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July 04, 2026
 

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TRADE

Iran has suggested that it will allow ships to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz during an ongoing two-week ceasefire if they coordinate with its military, though specific procedures remain unclear.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2026
42 Japan-linked ships still stranded in Persian Gulf
The vessels include crude oil tankers, chemical tankers, vehicle carriers, liquefied natural gas ships and tankers carrying petroleum products.
The U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran has left developing countries using Chinese tech and trade, like solar panels and EVs, better able to weather fallout than those relying on American-backed supply chains.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2026
Is Trump the president who lost Asia to China?
After six weeks of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran and its ensuing counterattacks, it is the countries that bet on Chinese supply chains that are faring best.
A liquefied natural gas tanker is seen at a port in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2026
Shipowners eye Hormuz ceasefire window for 800 trapped vessels
The near-closure of the vital waterway has created an unprecedented global energy supply crunch, as Iran tightened its control in the aftermath of U.S. and Israeli strikes.
People stand on the beach in Gujarat, India, near the MT Desert Kite oil tanker carrying Russian oil in the Arabian Sea, on March 11.
BUSINESS
Apr 8, 2026
Whether oil and gas or green tech, India depends on imports
​India imports 80% of its oil and gas, and while it produces some green minerals like copper and graphite, it is dependent on imports for others such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in September. China is trying to leverage its close ties with Iran to present itself as a mediator in the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict.
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2026
China can’t end the Iran war. But it can shape the endgame.
Beijing does have skin in this game and, therefore, incentive to find a solution.
An employee inspects a printed circuit board at a factory, which is in partnership with Agilian Technology, in Dongguan, China, on March 16.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 6, 2026
How one factory in China learned to live with Trump, tariffs and turmoil
A Chinese electronics supplier ended 2025 more convinced than ever of China’s manufacturing strengths.
NATO allies, including Britain, have backed the U.S. for decades and, while unlikely to join in the fight against Iran, would likely help secure the Strait of Hormuz if diplomacy fails.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2026
European allies should clear the Strait of Hormuz
Today, many in Europe recognize the threat of Iran, but were not willing to launch a sudden offensive operation against it without due consultation and giving diplomacy a chance.
A Shiite Muslim cleric looks on during a demonstration in solidarity with Iran and denouncing the U.S.-Israeli war against it, in Iraq's southern city of Basra on Saturday.
BUSINESS
Apr 5, 2026
Iran says Iraqi ships are allowed to use Strait of Hormuz
Traffic in the Strait remains a small fraction of the pre-war rate, when one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG sailed the narrows connecting the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean.
Then-Prime Minster Fumio Kishida meets with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, in July 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 3, 2026
Beyond oil: Why UAE-Japan ties matter more than ever
The UAE supplies roughly a quarter of Japan’s crude oil imports, reinforcing its role as a reliable partner in an increasingly uncertain energy landscape.
Smoke rises following a reported strike in Baharestan, Isfahan province, Iran, in this image taken from social media on Wednesday.
WORLD
Apr 3, 2026
U.S. vows to target more Iranian infrastructure as nations seek to open Hormuz
Nearly five weeks in, the war in Iran continues to spread chaos across the region and roil financial markets, raising pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump to find a resolution.
A Japan Airlines airplane flies past an oil refinery as it approaches to land at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, as seen from a park in the Keihin Industrial Zone in Kawasaki, on March 17.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2026
Japan’s international flights to get pricier due to hike in fuel surcharge
Fuel surcharges are expected to rise up to double their current rates due to the ongoing Iran conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping talk as they leave after a bilateral meeting at Gimhae International Airport, in Busan, South Korea, in October 2025.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2026
Trump’s delayed Xi summit gives U.S.-China irritants room to grow
In recent days, China launched retaliatory probes into U.S. trade practices, while a bipartisan group of American senators visited Taiwan to press for more spending to deter China.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a poster showing what was described as reciprocal tariffs during an announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 2, 2025.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 1, 2026
Oil shock from war on Iran unwinds traders’ playbook since Trump’s tariffs
Fallout from the conflict for energy markets and global trade is forcing a shift away from popular, crowded trades that had come to define markets.
Trump-era U.S. aluminum tariffs have backfired, driving up costs, reducing domestic production, diverting Canadian supply and leaving the country vulnerable to global disruptions like the Iran war.
COMMENTARY
Mar 31, 2026
The world’s dumbest tariff has been revealed
So far, this is a standard U.S. tariff story, but aluminum isn’t a standard product.
Delegates attend the World Trade Organization 14th ministerial meeting in Yaounde, Cameroon, on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 30, 2026
WTO talks end in deadlock after Brazil blocks deal over e-commerce duties
The WTO countries are negotiating an extension to a moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions such as digital downloads.
Employees of Windsor-based Fastsigns, which designs, produces and installs custom business signage and graphics work, in Windsor, Ontario, on March 20
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Mar 29, 2026
On Canada’s tariff front line, business stalls over U.S. trade deal jitters
Windsor’s economy has been on a roller-coaster ride for the past ⁠year as Trump went back and forth on tariffs.
Passengers walk past a display board showing canceled flights to Dubai and Doha amid regional airspace closures at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, on March 2.
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2026
Asia’s air travel crisis risks spreading on Iran war’s jet fuel squeeze
Asia has been particularly affected because of its exposure to oil that normally comes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been blocked by Iran.
A maze of crude oil pipe and equipment at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas. While U.S. officials have said the spike in oil prices during the war with Iran will be short-lived, other nations aren't so convinced.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
Mar 27, 2026
Trump officials tout U.S. energy dominance as global oil executives warn of supply crisis
The contrasting messages relayed to industry leaders at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston reflected the different political realities in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
At 10:59 a.m. on Thursday, the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security commenced the release of about 400,000 kiloliters of oil from the Kikuma National Petroleum Stockpiling Base in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 26, 2026
Oil starts flowing from Japan’s national reserves
The release is part of the country’s 80-million-barrel contribution to a coordinated global intervention.
Children watch a tanker at anchor off the coast of Muscat, Oman, on March 18. The Strait of Hormuz is used by roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supply and is currently blocked by Iran, a more formidable adversary than Yemen's Houthis.
WORLD
Mar 25, 2026
Failure to secure Red Sea shipping casts shadow over Strait of Hormuz plan
Absent the strait’s reopening, shortages will become more acute, ‌threatening higher ‌costs for energy, food and numerous other products worldwide.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
Japan’s princesses face life-altering legal revisions
Princess Aiko, the daughter of Emperor Naruhito, said in a 2022 news conference upon coming of age that she hopes to “spend a long time together” with her parents.
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Iran war exposed, but hasn’t changed, Japan’s reliance on imported oil
Wind turbines generate energy from strong easterly winds on the Shonai Plain in Yamagata Prefecture. Despite the oil crisis caused by conflict near the Strait of Hormuz, and concerns instability in the region could continue to impact supply and the price of imports, the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi does not seem to be drawing on the war as a pretext to hasten progress toward Japan's renewable goals.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
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.

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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