 13, 2026
BOJ’s policy rate likely to reach 2% by end-2027, OECD says
The report marks the OECD’s first survey on Japan since January 2024, when the BOJ’s policy rate was still in negative territory.
Gov. Kazuo Ueda’s board at the Bank of Japan voted 6-3 on April 28 to hold policy settings unchanged, an unusually divided outcome that pointed to momentum building for a rate increase when authorities next set policy on June 16.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 12, 2026
BOJ signals possible June rate hike amid inflation risks from Mideast war
Opinions documented in a summary of the central bank’s April meeting noted inflation risks and the need to raise rates even if the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran continues.
Kazuo Ueda, governor of the Bank of Japan, speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on April 28.
BUSINESS
May 11, 2026
Panel urges BOJ to take cautious approach to rate hikes
Gov. Kazuo Ueda may face pushback if he seeks to raise the benchmark rate next month.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda arrives for a news conference after a BOJ policy meeting in Tokyo last month.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 9, 2026
Japan bets on Washington and BOJ for extra punch in yen battle
The strategy is reliant on a small cast of heavyweights and is aimed less at a dramatic turnaround than at raising the cost of betting against the yen.
Inflation-adjusted wages increased 1% in March from a year earlier, slowing from a revised 2% gain in February, according to the labor ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2026
Japan’s real wages rise for third month to keep BOJ on hike path
It remains unclear whether higher wages will lift consumption.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (center) attends a monetary policy meeting with other high-ranking officials in Tokyo on April 28.
EDITORIALS
May 8, 2026
Japan pulls out the stops to halt the yen’s slide
While the yen’s dive has been abetted by speculators, the real causes of the currency’s weakness are structural.
A Finance Ministry official cited an International Monetary Fund rule on Monday noting that three days of intervention count as a single market operation.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 5, 2026
Japan can intervene twice more before November under IMF rules, official notes
The comments came after the yen surged last Thursday following reported intervention by the authorities, and also saw a number of intraday rallies during days that followed.
The yen has traded in a narrow ¥158 to ¥159 range against the dollar for two months as Japan steps up efforts to contain further weakness.
COMMENTARY
May 5, 2026
‘Keep phones on,’ Tokyo warns as yen battle intensifies
Traders are going to need to hold onto their devices going forward, as these kinds of interventions are becoming the new normal.
The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it needed to hold rates steady because “developments in the Middle East are contributing to a high level of uncertainty about the economic outlook.”
BUSINESS / Economy
May 2, 2026
The world’s central banks are wrestling with a gigantic problem
Surging inflation, an economic slowdown, and uncertainty over how long the energy shock will last has forced central banks to adjust.
An electronic board displays the foreign exchange rate of the yen against the dollar along a street in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
May 2, 2026
Japan determined to prop up yen through intervention
Many analysts believe the effects of the latest intervention will be short-lived as the factors that contribute to a weaker yen remain unchanged.
The yen was back in ¥150-to-the-dollar territory after reports of intervention by the Japanese government.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 1, 2026
Japan mum on yen intervention, heavy on jawboning, ahead of long holiday weekend
Multiple reports say that the government did seek to prop up the currency, and traders are bracing for another round.
The consumer price index excluding fresh food rose 1.5% in April from a year earlier in Tokyo, the smallest gain since March 2022, according to the internal affairs ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 1, 2026
Tokyo inflation cools on childcare support, backing BOJ caution
The consumer price index excluding fresh food rose 1.5% in April from a year earlier in the capital, the smallest gain since March 2022.
Pedestrians walk past a stock quotation board showing the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 1, 2026
Yen soars as Japan intervenes after issuing ‘final’ warning
Until the government stepped in, the currency had been trading close to its cheapest levels in four decades.

Longform

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