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July 01, 2026
 

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INFLATION

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’s "oshikatsu" culture is booming despite inflation, with fans spending heavily on idols and characters in a way that now drives a multitrillion-yen market.
COMMENTARY
Dec 2, 2025
Japan’s inflation-proof ‘stan’ economy is booming
About 10% of the Japanese population engages in “oshikatsu” — but importantly, more than 50% are those crucial arbiters of cool: teenage girls.
In December 1925, The Japan Times reported on a 13-year streak of high birth rates around the country, with more than 50,000 born in Tokyo annually, or an average of 3.37 per 100 people.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Dec 2, 2025
Japan Times 1925: Tokyo population booming in late Taisho Era
The Japanese capital averaged more than 50,000 births per year in the 13 years leading up to 1925, as steady incomes allowed ordinary people to live prosperous lives.
Rengo President Tomoko Yoshino (center) and others rally during the organization's central committee meeting on Friday in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2025
Labor group Rengo to seek wage hike of 5% or more for next year
The umbrella body for labor unions across the country will aim to achieve the levels of pay hikes attained this year to improve the living standards of workers.
The Upper House passed and enacted a bill to scrap the provisional tax surcharges for gasoline and diesel fuel at its plenary session on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 28, 2025
Japan enacts bill to abolish add-on gasoline tax
The bill’s supplementary clause urges the central government to work out concrete measures to make up for an estimated overall annual tax revenue shortfall of ¥1.5 trillion.
Prices for 217 food and beverage products, including chocolate snacks and miso, from 195 major Japanese makers are set to rise in December, Teikoku Databank said Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2025
Prices of 217 food products to rise in Japan in December
The total number of items whose prices have risen or are expected to rise this year is projected to reach 20,609.
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.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
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’

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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